Week 2 - Chargers fall to Broncos, 37-13

AFC West Forum

09.14.03 - Both defenses had their sites set on stopping the other team’s running back going into the Chargers’ 2003 home opener against the Denver Broncos at Qualcomm Stadium on Sunday.
The target of San Diego’s defensive ire was Clinton Portis, who rushed for more than 100 yards in each of the two meetings between the Broncos and Chargers last year. On the other side, Denver’s defense was looking to respond to a 220-yard performance by LaDainian Tomlinson the last time the teams squared off at Qualcomm on Dec. 1, 2002.

Neither player disappointed the near capacity crowd of 65,445 fans, but it was the Broncos ability to run the ball balanced with their efficient passing attack that turned out to be the difference in Denver’s 37-13 win.

“I think it’s reasonably evident that right now we’re not playing very well,” said Head Coach Marty Schottenheimer. “One of the problems that I see is that we don’t have any consistency or continuity. We move the ball for a while then we don’t move the ball.

“In two games in a row, what’s happening to us is we’re getting behind the eight ball early on and we’re not really ready to play catch-up football.”

Tomlinson finished with 120 combined yards from scrimmage, rushing for 93 yards on 16 carries and catching five passes for 27 more yards.

Portis was sensational in the first half, gaining 129 yards on 12 carries before the break. He had 110 rushing yards on seven carries in the first quarter alone as Denver jumped out to a 14-3 lead. Portis missed the entire second half after suffering a bruised sternum, but by then the Broncos had a big enough lead to make his absence almost unnoticeable.

The Chargers fell behind 24-10 in the first half, forcing the Bolts to turn to their passing game to try and make up the deficit, essentially taking Tomlinson out of the offensive game plan.
“It was kind of like what happened last week,” said Tomlinson, referring to the Chargers 27-14 loss to the Chiefs. “It’s hard to play catch-up, especially when teams are as explosive as Kansas City and Denver. We just got behind. The game-plan changes once you get behind.”

After the Broncos broke out to a big lead, the Chargers turned to quarterback Drew Brees, who completed 20 of 41 passes for 182 yards, one touchdown and one interception. He was hampered most of the day because Denver’s defense had the advantage of knowing the Chargers had to throw the ball to get back into the game.

Denver’s starting quarterback Jake Plummer completed nine of 13 passes for 94 yards and three touchdowns before being forced from the game late in the second quarter with a separated shoulder. Veteran Steve Beuerlein replaced Plummer just before intermission and immediately drove Denver for a field goal on his first possession. Beuerlein completed seven of 16 passes for 98 yards while guiding Denver to 16 of its 37 points. Combined, Denver’s quarterbacks were 16 of 29 for 192 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions for a rating of 110.1.

But what was most troublesome to Schottenheimer was the Chargers’ inability to stop the run. All told, the Broncos rushed for 197 yards on 33 carries, an average of 6.0 yards per carry.

“The rushing defense continues to be a major problem for us,” said Schottenheimer. “In this league, if you can’t stop the run, you’re not going to be very successful.”

The Broncos got on the board on the game’s opening possession with a 12-yard touchdown pass from Plummer to fullback Reuben Droughns, putting Denver up 7-0 with 12:18 left in the first quarter. Portis did the bulk of the damage on the drive with runs of 25 and 15 yards, giving him 40 yards on his first two carries.

The Chargers turned to Tomlinson on their next possession, handing the ball to the Pro Bowl running back on their first four plays for 39 yards on four carries. Tomlinson also caught two passes for nine yards during the drive, which resulted in a 19-yard Steve Christie field goal to make the score 7-3 with 6:21 left in the opening stanza.

Not to be outdone, Portis ripped off a 58-yard run on the Broncos next possession, giving Denver first down and 10 at San Diego’s 16-yard line. The drive resulted in a one-yard touchdown pass from Plummer to tight end Shannon Sharpe, increasing Denver’s lead to 14-3 with 1:36 left in the first quarter.

Denver extended its lead to 21-3 with a three-yard touchdown pass from Plummer to Cooper Carlisle on a tackle eligible with 6:58 left before halftime. The touchdown came three plays after the Broncos converted on fourth down. Facing fourth and less than a yard at San Diego’s five, Denver opted to go for the first down rather than kick a field goal. Plummer kept the drive alive with a two-yard run on a bootleg.

The Chargers also opted to go for a first down on fourth down on their next possession. Facing fourth and three at Denver’s 40-yard line, Brees found wide receiver Eric Parker for five yards and a first down, keeping the drive alive. A few plays later, Brees found Parker in the end zone for a 23-yard touchdown that made the score 21-10 with 1:05 left to go before intermission. The play capped a 12-play, 80-yard drive.

Denver responded to Parker’s touchdown by driving 56 yards in eight plays before kicker Jason Elam improved the Broncos lead to 24-10 with a 30-yard field goal just before halftime.

The Chargers got the ball first in the second half and reduced the deficit to 24-13 with a 25-yard field goal by Christie. The field goal capped an 11-play, 67-yard drive that featured a heavy dose of Tomlinson, who carried six times for 42 of San Diego’s yards.

Just like they did at the end the first half, the Broncos responded to the Chargers’ score with one of their own. But unlike the Chargers, who had to settle for a field goal, the Broncos got a touchdown when running back Mike Anderson scored from one-yard out, giving Denver a 31-13 lead with 4:48 left in the third quarter.

Elam added a 45-yard field goal later in the third period to open up the margin to 34-13.

On San Diego’s next possession, Denver’s defense came up with the game’s only turnover when linebacker Ian Gold intercepted a Brees pass that had been batted into the air behind the line of scrimmage by defensive end Bertrand Berry. The play gave Denver the ball at the Chargers 25-yard line. Elam converted the turnover into three more points with a 34-yard field goal that made the final score 37-13.

The loss dropped the Chargers to 0-2 heading into next week’s game at Qualcomm Stadium against the Baltimore Ravens, who will be coming to San Diego fresh off a 33-13 win over Cleveland. If the Chargers are going to turn things around against the Ravens, they’d better start by focusing on Baltimore running back Jamal Lewis, who stampeded through the Browns defense for an NFL-record 295 rushing yards and two touchdowns on Sunday.

“As I told our football team, we are the solution,” said Schottenheimer. “What each guy has to do, player and coach alike, is they have to get focused on how they can improve individually so we can improve collectively.

“We’re a young football team and generally young football teams don’t perform well in the face of adversity. Over the course of the last couple of weeks we have created that adverse situation and we have not responded well to it.”

“We’re not going to panic,” said Tomlinson. “Like I said, it’s a long season. Things will get better for us. We’re going through some growing pains. We’ll get better.”

Mystic... did you get a chance to watch the game between the Chargers and the Bronco's? If you didn't, don't worry... you really didn't miss anything. I am just not surprised with the way San Diego played today. The defense did nothing but shut themselves down. And Denver's defense didn't have to do anything. Our offense was sloppy, Brees shouldn't have even been in the game. I don't care if the rest of the offense wasn't up to par... he wasn't playing his best either.

And they couldn't even score in the final 2 minutes of the game. They were on the 4 yard line and couldn't make a completion. WHY did Drew feel the need to throw on each down? And why didn't they bring Steve Kristie in to at least put 3 more on the board?

I'm sick and tired of Marty making excuses that this is a young team. Well hell... had they not gotten rid of their best, seasoned players, we might have actually looked like it was more than some anonymous person, wearing a Charger uniform out there on the field today.

I don't even know if I can bare to watch us host Baltimore next weekend. I see another butt whooping coming, once again. Not that the Ravens are anything to shout about so far this season... but just about anyone is better than SD right now.

Glad to see that your boys pulled a win out today. Though, they did beat my girls hometeam.

fall to bronco's? it was more like a drop-kick, in the groin! can i say that here? chargers will win this year, intra-squad game!

The freakin' chargers defense is letting everybody down. The reason why the offense isn't clicking is because you have to throw the ball when you get down by multiple touchdowns, that has happened both weeks. I am pissed because tomlinson is on my fantasy team and he can't controll a game if the defense doesn't keep the chargers in it.

What can you expect when you release your team's two defensive leaders? You can expect a defense that is down to stay down.

I was at the game and I most enjoyed myself. Speaking of which - nearly 50% of the fans at this game were Broncos fans! I was most plesantly surprised. Suffice to say, I'll be spending once a year in San Diego from now on (beats Oakland!).

A Broncos Fan

Marc... you were HERE, in San Diego, THIS WEEKEND, and you didn't even let me know??? Well, thanks a lot. Sheesh... I could have met you somewhere for a drink, or something.

Glad to know that you're NOT a Raiders fan. I don't know if I can handle talking to you if you were!

And you're right... the management let go of two very important defensivve players, and team leaders. I don't know WHAT they hope to accomplish this season. If it's to see if they can lose all the games, they are off to a good start. If it's to play as if it were imposters on that field... that are accomplishing that.

I apologize - I was in and out of there so quickly I barely had enough quality time alone with the cabbie. I'll be there again in another year and we'll make things happen then.

Talk about a parking frenzy before that game though. We were rolling up to the main gate with about 3 cars in front of us just after passing Pac Bell's overflow parking lot. The guy closed the gates in front of us and yelled out, "Sorry - we're full! And so is overflow parking! Try Hazard Center and take the trolley in!"

Ohhhh, I was suddenly verrrry internally upset when I looked at the traffic jam that lie all around us over an hour before game time. With that said, parking was nearly impossible to find. We settled on a 30 minute walk to the stadium and missed the entire first quarter.

Must have been all those Denver fans.

Wow... that's a bummer to hear. One thing that I HIGHLY recommend to people who aren't coming to a game and having a tail gate party is to ride the trolley in. A lot easier... and it's cheaper.

We have a lot of Denver Bronco fans here in San Diego. A lot of people here in SD are transplants from all over. We also have a lot of Raider fans too... the ones from here and from LA come down for the game. And let me tell you... I HATE those fans. They are rude, vile people. They threaten Charger fans, start fights all the time, etc... People who are season ticket holders sell their tickets to that game, every year, because none of them are stupid enough to attend.

At least the Denver fans are friendly. Makes it a lot easier to go to that game.

Sorry that you had a bad time getting to the game, etc... But, your boys DID win. Beat the snot outta the bolts!

Okay... next year, we will meet up!!!
Though, I will be in San Jose on Christmas Eve. But, it's just for a family gathering for a few hours. So, I won't see you then.

I absolutely DESPISE Fayder fans. They are the worst sort of walking and mumbling refuse that civilized humans have ever come to know. I do not believe they are themselves humans so we as good people cannot take responsibilty for what evolution has created from its melting pot of leftover waste.

That is why I spent mucho extra money to fly down to SD and see the game there then spend another waking moment in the presence of such pitifully redundant garbage.

May the fans of the Chokeland Grayders all crawl into a cave where I may feel free to mobilise a large wall of rock with TNT to cover the entrance forevermore. Amen.

LMAO

Well, my mother-in-law, her boyfriend... aw hell, my partners entire family are Raider fans. She's the only one in the whole family that's a Niners fan. She is the smart one. Anyway, they are really nice, good, fun people. They aren't what you see as the scum of the barrel fans coming from Oakland, and beyond.

I'm glad to know that there's another person on this earth other than my partner and I who hate the Raiders so much. BLECK! Well, it isn't the team, it's the bottom dweller/crawler fans that they have.

Yeah - my best friend is a Dorkland Schmaeglers fan as well. I, of course, know there are exceptions to the majority. It's too bad the bad ones have to ruin it for the good.

I'm otherwise surrounded by Niner fans up here in the Bay Area. Broncos fans are far and few.

Well... we need to get you to Denver. My brother lives in Fort Collins now... and that's alllllll Broncos turf. Colorado loves their boys! And they don't disappoint.

Yup - I was there a year or so ago for my cousin's wedding. Born and raised in Denver, I was. I have lots of family there.

No wonder you're a Bronco's fan!!!

Well, come down to SD anytime that the Chargers play the Broncos.
You are sure to have a good time, seeing your boys whip ours!