On his worst statistical day as a starting quarterback in the NFL, Philip Rivers had one thing right.
“Shoot,” Rivers said to himself, “if I'm not throwing it good, let him throw it.”
K.C. ALFRED / Union-Tribune
A Chargers welcoming committee gathers around LaDainian Tomlinson after his first touchdown.
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“Him,” of course, is LaDainian Tomlinson, who once again bailed out the Chargers offense yesterday with his remarkable versatility.
Held in check for most of the afternoon, Tomlinson broke free in the fourth quarter with the most important pass of the day and the most important run, all in a span of about three minutes. The two plays led to 14 points as the Chargers survived an off day by Rivers to beat Oakland 21-14 at Qualcomm Stadium.
“It's the sign of a great team when you can have a guy that touches the ball every play not play very good, and still win,” Rivers said, speaking of himself. “Obviously LT has a lot to do with that.”
Tomlinson rushed for 66 yards and the winning touchdown in the fourth quarter, but it was his arm that was the larger topic for discussion. With the Chargers trailing 14-7, he lofted a 19-yard pass to Antonio Gates for the TD that tied the game with 9:46 remaining.
It was the sixth TD pass of Tomlinson's career, not bad considering he has thrown just 10 passes and completed seven. It also improved his record against the Raiders to 3-for-3 with three touchdowns.
“You just think there's no way we'll get them again; they're not going to let him throw another one,” Rivers said.
But as Tomlinson took a quick pitch from Rivers and ran to his right, every Raiders defender on that side of the field moved toward him. Gates just ran past them and Tomlinson's throw was perfect.
“I was like, 'Good night, he's wide open again,' ” Rivers said, laughing.
“They'll leave 85 open all day before they let 21 run,” Gates said, referring to himself and Tomlinson. “It was kind of a surprise (to be that open), but at the same time, it was like, I understand where y'all are coming from.”
The Raiders held Tomlinson to 52 yards rushing through the first 3½ quarters, but he broke free for a 44-yard run that moved the Chargers into position for his 10-yard TD run (which pushed him over 100 yards for the fifth straight game). The long play was designed to go left, but Tomlinson cut back and went around right end.
“He has the option, if they overflow, to look back side,” right tackle Shane Olivea said. “They overpursued because that's what they were doing all day. We knew eventually there was going to be at least one or two big back-side runs. We didn't know when it was going to happen.”
Two plays, and all the work the Raiders had done to stop Rivers was undone. Oakland's front-four pressure and tight man-to-man defense, combined with the quarterback's inaccuracy, led to a day on which he completed just 14-of-31 for 133 yards with zero touchdowns and one interception. His rating for the game was 44.2, compared with 99.7 for his first 10 starts.
“Phil's been on fire and he's been playing some of the best ball in the league,” backup quarterback Billy Volek said. “Quarterbacks are going to have their days like this, and the good thing about it is he kept on fighting through.”
Jay Posner: (619) 293-1834; jay.posner@uniontrib.com
