SAN FRANCISCO – For much of the first half yesterday, the Chargers defense barely resembled the unit that ranked No. 1 in the league in yards and points allowed.
San Diego yielded per-game averages of 204.5 yards and 9.0 points in its first four outings. But here it was the second quarter at Monster Park and San Francisco already had 175 yards and 17 points.
Not only that, but it was threatening to get worse. When the defense next took the field, it was after a safety that cut San Diego's seemingly safe 18-point lead in half. The home team had all the momentum.
“If they would have driven down and scored,” cornerback Quentin Jammer said, “they would have been in the game.”
The threat lasted one play.
Alex Smith tried to throw a quick pass to his right, but linebacker Shaun Phillips jumped and deflected the ball. It went straight up, and defensive end Luis Castillo came over and caught it just before he tripped over Phillips at the 49ers' 35-yard line.
The Chargers offense came back on the field and took care of those 35 yards in about 2½ minutes, with LaDainian Tomlinson scoring from the 1 with 33 seconds left in the half. The lead was 35-19, and the danger had passed.
“That's a game-changer,” linebacker Shawne Merriman said of Castillo's pick after San Diego's 48-19 victory.
Just don't ask Castillo what happened. He never had an interception – at any level – before yesterday and he's not sure how he got this one.
“I was rushing inside, I got stood up, I turned around and saw the ball there,” the second-year Charger said. “I thought, 'I hope I get there before somebody else does.'
“It all happened so fast. After I caught the ball, all I could think of was, 'Just hold on.' ”
Castillo said he joked later with Tomlinson that after he got the ball “everything went dark. I had no idea what happened, who tackled me, where anybody was. I just felt people poking for the ball. I said, 'I'm glad I don't have your job.' ”
The Chargers happily will keep both men in their current jobs. Not only did Castillo make that interception, he recorded his fourth sack of the season, surpassing his total (3½) from his rookie year.
“He's the most athletic 285-pounder that you'll ever meet,” said Phillips, who shares a house with Castillo. “It's unbelievable how this kid runs and moves. It was just a great play.”
It set the stage for a much-improved second half by the defense, which allowed just 95 yards and zero points after intermission. It was the second straight week the Chargers allowed fewer than 100 yards in the second half, the third time they shut out an opponent after halftime and the fifth time they did not give up a point in the third quarter.
“We've got to start fast,” Jammer said. “We didn't come out like the San Diego Chargers defense. We came out like San Francisco was supposed to roll over and give us the game and you can't do that against a good offense. Once we got in the groove of things, we saw that those boys came to play, we had to step it up.”
Said Castillo: “Credit goes to the offense for really bailing us out early today and putting them in a hole. They were trying to fight out the rest of the second half and that eliminates half their playbook and makes things easier.”
Jammer and Castillo said the defense obviously was pleased with the final score, but not with the overall performance.
“We feel we're the No. 1 defense in the league, we need to go out and play like it every week,” Jammer said.
Jay Posner: (619) 293-1834; jay.posner@uniontrib.com
