Broncos Much Too Sharpe in Beating Chargers, 28-17

This will come as a news flash to the San Diego Chargers today, but Shannon Sharpe is an eligible receiver for the Denver Broncos. Tall guy, plays tight end, wears No. 84 on his front, on his back, even has this diamond-studded No. 84 dangling from his neck.

The Chargers have defensive coaches on the sideline, more upstairs in the press box with communication to the field and at some point--maybe after his first touchdown catch, or his second, or third, or sometime before his 13th reception in a 28-17 victory over San Diego--shouldn’t somebody have suggested covering Sharpe?

“Next question,” said Charger strong safety Rodney Harrison, still puzzled long after the Denver Broncos had come back from a 17-point deficit largely on the strength of Sharpe’s play before 75,058 in Mile High Stadium.

The Broncos (5-1), already energized by Charger linebacker Junior Seau’s pregame comments that Denver had only “a bunch of average players,” received a late ‘80s vintage passing performance from quarterback John Elway to nail the Chargers (4-2) with their ninth defeat in 10 meetings here.

“I liked Seau’s comments earlier in the week; that got me going,” said Elway, who completed 32 of 41 passes for 323 yards and four touchdowns.

Seau’s flamboyant play, which includes throwing a fist into the air after a good defensive play, also caught Elway’s attention in the first half.

“When he does that, it makes me mad,” Elway said. “He didn’t do it too much in the second half.”

The Broncos not only outscored San Diego, 21-0, in the second half, but had the Chargers looking as if they had quit:

--San Diego’s defense lived up to its last-place standing by giving up 406 net yards. Charger defenders Chris Mims and Harrison whiffed on a fourth quarter tackling attempt of Ed McCaffrey, which would have forced a field-goal attempt, instead of the nine-yard pass play for the Broncos’ final touchdown.

--San Diego’s offense ran 24 plays in the second half, gained 82 yards, lost 55 yards in penalties, failed to score and almost sent its own quarterback to the hospital because of an inability to cope with the Denver pass rush.

“When they can rush three people late in the game and take a shot on our quarterback, that’s disgusting,” said Charger Coach Bobby Ross. “That’s disgusting, and I’m not going to tolerate that, I’m going to tell you that right now.”

It was downright painful for Stan Humphries, the Chargers’ quarterback, who required eight stitches to mend his chin and who was wearing a neck brace after the game. Humphries, who had given the Chargers a 17-0 lead on the strength of two five-yard touchdown passes to Terrell Fletcher and Tony Martin, was knocked out of the game with 34 seconds to play.

“It’s nice to know we’ve got the week off [bye],” said Humphries, who looked like a man needing a month off.

The Chargers’ continuing inability to run the ball along with their receivers’ habit of dropping the ball do not bode well for a team looking to play with playoff-caliber teams. The Broncos, meanwhile, excelled early this season with running back Terrell Davis carrying the load, but when the Chargers stopped Davis, they placed their fortunes on Elway’s arm.

Davis, bothered for a second time this season because of a migraine headache, had to remove himself from the game in the first half, but returned to finish with 50 yards in 17 carries.

By then Elway had finished playing catch with Sharpe. “Elway just picked us apart,” said San Diego linebacker Kurt Gouveia.

Elway moved ahead of former Charger quarterback Dan Fouts into fourth place all-time in the NFL in passing yards with 43,092, and if he could play the Chargers every week and throw to Sharpe, he’d probably be No. 1.

“Shannon does amazing things to get open,” Elway said.

Said Sharpe: “They tried to play us in man-to-man coverage. Coach [Mike] Shanahan says if you can’t get open against man-to-man coverage you might as well be a car salesman. Well, I’m not ready to sell cars yet.”