Chargers Throw a Tampa Tantrum : Football: Riled up by the purported comments of Buccaneers’ coach, Henning’s charges force seven turnovers. Marion Butts scores three touchdowns in 41-10 victory.
SAN DIEGO — Before Sunday’s game with Tampa Bay, Coach Dan Henning told his Chargers that Buccaneer Coach Ray Perkins had guaranteed a victory.
He said Tampa Bay didn’t think much of the Chargers, and Perkins had said so. He said the Bucs weren’t starting quarterback Vinny Testaverde because Tampa Bay was taking the Chargers lightly.
And Henning said he had a tape of Perkins talking to prove it all, and so after the Chargers thrashed Tampa Bay, 41-10, before 40,653 in San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium Sunday, an agitated Gary Plummer went looking for Perkins.
“I told Perkins that he better think twice before he guarantees a victory against the Chargers again,” Plummer said. “He played dumb, which probably wasn’t real hard to do, but we have the tape to prove it.
“You know they say don’t burn any bridges, but I’ll blow that one up. Because I’ll tell you, I was fired up for this game because of what Perkins said and so were a lot of other guys.”
But did any of the Chargers actually hear this tape in which Perkins allegedly guaranteed a victory for Tampa Bay?
“Here’s the thing that matters,” quarterback Billy Joe Tolliver said. “If Dan Henning told me a chicken dipped snuff, you could look under his wing and there’d be a snuff can.”
The pumped-up Chargers scored the first four times they had the ball Sunday, posted a season-high 24 points in the first half and recorded the most points in a game since defeating Kansas City, 42-21, two years ago.
“We were ready to play,” tackle Broderick Thompson said. “I believe Perkins said what Dan said he said. I watched Dan after the game and he didn’t shake hands with Perkins. Hey, the way things went today, Perkins may not want to fly home now.”
Running back Marion Butts, who entered the game as the NFL’s leading rusher, scored on runs of one, two and five yards and became the first Charger to score three touchdowns in a game since Curtis Adams did in 1986 against the Raiders.
Tight end Rod Bernstine ran 15 times for 75 yards, including a 20-yard run for a touchdown, wide receiver Anthony Miller caught a 31-yard touchdown pass from Tolliver, and kicker John Carney added two field goals to run his streak to eight in a row.
The seven turnovers forced by the Chargers were the most since 1981 when Kansas City gave the ball to San Diego eight times, and the eight first downs recorded by (4-4) Tampa Bay, were the fewest allowed by the Chargers since stopping the Bucs for seven during the 1987 strike replacement games.
“The coup de grace for me,” Henning said, “was when they put Vinny Testaverde inactive before the game (with a toe injury). That’s what I told our players. I sure did. I told them that was proof positive that this was a game that didn’t mean much to them.”
And the tape . . .
“I just thought it was a pretty good approach,” Henning said, and he was smiling.
The Bucs weren’t. They were ambushed and left crawling for the locker room by halftime when they trailed, 24-7.
They fumbled the ball five times and lost it three times. Quarterback Chris Chandler, starting in place of the injured Testaverde, threw four interceptions and was sacked four times.
It was an improvement: In his last start against the Chargers two years ago, Chandler was playing for the Colts and was intercepted three times.
“There’s not much you should say when you get your butt kicked like we did,” Perkins said. “I don’t understand how they’ve only won three games so far. I’ll take the blame for this one, for not having the team prepared as they should have been. I’m embarrassed.”
The Chargers’ first-half domination included a 21:02-8:58 advantage in time of possession, and a nine-for-11 performance in third-down conversions. By game’s end, Bucs’ running back Gary Anderson, who entered the game leading the league in yards from scrimmage, had a total of 26.
“At times, we play like we’re a playoff team, and then there are times when we look like the last-place team in the league,” Charger linebacker Henry Rolling said. “But I’m expecting some big things from our team right now. I can see it coming together . . . We’re on the verge.”
Cornerback Gill Byrd grabbed two errant Chandler passes and became the team’s all-time interception leader with 30, bypassing Dick Harris.
“Longevity is the key,” said Byrd, who leads the team with five interceptions this season. “We played a lot of zone coverage today and I’m sure Chandler was expecting man-to-man. That’s what messed him up, and Chandler isn’t as accurate as Testaverde.”
Byrd’s first interception came in the first quarter after Butts’s one-yard plunge had given the Chargers a 7-0 lead. It set up Tolliver’s well-aimed touchdown pass to Miller in the corner of the end zone on the initial play of the second quarter.
“My God, that was a beautiful throw,” guard David Richards said. “Billy needed that. It was great for his confidence.”
The Bucs appeared ready to head home at that point, but on third and 12 from their 32, they were a step quicker than the Chargers’ all-out blitz.
“We wanted to make a statement to them that we were going to be able to come after them regardless of the down and distance and weren’t going to play it conservatively,” defensive coordinator Ron Lynn said. “We made the statement, but it wasn’t quite the statement we wanted to make.”
Chandler, who was replaced in the fourth quarter by Jeff Carlson, beat the blitz and connected with Mark Carrier for a 68-yard touchdown with 13:18 remaining in the first half.
But the Chargers remained undaunted. They continued to hog the ball, and went 74 yards in 16 plays to grab a 17-7 lead on Carney’s 28-yard field goal with 6:02 left in the second quarter.
Donnie Elder, who was released earlier by the Miami Dolphins, collected his first interception with the Chargers on the Bucs’ next possession and put his team in position to score again from the Tampa Bay 29.
The Chargers converted three third downs in a row, including a final third and goal from the two, and went ahead, 24-7, at the half on Butts’ two-yard touchdown run.
“It was tough out there and they were keying on me,” Butts said, after rushing 24 times for 73 yards. “But it’s nice, because the coaches can keep both myself and Bernstine fresh, and that hurts the defense.”
After Steve Christie’s 48-yard field goal in the third quarter, the Chargers scored 17 points in the fourth quarter.
They also had a one-yard touchdown run by Bernstine in the fourth quarter negated by illegal motion, but there’s always next week.
“I think you’ve got to continue to keep plugging,” Henning said. “You can’t overreact and get to the point where all of a sudden you feel like this is the way it’s going to be.
“We were in dire need of a win here, but it is going to take more than just one game. . . . I kind of like the way this one turned out.”
Cue up the tape, and play it again, Dan.
CHARGER REPORT
* Offensive linemen are young, but they know how to hoop it up. C15A
* Charger Review, Report Card C15A
