Charger Foes Issue Vote of Confidence

Receiving a playoff recommendation from the Buccaneers is not like getting one from the San Francisco 49ers or the Buffalo Bills. But the Chargers, who haven’t seen the playoffs since 1982, will take it.

“They look like they’re going to the playoffs,” Tampa Bay quarterback Vinny Testaverde said. “They’ve certainly got the talent to do it. I wish them the best of luck because they’re a very good solid football team.”

How would the Buccaneers (4-7) know a good team?

They have played NFC-leading Minnesota (8-3) twice and New Orleans (7-3) once. They lost to the Vikings, 26-20 and 35-7, and to the Saints, 23-21. And now they’ve lost to the Chargers, 29-14.

Buccaneers Coach Sam Wyche said that resume hardly qualifies his squad as a dog team, as a reporter had suggested.

“I know they don’t think that we’re mutts,” Wyche said. “They’re not playing any mutts. They know that themselves. The Raiders will be tough for them. Everybody now will be gearing up a little bit more for this football team, because they are being recognized as a better team than they’ve been.”

Wyche, who coached the Bengals to two AFC Central titles and one AFC championship, recognizes the Chargers as better.

“They’re a little bit ahead of us in the overall picture,” he said. “They’ve got a couple of elements in there that we don’t have just yet. We’ve got good receivers but we don’t have that pure speed guy that stretches a defense like they do with (Anthony) Miller and (Nate) Lewis. They’ve got a good football team. I think that given their schedule, they’ll do well.”

Gary Anderson, a Charger from 1985 through 1988, agrees.

“They’ve got a good all-around team,” he said. “They can go as far as they want to go. They have to keep playing good ball, but they have a shot to do something.”

Testaverde, who was sacked by the Charger defense six times, lauded the Charger pass rush.

“They did some nice things on defense,” he said. “Their front four really played good today. We were trying to get rid of the ball quicker and avoid the sack.”

Tampa Bay tackle Paul Gruber, who spent the day trying to block defensive end Leslie O’Neal, said he hasn’t seen a better front four.

“O’Neal’s playing about as well as anyone I’ve seen,” Gruber said. “They all come at you pretty good.”

The Charger defense overall?

“We’ve played against the Bears and the Vikings. Their defense is as good as I’ve seen,” Gruber said.

“They’ve got a good defense,” said running back Reggie Cobb, “but they’re not world-beaters,” he said.

All Testaverde knows is the Chargers are legitimate.

“They are as good as anyone we’ve faced, including Minnesota and New Orleans,” he said. “They are as good as anyone in the league.”