Game Adds Meaning to Being On A Roll

The Chargers did some crazy things. The Chargers did some wonderful things. The Chargers did some stupid things. The Chargers did some lucky things.

However, all of these things went their way and added up to a 27-3 victory over the Raiders Sunday night before the first sellout crowd of the season and a national television audience.

All of this worked because this team also played very solid football, which it has throughout this seven-out-of-eight run into the thick of the playoff picture in the American Football Conference.

This was almost a playoff-type atmosphere, a feeling that has not existed hereabouts in a decade. Part of that was because of the Raiders, whose presence alone creates a special kind of frenzy.

In reality, the Raiders contributed nothing to the significance of this game . . . only to how it was perceived by the multitudes awakening to what this Charger team has done. Keeping this run alive, and building on the momentum, would have been important if the Canton Bulldogs had been in town.

Those who came because this rivalry represents a command performance occasion with the finest of tailgate parties may have inadvertently discovered that the local heroes are worth watching regardless of their sparring partners.

For their parts, the Raiders had to go away wondering if they had had their pockets picked or just plain been mugged. All they know is that they left town without their wallets.

This was a cross between the NFL and something you’d find 10-year-olds playing on a sandlot.

Take, for example, a play that transpired with about a minute to play in the first half.

The Raiders, down 14-3 at the time, had driven to a first down at the Charger 29. A touchdown would get them back into the game, though they were hardly very far out of it.

Quarterback Jay Schroeder passed to Tim Brown, who had the the ball jarred loose by Delton Hall at the 24. Bounces going as they were for the Chargers, Junior Seau retrieved the loose ball and began to run. He got to the 34 and, as he was being tackled, lateraled to Sean Vanhorse. The journey continued with Vanhorse reaching the 48 before he lateraled to Darren Carrington.

When the dust had settled, the Chargers’ version of a Cal Bear kickoff return positioned them at the Raider 48. The play had everything but the Stanford band on the field.

(Memo to Pop Warner coaches: Do not, repeat, do not, let your players see this film clip.)

Ronnie Harmon promptly gained 33 yards through the left side, leaving Raider defenders such as Ronnie Lott wondering if he was doing the lambada or carrying a football.

(Memo to Pop Warner coaches: This clip is required viewing.)

Then came two bizarre passes. Harmon caught one in the end zone, but it was ruled incomplete and the Chargers were deprived of a touchdown. Nate Lewis caught the next near the goal line and fumbled it, but it was ruled incomplete and the Raiders were deprived of gaining possession.

On third down from the 15, Stan Humphries hit Shawn Jefferson for a touchdown. There was no doubt on this one.

And the game was no longer very much in doubt either. The Chargers were up 21-3 and the Raiders, given the fact they had scored as many as 21 points in a game twice all year, were not about the erase that deficit.

Understand now that the first of the Chargers’ touchdowns was a mini-version of the Raiders’ famous Holy Roller of 1978. Ken Stabler fumbled that one to Pete Banaszak, who fumbled further forward to Dave Casper, who fumbled into the end zone to himself, and recovered it for a touchdown.

The Chargers’ Baby Roller came when Marion Butts carried for 18 yards to the 2 and fumbled. Anthony Miller kind of half-scooped, half-fumbled the ball into the end zone. And then he fell on it for a touchdown.

And that touchdown was set up when Stanley Richard intercepted a Schroeder pass that had been tipped by either receiver Willie Gault or defender Vanhorse or both. Richard made football’s version of a shoestring catch and ran it 20 yards. That play might have been called the Immaculate Interception.

The Chargers’ second touchdown followed a 45-yard gain on a one-handed catch by Harmon, who used the only hand he had available. A Raider linebacker was holding his other hand, presumably in an ill-timed gesture of camaraderie and goodwill.

Whatever could go right for the Chargers went right.

In the second half, when they were basically working the clock, they were able to hold the ball for eight minutes and 24 seconds on one possession because the sure-handed Lott dropped an easy interception.

The most important thing for the Chargers is that they found so many ways to win a football game against an opponent that has traditionally found so many ways to defeat them.

With the hype and hoopla of this game behind them, the Chargers can now attend to the business of four more games between them and, pinch yourselves, the playoffs. Those four teams have a combined record of 13 wins and 34 losses.

Crazy, huh?

And lucky too.