SEAN M. HAFFEY / Union-Tribune
LaDainian Tomlinson goes high over the pack.
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SAN FRANCISCO – Marty Schottenheimer marveled at LaDainian Tomlinson's second touchdown yesterday, a 1-yard dive that actually covered about 4 yards in length and seemingly 4 feet in height.
“It was the highest vertical leap I have ever seen a guy take,” the Chargers coach said. “I'm going to be anxious to see if there's some way you can measure it because it had to be a 48-inch vertical jump.”
Chargers fans no doubt joined Schottenheimer in his wonder – except one: Tomlinson's wife, LaTorsha.
“Each time I do it,” Tomlinson said with a smile after the Chargers' 48-19 romp over San Francisco at Monster Park, “my wife is just killing me: 'Stop doing that.'
“I'm just going to wait to see what she says when I get home. Honey, I'm sorry.”
It makes no difference, Tomlinson said, whether he scores on a dive.
“I tell her, 'I scored.' But she doesn't care,” he said, laughing again. “She says, 'Why not just stay on the ground? I think I saw a hole.' ”
Tomlinson did stay landlocked for his other three touchdowns yesterday on a day when he set a career high for rushing TDs in one game, tied his career best for total TDs in a single game and broke the all-time franchise record for TDs.
K.C. ALFRED / Union-Tribune
LaDainian Tomlinson flies over the line for one of his four touchdowns.
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His first score yesterday was the 84th of his career, breaking a tie with Lance Alworth. Tomlinson now has 87 TDs in 84 games.
“Obviously you have to have some consistency to get that record,” Tomlinson said. “I think it's just a tribute to being able to stay healthy for six years so far. . . . It's nice to have a record. I have a lot of people to thank: my offensive linemen, not only this group but from years past.”
This season has been a little different for Tomlinson, who rushed for 71 yards yesterday, his fourth game below 100 yards in five tries. He has averaged just 69 yards rushing in the past four games and ranks 10th in the league at 81.4 per game. (His average before this season was 93.2.) His per-carry average is down from 4.3 his first five seasons to 3.7.
But Tomlinson isn't really surprised. With the Chargers starting a new quarterback, he knew defenses would focus even more than usual this year on him. And yet, he also knows Philip Rivers has beaten most of those defenses and the Chargers are 4-1. So he's not about to complain.
“I knew early on in the season it was going to be kind of tough to run the ball because everybody was going to be looking for us to run,” said Tomlinson, who leads the Chargers with 26 receptions, including seven yesterday (for 64 yards). “The safeties are running down and filling the holes.
There is one area where Tomlinson's numbers are slightly above his norm – touchdowns. No one in the league has more than his seven, and he's on pace for 22, one more than he needs to continue his streak of scoring more TDs each year he's been in the league.
“LT is going into the Hall of Fame as the best back ever,” tight end Antonio Gates said. “I'm just glad I'm able to be around a guy like that. One day, when I get old, I'll get to say I played with LT. . .
“Some of the things he does now, I'm so used to that I view it in a different light from everyone else. He jumped over a pile on the goal line and I'm like, 'You couldn't jump any higher than that?'
“It's like Kobe Bryant in basketball. He hits 40 and you're like, 'He only hit 40?' With LT we're like, 'Oh, you had a four-touchdown day? You're just being LT.' ”
Jay Posner: (619) 293-1834; jay.posner@uniontrib.com
