Chargers Prove They Can Take Their Hits

There’s nothing like the first day an NFL team puts on the pads and starts hitting in training camp.

That was the case Saturday afternoon at the Home Depot Center with the San Diego Chargers, who entertained an estimated crowd of nearly 2,000 with a practice closing drill that featured a couple of big collisions.

“I’ve been with [Coach] Marty [Schottenheimer] for a long time, so I was looking forward to the Oklahoma drill and it was fun,” former UCLA linebacker Donnie Edwards said about Schottenheimer’s traditional training camp ritual. “It brings me back to my Pop Warner days.”

The drill is basic football. One blocker vs. one defender with a running back carrying the ball in between pads three yards apart. Every player in uniform other than quarterbacks and kickers participates in front of their teammates at least once, with the winners owning bragging rights for at least a day.

Offensive lineman Phil Bogle, an undrafted free-agent rookie from New Haven, received one of the biggest cheers from fans when he dominated veteran defensive end Marcellus Wiley.

“I’m 0-2 since Marty got here with his Oklahoma drill,” said Wiley, who took a comical view of his defeat. “Last year, I lost to a 10-year vet, Vaughn Parker. So that was a respected loss. Then I’m trying to work my way up the rankings and I lost to a rookie who was fired up. I worked hard on that drill. I was in my room going up against the wall, just knocking it trying to get leverage. Then I go out there and I’m pass rushing again.”

Whereas Wiley took one for the team, fellow defensive starter Edwards made his statement with a hit that left a nasty cut on the face of second-year center Luke Butkus, the nephew of Hall of Fame linebacker Dick Butkus.

Others who stood out in the drill included rookie linebackers Matt Wilhelm and LeMarcus McDonald from Ohio State and former USC linebacker Zeke Moreno.

The Chargers will practice only once today before returning to double sessions Monday. A crowd of nearly 1,000 attended the morning practice.

-- Lonnie White

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Safety Lee Flowers of the Denver Broncos has been suspended without pay for the first four games of the regular season for violating the NFL’s banned substances policy.

Flowers said he tested positive for ephedra, an over-the-counter stimulant that speeds the heart rate and constricts blood vessels.

The Broncos issued a statement saying the team knew Flowers would be suspended before signing him in June.

He signed a one-year deal after spending his first eight seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers, including the last five as a starter.

Flowers will be able to participate in training camp and Denver’s four exhibition games before his ban starts Aug. 31. He will be eligible to return to the active roster after Denver’s game against Detroit on Sept. 29.

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Defensive tackle Keith Hamilton of the New York Giants, charged with cocaine possession, was offered a plea deal including a sentence of probation and community service.

Hamilton, 32, appeared in Superior Court in Morristown, N.J.. Judge John Harper postponed the case until Sept. 2 to give Hamilton’s attorney time to gather information for prosecutors.

Lt. Jeffrey S. Paul, a spokesman for prosecutor Michael M. Rubbinaccio, said the arrangement calls for Hamilton to plead guilty to third-degree possession of cocaine.

If he pleads guilty, prosecutors said they will dismiss other charges against him. Those include possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia and motor vehicle offenses.