The way last Saturday night started out for San Diego Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers, fans in attendance may have been clamoring for the return of Drew Brees, who escaped to New Orleans in the off-season.
After regathering himself and the team, Rivers and the Chargers won their second game of the pre-season with a 31-20 victory over visiting Seattle.
Rivers fumbled just 12 seconds into the game, with Seattle’s Rocky Bernard pouncing on the ball in the end zone to give the Seahawks the early lead.
Not done there with his hot potato fingers, Rivers fumbled on the next series, with Seattle’s Leroy Hill recovering the pigskin. Six plays later, 2005 MVP Shaun Alexander converted on a nine-yard TD run to put Seattle up 14-0.
“Our play started off in a ridiculous way,” Rivers commented. “We started with two unacceptable plays to start off the game and after that we came back and scored 17 points.”
Not throwing in the towel, Rivers and the San Diego offense did rebound, led by a pair of TD runs by running back Michael Turner (38 yards, one yard) to tie it up.
“The line did a great job getting a good push up front and I just stretched it out then cut back and scored,” Turner said, referring to his first score. “We needed that big play, we were down 14-0.” A Nate Kaeding field goal with 7:19 remaining before halftime gave San Diego a 17-14 lead.
With many of the reserves seeing second half action and San Diego trailing 20-17 after a pair of Josh Brown field goals, the Chargers took the lead for good with 11:14 remaining in the game when running back Ray Perkins finished a 14-play, 73-yard drive with a two-yard TD run. San Diego closed out the scoring when third string QB A.J. Feeley hit tight end Ryan Krause on a 33-yard pass play with 3:09 left in the contest.
While Rivers struggled, San Diego Head Coach Marty Schottenheimer was already looking forward to moving on and preparing for the team’s final pre-season game this Friday night in San Francisco.
“Tell him (Rivers) to forget about it,” Schottenheimer said, referring to his performance. “We got to move forward. I was very proud of the way we hung together. We played hard. We scored. It is amazing what you can get done if you don’t turn the ball over.”
Hanging on to the ball should become a little easier come opening day (Monday, Sept. 11 at Oakland) when Pro-Bowl running back LaDainian Tomlinson returns to the lineup. Then again, a confident Philip Rivers will also need to show up.