Big-Play Chargers Win Again
This is how things work for the San Diego Chargers these days.
Linebacker Donnie Edwards lurked around the line of scrimmage, hardly minding his own business. The ball was thrown, Edwards moved, and many of the 65,858 at Qualcomm Stadium ended up hoarse from screaming.
Another late-arriving defining moment pushed the Chargers to a 31-24 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday. Edwards intercepted Brian Griese’s pass and returned it 30 yards for a touchdown, breaking a 21-21 tie with 4 minutes 9 seconds left, leaving the Chargers giddy and a little nit-picky.
“You know, I thought Donnie was faster than that,” linebacker Steve Foley said. “He sure took his time getting there. I had to remind him that it was my block that got him there.”
A different view, a different perspective.
“I was standing next to [running back LaDainian Tomlinson] and we started bouncing up and down when Donnie caught the ball,” quarterback Drew Brees said. “Then he got into the end zone and we were bouncing even faster.”
The Chargers have come to expect these sort of bounces, almost anticipate them -- such as Foley forcing Griese to fumble and Shaun Phillips recovering the ball to set up a Nate Kaeding field goal that clinched the victory with 2:06 left.
These things just seem to have been happening to the Chargers in recent weeks.
This was their seventh consecutive victory, the last four of which have been by a touchdown or less, and inched the Chargers (10-3) closer to their first playoff appearance since 1995. They hold a two-game lead over Denver in the AFC West with three games remaining.
Not bad for a 4-12 team that nearly everyone wiped their feet on a year ago.
“This has been fun for us,” defensive back Jerry Wilson said. “We were the laughingstock of the NFL last season. Now every one gets up to play the Chargers. Yeah, this has been fun.”
Yeah, winning does that, as Tampa Bay players may recall.
This was a trip down memory lane for the Buccaneers, a return to the stadium where they won Super Bowl XXXVII.
It served as a reminder of how far they have come, or fallen, since then.
Buccaneer mistakes piled up Sunday, mostly by Griese, who had three passes intercepted. Tight end Ken Dilger did lend a hand, or foot, when he was called for a tripping penalty that wiped out Jay Taylor’s 20-yard field goal in the second quarter. Taylor’s 30-yard kick, which would have given Tampa Bay a 10-7 lead, deflected off the right upright.
The silver lining for the 5-8 Buccaneers is that they still sit in the playoff race, a tribute to the wafer-thin NFC this season.
“We’re still alive and kicking,” Tampa Bay linebacker Derrick Brooks said. “Anything is possible.”
For a visual, all the Buccaneers had to do was glance across the field to the Chargers.
A week ago, Denver came to town, ready to catch the Chargers in the division race. Wilson intercepted a pass in the end zone late in the fourth quarter, preserving a 20-17 victory.
The week before that, it was Edwards’ intercepting a pass that set up Kaeding’s game-winning field goal in the fourth quarter against Kansas City.
“Being born here in San Diego, the Chargers were life and it is exciting to bring back the days when I was growing up,” said Edwards, who had two interceptions in the game. “The ‘Air Cor- yell’ days.”
At times Sunday that was more “err” than “air.”
Brees threw two touchdown passes, including a career-long 79-yard scoring play to Eric Parker for a 7-0 second-quarter lead.
Tomlinson supplemented Brees’ play with 131 yards rushing. He scored a touchdown for the 10th consecutive game, a seven-yard run that gave the Chargers a 21-14 lead with 30 seconds left in the third quarter.
But Brees also had two passes intercepted -- one in the end zone -- one-third of his season total. And Tomlinson’s fumble in the fourth quarter set up Griese’s 20-yard touchdown pass to Michael Clayton that tied the score, 21-21, with 6:53 left in the game.
Then in stepped Edwards, and the Chargers moved on.
Said Brees: “One more down, plenty more to go.”
