Carolina Gets the Break

By Tom Shanahan

E-MAIL STORY

Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2008 | Maybe the football gods were confused last weekend.

Maybe with Carolina Panthers head coach John Fox -- a San Diego State safety from the 1975 and 1976 seasons who was back home while his team worked out at SDSU in preparation for the season opener against the Chargers -- the miracle moment that San Diego State needed to win Saturday at Notre Dame was instead granted to Fox and his Panthers on Sunday at Qualcomm Stadium.

As time expired, Carolina tight end Dante Rosario caught a 14-yard pass for the game-winning touchdown from quarterback Jake Delhomme.

That makes two football games played at San Diego's Mission Valley stadium this year, and both were decided on the final play. San Diego State opened up its season Aug. 30 at home when Cal Poly won 29-27 on a field goal as time expired.

But plenty of yardage separates the Chargers' state of mind after Sunday's lost compared to last year's 1-3 start.

There is about as much time distance as there was between Delhomme's desperation pass to Rosario and the Chargers' two 80-yard touchdown drives in the second and fourth quarters.

Hopefully, there will be less panic to put up with from fans posting on message boards and others calling in to sports talk radio.

A year ago, the Chargers admitted they were bewildered by their slow start until they turned things around with six straight regular-season victories to claim a second straight AFC West title and two more playoff wins before an injury-hampered loss to the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship game.

They weren't talking that way Monday at Chargers Park.

"There isn't anything that will present itself that we haven't seen," Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers said. "That's huge -- the unknown and how you're going to respond. There isn't anything we haven't seen, the ups and downs, in the last four years that I've been here. We can certainly handle this. This pales in comparison to what we've dealt with."

Last year Chargers running back LaDainian Tomlinson said head coach Norv Turner told the team during the slow start that they could sulk or they could get back to work. History shows us they kept working.

If there was some doubt that Turner had the right locker room message for his players then, there isn't now. Tomlinson was disappointed on Monday, but he didn't look alarmed.

LT said the Chargers know where they could have played better, and that to win such a game while not playing well would have stung like a mosquito bite. To lose and play that way stings like a snake bite.

"This league is so close in talent that any misstep on a certain play can cost you," Tomlinson said. "That's the one thing that we had talked about was making sure we take advantage of the opportunities when they're there and making the plays that present themselves because this league is so good. We saw that yesterday. In fact, we saw it all last year. That was the difference between when we started out 1-3 not making them plays. Then when we got on a run some of those plays just went our way."

Or maybe you didn't notice that the Indianapolis Colts are also off to a 0-1 start after losing at home to the Chicago Bears.

The one play that didn't go the Chargers' way Sunday was a pass safety Eric Weddle nearly tipped away. Turner said if the linebackers were a step deeper in their coverage they might have knocked the pass away, too.

At Notre Dame, they always say a leprechaun is lurking about, sneaking in a magical hand to make a big play go the Irish's way.

Maybe a leprechaun forced SDSU running back Brandon Sullivan to fumble at the goal line on a play that otherwise would have given the Aztecs' a seemingly insurmountable 20-7 lead.

Or maybe a leprechaun convinced the football gods, who have long owed San Diego State some breaks, that the Aztec that needed a miracle was John Fox, and that he could be found on Sunday afternoon at his old Mission Valley stadium haunt.

Tom Shanahan is voiceofsandiego.org's sports columnist. He is the media coordinator for the San Diego Hall of Champions and an occasional writer for Chargers.com. You can e-mail him at toms@sdhoc.com. Or send a letter to the editor.

7 Comments so far on this story...

Great article Tom! Lets hope for the best for the Chargers as they try and find their way back to the playoffs this year. We know they got the talent just needs to execute. Hopefully they have all the jitters out and we get to see them next week explode on Shanahan!

Posted by ryan | reply to this comment
September 9, 2008 5:16 am

I have rewatched the game 4 times now. I am watching it again. "If" everthing would have "worked out" for the Panthers, we would have scored over 35 points on the Chargers. 1st drive- Moose dropped some key passes that could have gotten us at least 3 points. 2nd- 4 &1 at the goal should have been 7 points The next drive we were doing great until penalties killed us in the redzone. Should have been 7 The drive before the end of the 1st 1/2 Jarrett dropped the TD in the endzone. Its should have been 7 as well. You get the point. Add Gambles TD and the game Winner its 40 points. The Panthers dominated the Chargers. Move on.

Posted by Cardiac Cat | reply to this comment
September 11, 2008 7:27 am

Catching a break? Desperation pass? You're joking right? The Chargers were dominated most of the game and were down by 9 until our turnover let you back in the game. I still think you have an excellent team... but denial won't help you move on. Last Sunday your team was outplayed and out coached. Lets plan on meeting again in Tampa... best of luck with the rest of the season. Panther Fan

Posted by PantherCane | reply to this comment
September 11, 2008 12:34 pm

I have to agree with my fellow Panther fans...the Chargers are a great team, and my favorites in the AFC, but you guys got dominated in every phase of the game last weekend. The Panthers out rushed you, out threw you, and out muscled you all game long. You talk about luck going the Panthers way? How about the luck that allowed Hackett's fumble to roll around a foot from the sideline and stay in-bounds before being returned for a TD? How lucky was the busted coverage that allowed that one bomb to Jackson? Both those plays were at least as "lucky" as Jake's throw and Rosario's catch. It was a great game and a respectable loss, no need to try and make excuses about it being lucky. Next time, just man up and admit you got beat by a better team that day.

Posted by CarpeDM | reply to this comment
September 11, 2008 1:32 pm

I dont know what game the writer watched but the Chargers were beat in all phases of the game....Desperation pass?! Heck if Jake had any more time on the last play he could of filmed another Bojangles commercial......sour loosers.

Posted by ChrisHarris | reply to this comment
September 11, 2008 5:48 pm

Leave the poor writer alone, he obviously needs to tell himself these things to make his job easier and keep his loyal readers happy. It's not about what is correct, it's about the Chargers writer and his fans. Let them be, the Panthers took care of business and will move on. You should too.

Posted by Bilbo | reply to this comment
September 11, 2008 6:06 pm

Just an FYI, I would say it may have looked like the Panthers dominated the Chargers, but that wasn't the case. If you look on footballoutsiders.co the weekly Power Rankings, the Chargers were the only team to lose with a higher DVOA than their opponent (mathematical breakdowns of every play to show which team really played better). The proof is in the pudding... tough red zone defense is what kept the Panthers from scoring more points, and Rivers' offense came alive in the second half to reverse the first half stats.

Posted by Alyssa | reply to this comment
September 14, 2008 11:55 am

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