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Look at the odds the Chargers faced Sunday.
Seattle played at home Sept. 4, winning in a rout. So the Seahawks, rested, had a mini-bye before the game in San Diego on Sunday. San Diego played on the road Monday night, losing a tortuous game 18-17 to Arizona, and arrived back at the airport in San Diego about 2:30 a.m. Tuesday. The coaches went right to the office to game-plan for Seattle.
Problems. All week, problems. Center Nick Hardwick, 33, the soul of the offensive line, was lost for the year at Arizona with a neck stinger. He was crucial to the line and is Philip Rivers’ best friend on the team. Big blow. On Wednesday, coach Mike McCoy caught a bug that was going around the team. He felt awful. On Thursday in practice, starting corner Brandon Flowers went down with a groin strain; he’d miss the game Sunday. On Saturday night, Anna Johnson, pregnant wife of starting outside linebacker Jarret Johnson, went into labor, and he went to be with her; he’d miss the game Sunday too. The team was hit, as every team was, by the awful week in the NFL. McCoy addressed his team about Ray Rice and domestic violence and said, “The league’s not screwing around anymore.’’
McCoy told his team all week: “Positive play after positive play. Just do the little things right, time after time, and we’ll be fine. We’ll play with these guys.” He told the defense to keep Russell Wilson in the pocket; don’t let him escape. On offense, don’t get into third-and-longs, because Seattle will eat you alive with the rush and the great coverage. And one more thing: We’ll go after Richard Sherman if our guy—mostly Keenan Allen—is open.
What McCoy couldn’t anticipate was this generation’s Fouts-to-Winslow winning the game for him. Philip Rivers to Antonio Gates. Of all the stories in Week 2, the chemistry between these two men makes Rivers-to-Gates the story of the week. Rivers threw three touchdown passes Sunday, all to Gates. He threw seven passes to Gates, who caught them all.
“I am serious about this,” McCoy told me Sunday night. “They could wear blindfolds and complete passes.”
Rivers and Gates have been together since 2004—this is their 11th season as a tandem, and that’s forever in the NFL. “He reads my posture,” said Gates. “He reads my body language.” And Gates reads Rivers’ weird throws. Some are vintage rippers. Some are shot-put things. The throws get there, but they’re not beautiful all the time. In the second quarter, Gates was singled by safety Kam Chancellor, and Rivers led him in the back of the end zone perfectly for an eight-yard touchdown. Later in the quarter, Gates hand-fought with linebacker Malcolm Smith; Smith would be flagged for defensive holding on the play. Gates veered off after too much contact, and Rivers, who just barely escaped the Seattle rush in the pocket, looped a throw over Smith and Chancellor again. Touchdown.
On the third one, late in the third quarter, Rivers sent Gates up the left side, shadowed by linebacker K.J. Wright—with the ever-present Chancellor steaming over to help. Too late. The ball got there just in time, and Gates made one of the prettiest catches of his life. With two physical Seahawks bearing down on him, Gates reached up and caught it with his right hand, alone, and brought it into his body. There was absolutely no defense for those throws. None. Seattle played good coverage. Rivers and Gates were perfect together.
“I told our guys we’d have to grind it out, and it might not be pretty,’’ McCoy said.
He was wrong there. What Rivers and Gates did Sunday was pretty. Beautiful, actually.
Look at the odds the Chargers faced Sunday.
Seattle played at home Sept. 4, winning in a rout. So the Seahawks, rested, had a mini-bye before the game in San Diego on Sunday. San Diego played on the road Monday night, losing a tortuous game 18-17 to Arizona, and arrived back at the airport in San Diego about 2:30 a.m. Tuesday. The coaches went right to the office to game-plan for Seattle.
Problems. All week, problems. Center Nick Hardwick, 33, the soul of the offensive line, was lost for the year at Arizona with a neck stinger. He was crucial to the line and is Philip Rivers’ best friend on the team. Big blow. On Wednesday, coach Mike McCoy caught a bug that was going around the team. He felt awful. On Thursday in practice, starting corner Brandon Flowers went down with a groin strain; he’d miss the game Sunday. On Saturday night, Anna Johnson, pregnant wife of starting outside linebacker Jarret Johnson, went into labor, and he went to be with her; he’d miss the game Sunday too. The team was hit, as every team was, by the awful week in the NFL. McCoy addressed his team about Ray Rice and domestic violence and said, “The league’s not screwing around anymore.’’
McCoy told his team all week: “Positive play after positive play. Just do the little things right, time after time, and we’ll be fine. We’ll play with these guys.” He told the defense to keep Russell Wilson in the pocket; don’t let him escape. On offense, don’t get into third-and-longs, because Seattle will eat you alive with the rush and the great coverage. And one more thing: We’ll go after Richard Sherman if our guy—mostly Keenan Allen—is open.
What McCoy couldn’t anticipate was this generation’s Fouts-to-Winslow winning the game for him. Philip Rivers to Antonio Gates. Of all the stories in Week 2, the chemistry between these two men makes Rivers-to-Gates the story of the week. Rivers threw three touchdown passes Sunday, all to Gates. He threw seven passes to Gates, who caught them all.
“I am serious about this,” McCoy told me Sunday night. “They could wear blindfolds and complete passes.”
Rivers and Gates have been together since 2004—this is their 11th season as a tandem, and that’s forever in the NFL. “He reads my posture,” said Gates. “He reads my body language.” And Gates reads Rivers’ weird throws. Some are vintage rippers. Some are shot-put things. The throws get there, but they’re not beautiful all the time. In the second quarter, Gates was singled by safety Kam Chancellor, and Rivers led him in the back of the end zone perfectly for an eight-yard touchdown. Later in the quarter, Gates hand-fought with linebacker Malcolm Smith; Smith would be flagged for defensive holding on the play. Gates veered off after too much contact, and Rivers, who just barely escaped the Seattle rush in the pocket, looped a throw over Smith and Chancellor again. Touchdown.
On the third one, late in the third quarter, Rivers sent Gates up the left side, shadowed by linebacker K.J. Wright—with the ever-present Chancellor steaming over to help. Too late. The ball got there just in time, and Gates made one of the prettiest catches of his life. With two physical Seahawks bearing down on him, Gates reached up and caught it with his right hand, alone, and brought it into his body. There was absolutely no defense for those throws. None. Seattle played good coverage. Rivers and Gates were perfect together.
“I told our guys we’d have to grind it out, and it might not be pretty,’’ McCoy said.
He was wrong there. What Rivers and Gates did Sunday was pretty. Beautiful, actually.
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