Week 10 Game Recap: San Diego Chargers 49, Cincinnati Bengals 41

What you need to know

San Diego Chargers

The Chargers put on an offensive show in the second half, with 42 points after halftime en route to tying the record for the biggest comeback in franchise history. They trailed 21-0 after one quarter and 28-7 at the half. But the Cincinnati defense was powerless to stop or even slow the Chargers after halftime in all phases.

RB LaDainian Tomlinson continued his MVP type campaign, with four more touchdowns to add to his league leading total. He also went over 100 yards rushing for the fourth time this season and 32nd time in his career.

QB Philip Rivers had the kind of game that will help HC Marty Schottenheimer instill more confidence in him. Rivers made no glaring mistakes, and was entrusted with several big passes late in the game with the Chargers trying to protect the lead.

WR Eric Parker left the game with a neck injury. In his place, Malcolm Floyd enjoyed a breakout game. With the Chargers employing the typical strategy of spreading the passes around, Floyd was the big winner on the stat sheet.

One injury to take note of was C Nick Hardwick leaving the field with an apparent ankle injury late in the third quarter. He is the anchor of the San Diego offensive line, and his status is important to the skill players on the team.

Cincinnati Bengals

WR T.J. Houshmandzadeh enjoyed a solid game stat wise, but left with a concussion after a nasty hit courtesy of S Marlon McCree. Houshmandzadeh bounced off the hit from McCree and then his head struck the leg of LB Randall Godfrey, and the receiver did not return. Houshmandzadeh was seen talking with teammates on the sideline later in the game, and didn’t appear seriously hurt. Keep an eye out for his status on the Footballguys site later this week.

WR Chad Johnson finally had that monster game we’ve all been waiting for. He broke the Cincinnati team record for receiving yards in a game with 260, including touchdowns of 51 and 74 yards. For parts of the game, he simply could not be stopped.

QB Carson Palmer helped restore the Cincinnati offense to the air show we became accustomed to seeing last season. He put up huge numbers, including a career best 440 passing yards, and picked the San Diego secondary apart with precision all game long.

What you ought to know

QB Philip Rivers, Pass: 24 - 36 - 337 - 3 TD / 0 INT, Rush: 3 - 2 - 0

Considering the atmosphere, the opponent, and the ramifications of the game, one has to be impressed at the way Philip Rivers took over this game in the second half. According to the postgame quotes from the San Diego locker room, it was Rivers’ positive attitude that really made a difference in getting back in the game. At one point early in the fourth quarter with the Chargers still trailing, Rivers was seen joking with teammates on the sideline. This wasn’t an Aaron Brooks type situation where he didn’t seem to care. This seemed more like a QB who was confident in himself, and appeared as if he was truly having a blast playing in this game. That would have been nearly impossible to believe after the first thirty minutes of play. In the first half, San Diego could barely sustain a drive. The only time they were able to muster a scoring chance was after a missed field goal gave them excellent starting field position. But Rivers couldn’t do much of anything, and was being outplayed by counterpart Carson Palmer.

After halftime, however, something clicked for Rivers and the Chargers’ offense. The defensive pressure that was there early on was suddenly nonexistent. San Diego’s receivers found themselves wide open at times, streaking downfield with no one around. And Rivers simply picked the Bengals’ defense apart. His most impressive play came with San Diego leading 42-41. On a third down pass from the Cincinnati five yard line, Rivers used great improvisational skills to buy some extra time before flipping the ball over two defenders and into the arms of TE Brandon Manumaleuna. It was Rivers’ third touchdown pass of the second half, and helped put the game away. About the only time Rivers even came close to making a mistake was on a pass intended for Malcolm Floyd that was nearly picked off. But even that wasn’t a terrible throw or decision; it just happened to be batted around several times before falling incomplete. Rivers nearly added a rushing score to his stat line on a scramble late in the third quarter, but he was taken down at the two yard line. Tomlinson scored on the next play.

RB LaDainian Tomlinson, Rush: 22 - 104 - 4, Rec: 6 - 54 - 0 (8 targets)

Tomlinson recorded his fourth 100 yard rushing game of the season, and the 32nd 100 yard game of his career. But it wasn’t so much his yardage that put a big dent in the stat sheet; it was the touchdowns. Tomlinson scored four more times, giving him 16 rushing touchdowns and 19 touchdowns overall this season. He has scored 15 touchdowns in his last five games, an NFL record for a five game span. Despite scoring, he had a pedestrian first half, and really exploded as the Chargers were building their comeback. Following a strong two yard TD run by Tomlinson early in the fourth quarter, Carson Palmer fumbled the ball away on Cincinnati’s next play, giving San Diego the ball at the nine yard line. Tomlinson took the next carry into the end zone, giving him two touchdowns in a span of just 15 seconds of gameplay. Late in the game, Tomlinson took a handoff up the right side and was tackled down at the Cincinnati one yard line. He had already had scored four times (tying the franchise record and his own career high) and was just short on the fifth. San Diego was whistled for a false start penalty prior to the next snap that backed them up to the six yard line; otherwise, Tomlinson may have been given a shot at that fifth score. He simply wore down the Bengals’ defenders all game long, and late in the fourth quarter he was still putting on some great open field moves and juking defenders left and right. For what it’s worth, it is abundantly clear at this point that Tomlinson is the man to beat in the league MVP race.

RB Michael Turner, Rush: 1 - 1 - 0

For this being such an offensive show, Turner was noticeably quiet. He had just one offensive touch in the game, and he has seen his share of the carries diminish more and more as the season progresses. That’s not to say he didn’t play a key role, however. He had two long kickoff returns, one of which helped set the Chargers up with excellent field position on an eventual scoring drive. Following Chad Johnson’s second touchdown, Turner took the ensuing kickoff 49 yards to the Bengal 40, helping set up a Tomlinson score.

WR Malcom Floyd, Rec: 5 - 109 - 1 (8 targets)

Floyd was targeted just once in the first half. However, starting wideout Eric Parker left the game with a neck injury in the second quarter, opening the door for Floyd’s best game as a pro. He put up all of his stats in the second half, the biggest of which certainly being a 46 yard touchdown reception in the third quarter. That play made the score 28-21 Cincinnati, and really helped turn the tide of momentum in San Diego’s favor. He had made an earlier reception on a simple out route and turned it into a nice gain down to the four yard line after displaying some nice (and unexpected) open field moves. In addition to those key grabs, Floyd had one of the biggest and most unnoticed receptions of the entire game midway through the fourth quarter. With the ball at midfield and San Diego up 42-41, the Chargers faced a third and nine situation. Floyd hauled in a sideline out route with his fingertips and made a very nice play on the ball to stay inbounds for a 12 yard pickup. That enabled the Chargers to keep the drive going, which eventually culminated in a touchdown pass to Brandon Manumaleuna. If the long touchdown didn’t prove it, the third down reception certainly showed that Philip Rivers has trust in Floyd on even the biggest plays.

WR Keenan McCardell, Rec: 2 - 49 - 0 (5 targets)

McCardell didn’t light up the stat sheet by any means, but he did make one of the best catches you’ll see all season long. Philip Rivers hoisted a pass towards the sideline that McCardell appeared to catch with only one foot inbounds. The play was initially ruled an incompletion, but the Chargers challenged the call. Replays confirmed that McCardell had indeed managed to drag both feet inbounds while still maintaining possession of the football for a truly spectacular play. That 25 yard reception helped move the ball to the 26, a drive that eventually ended with a touchdown pass to Brandon Manumaleuna.

WR Eric Parker, Rec: 1 - 14 - 0 (1 targets)

Parker wasn’t targeted until there were eight minutes left in the first half. It was the first and last target of the game for Parker, who would eventually leave with a neck injury. Malcolm Floyd entered the game in his place, and was outstanding with over 100 yards receiving and a long touchdown reception.

TE Antonio Gates, Rec: 5 - 69 - 0 (6 targets)

Gates virtually disappeared for a very long stretch of the game. He caught his first pass at 7:46 of the first quarter, and didn’t record his second reception until the 6:23 mark of the third quarter (a span of 31:23. Once he hauled in that second one, he regained his regular rotation in the offense and caught three more balls. One of his late receptions was critical, snatching it away from the defender on a third and eight pass that went for 27 yards.

TE Brandon Manumaleuna, Rec: 2 - 14 - 2 (2 targets)

Manumaleuna was the definition of making the most with what you’ve got. Though he was only thrown to twice, each reception went for a touchdown. As we told you back in the Week 2 game recap, “he appears to be a good outlet for Rivers when the defense is focusing on Tomlinson, Gates, etc in the red zone.” Never was that more evident than Sunday, as both of Manumaleuna’s scores came when he was able to slip by the defenders for wide open touchdowns. His second score of the game was much more a product of Philip Rivers making a play than anything else, and Manumaleuna just happened to be in the right place at the right time. But the first score was a nice effort by the big tight end to find the goal line up the right sideline for nine yards.

PK Nate Kaeding 0 - 0 FG, 7 - 7 XP, 7 points

The Chargers had such trouble moving the football in the first half that they were unable to really get into field goal range. And they had such success moving the football in the second half that their scoring drives were for touchdowns rather than field goals. As a result, Kaeding connected on seven extra points.

SD Rush Defense

The Chargers had a lot of trouble early with the combination of Rudi Johnson and Chris Perry. Had the Bengals had a little more success defensively, it’s quite possible that Rudi Johnson could have had a huge game. Reason being, the Chargers looked very soft at the second level of defense with LB Shawne Merriman still out of the picture (serving a suspension for steroids). The Chargers allowed rushing touchdowns on each of its first two defensive series, neither of which established any type of smash-mouth “shut em down” mentality they’ve become known for these past few years. San Diego got almost no backfield penetration, and Rudi Johnson was able to consistently get to the second and third lines of the defense, seemingly with ease. In the second half, the Bengals got caught up playing shootout with the Chargers, and kind of abandoned the running game for a long time. When they did try to re-establish the run game with four consecutive Johnson carries in the fourth quarter, the results were very encouraging (four rushes for 31 yards). But they were losing the game already by that point. And following two successive incomplete passes, the team was forced to punt and did not regain the lead for the rest of the game.

SD Pass Defense

It was truly a tale of two halves for the San Diego secondary. That’s not to say they played all that well in either half, but they were at least a bit better after halftime. In the first half, Carson Palmer basically had his way. It seemed as if he could do no wrong and that he could complete a pass to any receiver at any time if he so desired. San Diego’s pass rush (if you can call it that) was completely ineffective. And the defensive backs, particularly S Terrence Kiel, had no answers for Chad Johnson on his 51 yard touchdown reception. After halftime, San Diego forced Cincinnati to punt on its first two possessions, which helped give the offense enough time to crawl back into the game. Following a 74 yard touchdown pass to Johnson, the San Diego pass defense rose up once more. LB Shaun Phillips came up with perhaps the biggest defensive play of the game late in the fourth quarter. Following a San Diego touchdown that cut the Bengals lead to three, Cincinnati took over on its own 20 yard line. On a blitz off the left side, Phillips came off the corner and knocked the ball out of Palmer’s hand for a fumble. The Chargers recovered the football, Tomlinson scored on the very next play, and the Chargers had a lead they would never relinquish. They also came up big on the last-gasp drive for Cincinnati to try and tie the game late. While they did bend in allowing the Bengals to get to the 15, the defense never broke and didn’t allow the score that could have tied the game. As for the near-misses, S Clinton Hart should have come up with an interception on an errant pass intended for WR Chris Henry late in the first half. Hart went up for the ball and had it in his hands, but appeared to be distracted by a bevy of bodies in front and underneath him. He dropped the ball, and Henry scored from seven yards out later in the drive. S Marlon McCree can expect to be receiving notification of a hefty fine sometime in the next few days, as his crushing illegal hit on WR T.J. Houshmandzadeh left the receiver with a concussion and standing on the sidelines for the rest of the game. It was a terribly early hit, and McCree likely deserves a hefty punishment for the play.

QB Carson Palmer, Pass: 31 - 42 - 440 - 3 TD / 0 INT, Rush: 2 - -1 - 0

Palmer played about as well as any quarterback can possibly play in the first half of this game. The San Diego defense had zero answers for Palmer, who finally looked like the QB we saw all of 2005. His deep passes found their mark, the underneath passes were crisp and quick, and the timing patterns were in perfect rhythm with the routes of his receivers. He spread the ball around fairly well, though his primary target was WR Chad Johnson. The two connected for a 51 yard touchdown strike late in the first quarter, with Johnson beating the last defender by a wide margin on the play. The twosome would later hook up for a 74 yard touchdown late in the third quarter. Johnson’s big-play ability was the primary reason why Palmer was able to put up a career-best 440 passing yards.

Palmer was very impressive on several plays in particular, notably a first half completion to WR T.J. Houshmandzadeh over the middle. With a blitzing linebacker in his face and charging hard, Palmer stood tall in the pocket and delivered a perfect pass to Houshmandzadeh, absorbing a punishing hit in the process. Palmer’s stats almost got just a bit better on Cincinnati’s last gasp drive. They moved the ball to the San Diego 15 yard line where Palmer appeared to throw a perfect pass to WR Chris Henry in the end zone. Henry, however, dropped the ball. On the final play from scrimmage, Palmer fired a pass to Glenn Holt in the end zone that was knocked away incomplete. It was a bit curious that with the game (and possibly season) on the line, the last four passes of the game went to Tony Stewart, Chris Henry, Kenny Watson, and Glenn Holt. (Although Johnson did have two receptions for 33 yards on the final drive) Holt wasn’t turned around to see the pass heading his way anyway, so he wouldn’t have caught it even if it wasn’t deflected. Palmer wasn’t intercepted in the game, but came close on a pass intended for Henry late in the first half. San Diego S Clinton Hart had the ball in his hands momentarily before dropping it for an incompletion, and Palmer capped that drive with the TD pass to Henry four plays later.

RB Rudi Johnson, Rush: 18 - 85 - 1, Rec: 1 - 4 - 0 (1 targets)

Johnson did not start the game due to disciplinary reasons, believed to be because he was tardy for a team meeting. On the opening drive of the game, FB Jeremi Johnson took in a score from three yards out. Obviously, it’s unknown how that opening drive would’ve gone if Rudi Johnson was in there, but ordinarily that would have been his carry. Rudi Johnson did manage to find the end zone on the next possession. The offensive line opened a gaping hole for Johnson, and he waltzed into the end zone up the right side. That was his last big contribution to the game though. He had several nice runs late in the fourth quarter, but for a long time in the second half the Bengals kind of got away from the running game. Johnson finished with very solid numbers, many of the yards right up the heart of the San Diego defense, but never managed to break that big gain or establish a true rhythm to his carries.

RB Chris Perry, Rush: 4 - 31 - 0, Rec: 3 - -1 - 0 (5 targets)

Perry started the game in place of Rudi Johnson, who didn’t come in until the second possession due to a disciplinary action for being late to a team meeting. Perry looked good running with the ball early on, and even managed to pick up a nice first down run on a botched handoff from Carson Palmer. Once Johnson entered the game, Perry’s role was mostly reduced to third down receiving back once again. Perry nearly scored on a kick return midway through the third quarter. While the play sheet only shows it as a 36 yard return, the truth of it is that Perry had gotten by the last line of defense for the Chargers and had nothing but open space ahead of him when he was just tripped up by Carlos Polk to save what would have been a 93 yard touchdown. That possession eventually ended with a Shayne Graham field goal.

WR Chad Johnson, Rush: 1 - 0 - 0, Rec: 11 - 260 - 2 (12 targets)

Johnson finally was able to put up huge stats over an entire game. He had already reached his previous season high in receptions (seven) by halftime, and by the end of the fourth quarter he was the new owner of the Cincinnati franchise record for receiving yards in one game. He hauled in an early 51 yard touchdown reception, badly beating Chargers’ safety Terrance Kiel on the play. Later in the game, he answered a Brandon Manumaleuna score with a 74 yard touchdown grab on the first play from scrimmage (badly beating rookie CB Antonio Cromartie on the play). Johnson was wide open all over the field all game long, on both deep routes and on underneath passes. The Chargers simply had no answers for him, much like the last time he faced San Diego in 2003, when he put up ten receptions for 107 yards and three touchdowns on that day. Those looking for touchdown celebrations on this day saw him leave a loving note for his mother and grandmother after the first score, and he then mocked Shawne Merriman’s sack dance (Merriman is currently serving the second of a four game suspension for steroids) following the second TD.

WR T.J. Houshmandzadeh, Rec: 7 - 88 - 0 (11 targets)

Houshmandzadeh was enjoying another typical game for him, with seven receptions totaling 88 yards midway through the fourth quarter. Then, two bad things happened. The first was that he dropped an easy reception over the middle on third down that would’ve given Cincinnati a 10-15 yard pickup and an easy first down. The next was when he was viciously hit by S Marlon McCree. The hit came way too soon and drew a flag, and as Houshmandzadeh fell to the turf, he hit his head on the knee of Chargers LB Randall Godfrey. He appeared dazed on the field and very likely concussed. After being helped to his feet, he remained on the sideline for the rest of the game and was later seen smiling with teammates. His condition and status for next week is unknown at this point, and we will continue to update you throughout the week.

WR Chris Henry, Rec: 2 - 18 - 1 (5 targets)

Henry was the recipient of an early seven yard touchdown strike from Carson Palmer, but it was the catch Henry didn’t make that will be on the highlight reels. With the Bengals trailing by eight on their last possession, Palmer found Henry open in the end zone. The pass was a bit low and to the side, but Henry clearly could have and should have hung onto the football. He dropped it for an incompletion, and two plays later the Bengals had turned it over on downs and the game was essentially over.

TE Reggie Kelly, Rec: 3 - 31 - 0 (3 targets)

Kelly came close to scoring on the first possession of the game, taking a 27 yard pass down to the three yard line. That, however, was the closest Kelly would come to scoring in the game, as Jeremi Johnson took in a touchdown on the next play.

TE Tony Stewart, Rec: 1 - 26 - 0 (3 targets)

Stewart’s lone reception of the game probably should never have been a catch. His 26 yard grab appeared to come out of bounds, but San Diego opted not to challenge the play.

PK Shayne Graham 2 - 3 FG, 5 - 5 XP, 11 points

Graham’s lone miss in the game (from 51 yards out) may have been the catalyst for the Chargers offense getting itself back on track. San Diego’s first four possessions of the game were all punts. However, following Graham’s 51 yard miss, the Chargers took over possession on their own 41 yard line. Six plays later, they had their first score of the game.

CIN Rush Defense

While they didn’t exactly allow LaDainian Tomlinson to run totally wild on the ground, they also didn’t make very many plays when called upon. Tomlinson scored four touchdowns on the ground, many of them involving missed or broken tackles on his way to the end zone. Tomlinson ground out yardage in this game, with the Bengals slowly getting worn down as the game went on. By the end of the contest, Tomlinson still seemed fairly fresh and was able to make two extremely impressive cut-back moves on Cincinnati defenders in the backfield. Meanwhile, those defenders simply grasped at air for much of the fourth quarter.

CIN Pass Defense

In the first half, the Bengals got good pressure on Philip Rivers. They hurried a couple of throws, forced a number of throw-aways, and even managed a few sacks. All of that changed after halftime, however. The Bengals were absolutely lit up by Rivers and the San Diego receiving corps in the third and fourth quarters. Perhaps not coincidentally, that is the bulk of the time that standout CB Deltha O’Neal was relegated to the bench with an injury suffered early in the third quarter. Of the three passing touchdowns for San Diego, one of them was a bomb to little-known Malcolm Floyd and the other two were to rarely used backup TE Brandon Manumaleuna. On the second Manumaleuna touchdown in particular, it appeared as if the entire Bengals’ defense sold out to come after Philip Rivers and neglected to take notice of the 288 pound receiver bounding across the field behind them. The only time any Cincinnati defenders came close to making a play was late in the third quarter when Tory James nearly came up with an interception off a deflected pass. But he couldn’t hang on, and it went for an incompletion. LB Landon Johnson left the game early with an ankle injury but returned soon after. However, he once again left the contest for good later on and did not return.