Humphries Battles Illness to Have Career-Best Day

Charger quarterback Stan Humphries entered Sunday’s game against Denver with a rating of 58.2 and a temperature of more than 100. Not exactly numbers that would indicate a career day is in the making.

But Humphries paid no attention to his statistics or his body. However, he did pay particular attention to Anthony Miller, Derrick Walker and an overaggressive Denver defense while throwing for a career-best 349 yards and two touchdowns on 20 completions in 27 attempts. He threw only one interception, and that came on a diving catch by Denver cornerback Wymon Henderson.

Humphries, whose rating in the AFC was higher than only Seattle’s Kelly Stouffer and Cincinnati’s Boomer Esiason, even outgunned the gunslinger, John Elway, who threw for 260 yards and two touchdowns but was intercepted three times.

He even imitated Elway at times. He read a safety blitz by Denver safety Steve Atwater and turned it into a 59-yard pass play to Walker. He put pressure on the defense by running to the line of scrimmage, then throwing a 38-yard touchdown pass to Miller.

Not bad for a guy who had two bags of IV injected into him shortly before game time.

“I had the flu and I still have it right now,” Humphries said. “I felt real weak and weary. I guess the win kind of passes a little of that by.”

Humphries, who lost six pounds during the week because of the virus, tried to downplay his big day.

“I just spread the ball around,” said Humphries, whose previous career high of 257 yards against Phoenix in 1990 came when he was with the Washington Redskins. “I just try to improve each week. You get a better feel of the offense every week. You get a better feel of the players around you. It’s a great feeling to come in and win this game.”

After four years of sitting on the bench in Washington, Humphries said San Diego is beginning to feel like home.

“We won a lot (in Washington), but I wasn’t really a part of it because I didn’t play,” he said. “These guys fight every day. They fight their guts out. It’s just great to finally have something to show for it.”