Chargers Run To Win
Sunday, October 29, 2006
By Nick Wagoner
Senior
Writer
SAN DIEGO – The Rams have made a habit of getting key turnovers
and big defensive plays at the right time this season. On Sunday, it was another
key turnover that turned the tide of the game.
This time, it worked against the Rams as San Diego safety Marlon
McCree scooped up a Stephen Davis fumble and sprinted 79 yards for a touchdown
that helped break open the game and running back LaDainian Tomlinson took care
of the rest to give San Diego a 38-24 win against the Rams on Sunday at Qualcomm
Stadium.
The loss drops the Rams to 4-3 on the season and is their second
loss in a row. The Chargers improved to 5-2 with the win.
Just as it appeared the Rams had wrested momentum away from the
Chargers and were seemingly on the verge of tying a game they had trailed the
whole way, the turnovers that had gone their way so many times bounced the other
way.
With running back Steven Jackson on the sideline and 9:15 to go
in the third quarter, the Rams defense had figured out how to stop San Diego and
the offense had been moving the ball well.
On first-and-10 at San Diego’s 29, quarterback Marc Bulger
handed the ball to Davis who burst off the left side for a gain of 4, but as
Davis attempted to spin away for extra yards, Chargers defensive end Jacques
Cesaire knocked the ball loose.
McCree jumped on the ball, jumped to his feet and raced down the
right sideline for a touchdown. What could have become a 14-14 tie suddenly
became a 21-7 lead for the Chargers and the Rams never came closer than that
14-point deficit.
“We knew mistakes, any turnovers were going to hurt us,” Bulger
said. “We were conscious of that. We only turned it over once; unfortunately it
went for a touchdown.”
That turnover changed the momentum and the face of the game for
San Diego, but Tomlinson did the rest. Whether it be a long touchdown run, a key
third down reception or an onside kick recovery, Tomlinson did a little of
everything for the Chargers.
By the time his day was over, Tomlinson had compiled some eye
popping numbers against the Rams’ 23rd-ranked run defense. Tomlinson tallied 183
yards on 25 carries with a pair of touchdowns, three catches for 57 yards with a
touchdown and even recovered an onside kick in the fourth quarter.
It was a virtuoso performance by the league’s best all around
player.
“He might have had a quadruple double,” linebacker Pisa
Tinoisamoa said. “He’s a beast. What can you say?”
It didn’t help the Rams cause that they entered the game without
Tinoisamoa, the type of sideline to sideline player that is capable of keeping
up with Tomlinson or at least making him work harder for his yards. Tinoisamoa
had a broken left hand and injured elbow that kept him out of his first game as
a professional.
But the problems stopping the run and Tomlinson extend beyond a
missing weakside linebacker. Tomlinson seemed to find a way to get at least 4 or
5 yards on every carry, even when it appeared he was stopped. And when he wasn’t
grinding out extra yards, he was shedding tackles and busting loose for big
gains.
Tomlinson’s longest run of the day was a 51-yard burst off left
tackle, but he also had a 39-yard touchdown run in which he stiff armed free
safety Oshiomogho Atogwe out of his helmet.
With a player of Tomlinson’s caliber, missed tackles become more
glaring because it doesn’t take much to miss him.
“That’s something where we as a defense were not in the right
place at the right time and we didn’t make tackles when we needed to,” defensive
end Leonard Little said. “We didn’t get in our run fits and do some things we
needed to do against the run to stop the run and a great back. If you give him
an inch, he’s going to take a mile.”
The missed run fits can be attributed to any number of things,
but it was clear from the beginning that San Diego was going to have success on
the ground. The Chargers jumped to a 14-0 lead in a dominant first quarter that
saw Tomlinson score from 2 yards out followed by his 38-yard scamper.
When the Rams did begin to stop Tomlinson, the momentum shifted
in their direction. St. Louis held San Diego scoreless in the second quarter and
Tomlinson had just six carries for 21 yards.
Meanwhile, the Rams offense began to do its part by getting the
offense going and keeping Tomlinson and Co. off the field. The offense had its
best drive of the half, marching 74 yards on 11 plays before Jackson burst in
from 3 yards out with a strong second effort.
Heading into the locker room, the Rams had cut the lead in half,
momentum and the ball coming out of the locker room.
“That’s not the way you want to start but it happens,” coach
Scott Linehan said. “I thought we fought back in it. And got it back to a one
score game, had an opportunity if we had played better in the third quarter to
come back out and really start with some momentum.”
Indeed, the Rams seemed to be in good shape entering the third
quarter. After trading punts to start, the Rams began moving the ball through
the air and on the ground. Davis picked up 14 yards on third-and-1 and Bulger
followed with a 37-yard strike to Isaac Bruce.
Davis coughed it up on the next play and suddenly the energy the
Rams had seemed to regain vanished.
“They just got the ball out,” Linehan said. “He had a good run
on the play. He’s been pretty good with the ball in his career. But that’s not
the only mistake we made in the game.”
Even after the turnover, the Rams had some opportunities to
climb back in the game. Bulger found his rhythm on his way to another stellar
performance as he finished 27-of-40 for 327 yards and a pair of touchdowns for a
rating of 109.1. Bruce finished with five catches for 105 yards.
In the fourth quarter, Bulger connected with Kevin Curtis for a
6-yard score and hit Shaun McDonald for a 7-yard touchdown. But those scores
weren’t enough as Tomlinson came back to life with a 25-yard touchdown grab from
Philip Rivers.
“We did a good job of making adjustments,” Bulger said. “We have
gone halves, we have gone quarters where we didn’t do anything then we can
explode. It was too little too late today.”
Clearly, the Rams faced a tall order going into San Diego to
play a talented Chargers team. Fortunately for St. Louis, it finds itself in a
tie atop the NFC West Division standings after Seattle’s loss to Kansas City. In
other words, there is still plenty to play for.
“I don’t know if it’s consolation but it’s reality,” Linehan
said. “You have to keep a real sense of reality in pro football. You have a lot
of things going on. We didn’t have a good game today but we are still in good
position within the division.”
To keep that good position, the Rams will have to get back to
the formula that put them there in first place by creating turnovers, taking
care of the ball and making big plays on both sides of the ball.
And, for the first time this season, the Rams couldn’t come up
with enough of those answers.
“This defense is built on turnovers and getting our offense back
on the field and today we weren’t able to do that at all,” Little said. “We have
to do that and we weren’t able to do that today.”
