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Week 16 Game Recap: San Diego Chargers 41, Tampa Bay Buccaneers 24
What you need to know
| San Diego Chargers |
QB Philip Rivers, fresh off his Pro Bowl snub, almost singlehandedly led the Chargers to victory. In a must-win game for the Chargers, he played perhaps his finest game of the season, and tossed a career high four touchdowns without turning the ball over.
TE Antonio Gates made two very nice plays to grab a pair of touchdowns, the second one giving the Chargers a lead they would never give up.
RB LaDainian Tomlinson didn't get into the end zone, but he was very effective running the football, especially early on. Establishing the run early may have opened up some of the passing lanes Philip Rivers got to work with all afternoon.
| Tampa Bay Buccaneers |
QB Jeff Garcia carried the Bucs as far as he could, but he made some costly errors late in the contest. He had a very up and down game, but in fairness he had very little help from anyone around him.
WR Antonio Bryant had three costly errors early on (two drops, lost fumble) but made up for it with a 71 yard touchdown reception in the second half. He actually broke free on several occasions for long passes, but twice was overthrown by Jeff Garcia.
The Tampa Bay rushing game couldn't really get much going. Primary rushers Warrick Dunn and Cadillac Williams could never establish a rhythm, combining for just 47 yards on 17 carries.
What you ought to know
| QB Philip Rivers, Pass: 21 - 31 - 287 - 4 TD / 0 INT, Rush: 3 - -3 - 0 |
Rivers played one of the finest games of his career, setting a career high with four touchdown passes and making every play his team needed him to make. His first touchdown went to TE Brandon Manumaleuna on a screen where Manumaleuna was the second option. He did most of the work after the catch to get into the end zone. Rivers threw another touchdown on a screen pass to RB Darren Sproles and Sproles too did the majority of the damage. But on each of the touchdown passes to TE Antonio Gates, Rivers made perfect passes through coverage for the score. On the first one, he was rolling to his left and threaded a perfect pass just beyond the reach of CB Ronde Barber to Gates on the back line of the end zone. It was an absolutely perfect pass that needed to be put in a very tight space, and it was. On the next Gates score, Rivers tucked the ball away as if he was going to run it, only to loft one perfectly behind CB Philip Buchanon to Gates for six points. Time and time again, Rivers came up with huge plays to keep his team in the game and he was in complete control the entire time.
| RB LaDainian Tomlinson, Rush: 21 - 90 - 0, Rec: 2 - 20 - 0 (4 targets) |
Tomlinson failed to find the end zone, but he looked very good running the ball. The offensive line had a rare solid performance, opening holes where they hadn't for most of the season. Tomlinson took advantage by hitting the hole hard and generally moving the pile after first contact was made. There were at least two occasions where he appeared to slip in the backfield without being hit which obviously didn't help the numbers any. What was interesting is that despite leading for most of the fourth quarter, Tomlinson got only two rush attempts when they were trying to salt away the lead. Part of that is due to the fact that they scored too quickly (a 32 yard touchdown reception and a defensive touchdown) and also because Tampa had the ball for roughly ten minutes. But backup Darren Sproles matched Tomlinson with two rushes of his own and added two receptions, one of which went for a score.
Also Tomlinson, who has had an issue with drops this season, made a nice grab on a pass over his shoulder that went for a 22 yard gain.
As milestones go, Tomlinson reached a significant one late in the third quarter. On a six yard rush, he became the third running back in league history to record at least 1,000 rushing yards in each of his first eight seasons. The other two are Barry Sanders and Curtis Martin.
| RB Darren Sproles, Rush: 2 - 3 - 0, Rec: 3 - 46 - 1 (3 targets) |
Sproles had just one offensive touch from scrimmage through the first three quarters, but did a lot of damage in the return game. He had a 44 yard kick return and a 43 yard punt return before getting involved late in the offense. He caught a short screen late in the fourth quarter and soon darted up the right sideline for a 32 yard score that put San Diego up by ten.
| WR Vincent Jackson, Rec: 7 - 111 - 0 (9 targets) |
Jackson had a number of key catches, perhaps none moreso than a 25 yard grab over the middle just before halftime. The Bucs had cut the deficit to seven points and seemingly had all the momentum. With just ten seconds left until the half, QB Philip Rivers found Jackson over the middle for a quick 25 yard pass. That helped set up a long field goal try, which Nate Kaeding connected on. Jackson generally abused CB Philip Buchanon for much of the afternoon, getting open basically at will. All of the stats he put up were compiled in just three quarters, as he didn't see a single passing target in the final frame (the Chargers threw the ball just three times in the fourth quarter).
| WR Chris Chambers, Rec: 2 - 27 - 0 (3 targets) |
Chambers started off well enough with two early receptions. Apparently, head coach Norv Turner had told the CBS announcers prior to the game that he expected Chambers to have a 'big game' and finish with somewhere around seven or eight receptions. That never materialized, as the final pass thrown in Chambers' direction was a deep bomb in the second quarter.
| WR Legedu Naanee, Rec: 2 - 29 - 0 (2 targets) |
Naanee had two receptions over a six play span in the second quarter. The second catch came on a third and eight and went for 11 yards. Naanee made a terrific grab on the pass that was thrown slightly high. He dove to his left and reached back up to the right to snag the pass.
| TE Antonio Gates, Rec: 4 - 43 - 2 (5 targets) |
Gates didn't compile huge numbers, but he did record three of the most important and most difficult receptions of the afternoon. Early in the second quarter, QB Philip Rivers was flushed from the pocket. While rolling out to his left, Gates made his way across the back line of the end zone while moving in tandem with Rivers. The pass was hoisted up over the front line of the defense but low enough for Gates to haul it in. He did so while managing to keep his feet just inbounds for the touchdown. Late in the third quarter, Rivers found him in the flat on a screen pass. Rather than catching the ball the conventional way with two hands, Gates snatched the ball out of the air with one hand. He didn't even bother securing it with his other hand because he managed to get it under complete control with just the one. That play helped set up his fourth quarter touchdown reception, a play on which he reached behind CB Philip Buchanon to make a very nice grab of a touchdown. That score gave the Chargers a lead they would never relinquish.
The first touchdown was the 50th of Gates' career in just his 92nd career game. He broke Jerry Smith's league record for the fastest tight end to reach fifty career scores. Smith had done it in 100 games.
| TE Brandon Manumaleuna, Rec: 1 - 11 - 1 (2 targets) |
Manumaleuna was only thrown to twice, but he made the most of the opportunity by scoring on his lone reception. It was on a screen pass, but QB Philip Rivers actually appeared to look to Manumaleuna as his second option. Whatever the case, after the reception Manumaleuna followed a blocker to the near corner of the end zone where he reached the ball across the line for the easy score.
| PK Nate Kaeding 2 - 2 FG, 5 - 5 XP, 11 points |
On a day when the San Diego passing game will receive most of the credit, Kaeding connected on perhaps the biggest field goal of his career. With San Diego leading by seven just before halftime, the Chargers got into position to attempt a 57 yard field goal. Kaeding, whose main criticism has come because of his lack of leg strength, blasted the kick through the uprights with room to spare. He had also earlier connected on a chip shot from 28 yards away.
| SD Rush Defense |
Aside from QB Jeff Garcia, the Tampa running game was almost entirely shut down by the Chargers. The combination of Warrick Dunn and Cadillac Williams combined for just 47 yards on 17 carries (2.8 YPC), though B.J. Askew did manage to get into the end zone when he leapt over the pile. But it was Garcia who did most of the damage with a team high 45 yards and a touchdown on just six rushes. He consistently avoided pressure in the pocket and turned it upfield, more often than not just getting enough to pick up the first down. Finally, the Chargers appeared to have enough of Garcia running all over the place. They began really delivering some big hits and Garcia wasn't helping himself much by diving headfirst on just about every play. Late in the fourth quarter, CB Quentin Jammer came up to make a stop on Garcia and absolutely drilled him. The audio replays of the hit make you wonder how long the average person would last in an NFL game before they were definitely killed. Garcia got up from the ground a bit dazed and bleeding all over his face, and it was his last rush of the game.
| SD Pass Defense |
San Diego did a good job early on statistically speaking, but they were greatly helped along by WR Antonio Bryant's two costly drops and a lost fumble. Had it not been for those, it's pretty likely that Tampa would have had some more prolonged drives and quite possibly some more points. In the second half, Bryant started hanging onto everything. And the stats started piling up against the Charger defense. The safeties in particular had a lot of trouble, allowing Bryant to get behind them on multiple occasions. They were actually fortunate that he only caught one 71 yard touchdown! As usual, the San Diego defensive front had a lot of trouble getting any meaningful pressure applied to Jeff Garcia. And when they did get close to him, it usually wasn't on his blindside so he was able to get rid of the football prior to being sacked.
Late in the fourth quarter, Garcia started making some mistakes. It wasn't really that San Diego did anything particularly well; it's just that Garcia's passes were off. He badly misfired an attempt over the middle to WR Ike Hilliard that was easily intercepted by LB Stephen Cooper. On Tampa's next possession, Garcia missed a wide open Bryant deep downfield before taking a sack on the very next play. Later in the fourth quarter, he again tried to fit one into a tight space to Hilliard. This time, it was batted in the air by CB Quentin Jammer and intercepted by CB Antoine Cason. Cason did the rest of the work, taking it back the other way for a 59 yard touchdown return.
| QB Jeff Garcia, Pass: 21 - 34 - 232 - 1 TD / 2 INT, Rush: 6 - 45 - 1 |
Garcia either looked outstanding or downright terrible, and there was no rhyme or reason as to which guy would show up on a given play. He looked outstanding just about every time he ran the football, totaling a team high 45 yards on the ground and adding a touchdown off a rollout to his left. He very nearly scored in the first quarter on a scramble but was tackled down at the two yard line. Through the air, he had trouble putting his deep passes where he wanted them. On a second quarter deep ball to WR Antonio Bryant, the ball was overthrown in the end zone on what should've been an easy touchdown. Even his long third quarter touchdown bomb to Bryant was far from a perfectly-thrown ball. Garcia did a great job of rolling out and buying time, but the 71 yard touchdown pass floated in the air for a long time and Bryant sat waiting for it to come out of the air for what seemed like ages. The announcers even mentioned that it looked more like Bryant was waiting for a punt rather than a pass. Still, he caught the pass and took it the rest of the way for the score. But then later in the contest, Garcia again had Bryant open deep for what should have been an easy 68 yard touchdown pass. But once again, like in the first quarter, the pass was overthrown. He was sacked on the following play, and the Bucs had to punt the ball away.
The two interceptions were both clearly Garcia's fault. The first pick was thrown well to the left of its intended target Ike Hilliard. LB Stephen Cooper simply sat in the passing lane and had the ball delivered right to him. The second pick, also thrown to Hilliard, was batted up in the air by Quentin Jammer. CB Antoine Cason snatched the football out of the air and took it the other way for a 59 yard score.
Just prior to that second interception, Garcia had taken off on a scramble to the right side of the field. All day, he had been diving for extra yardage at the end of each run and coming away from it intact. But on this play, CB Quentin Jammer came up and laid a vicious hit on Garcia. It banged his facemask off the bridge of his nose, opening a nasty cut. Garcia remained in for the remainder of the series despite blood flowing down his face and into his mouth and chin strap. Following the interception, he gave way to Luke McCown for the team's final possession.
| QB Luke McCown, Pass: 0 - 1 - 0 - 0 TD / 0 INT, Rush: 2 - 16 - 0 |
McCown filled in late in the fourth quarter for Jeff Garcia after Garcia was knocked from the game with a bloody face. McCown had a nice 12 yard run eluding two tacklers along the way, but didn't throw a pass.
| RB Warrick Dunn, Rush: 9 - 20 - 0, Rec: 4 - 19 - 0 (6 targets) |
Dunn may as well have stayed home because his impact on this game couldn't have been any more minimal. Dunn was unable to take advantage of a porous San Diego defense and didn't have a single touch that went for more than nine yards. The offense revolved mainly around the passing connection between Jeff Garcia and Antonio Bryant, with very few scraps left over for the running backs. And when Tampa Bay got to the goal line, it was Cadillac Williams and B.J. Askew who saw the handoffs.
| RB Cadillac Williams, Rush: 8 - 27 - 0 |
Williams had a quiet 27 yards on just eight carries, with his long gain going for 11. Most of his carries were nondescript, but he nearly scored midway through the first quarter. Williams took a handoff from the two yard line and appeared to get the ball over the goal line for the touchdown. However, officials ruled that he was down at the one yard line. Perhaps because the play resulted in a first down and goal from the one yard line, head coach Jon Gruden opted to not challenge the play. Instead, FB B.J. Askew leapt over the pile and scored on the next play.
| RB B.J. Askew, Rush: 1 - 1 - 1, Rec: 1 - 5 - 0 (1 targets) |
Askew's lone rush ended up being just his second touchdown of the season. Following a run by Cadillac Williams right to the goal line, Askew went over the pile for the short score. If he did get into the end zone, he barely put the ball over the goal line. Still, it was ruled a touchdown and never questioned.
| WR Antonio Bryant, Rec: 6 - 127 - 1 (10 targets) |
It was a tale of two games in one for Bryant. He had about as bad a first half as he has had all season long, but he dominated thereafter. He fumbled the ball away to the Chargers on his very first reception, leading to a San Diego touchdown. He then dropped two of the next three passes thrown to him, both of which were very catchable passes. Then, through no fault of his own, he was overthrown on a deep ball in the end zone by QB Jeff Garcia. Bryant had shaken free of coverage and was wide open, but the pass was well beyond his reach. In the second half, however, Bryant came alive. He only caught two passes, but one of them went for a 71 yard touchdown. He got by the defense once again and this time Garcia connected with him. The ball actually hung up for quite some time as Bryant waited seemingly forever for the pass to land. Unfortunately, Garcia's next pass didn't hang up quite long enough. He again overthrew a wide open Bryant, who had gotten in behind the defense, for what would have been a 68 yard touchdown if the pass had been on-target. As it turned out, despite the long touchdown he did get, it was more of an afternoon of missed opportunities than anything else.
| WR Ike Hilliard, Rec: 4 - 24 - 0 (7 targets) |
Hilliard caught four very short passes that had little impact on the game, with the long pass going for just eleven yards. More importantly, he was the target on each of Jeff Garcia's interceptions. On the first one, Garcia simply threw the ball in the wrong place. On the second one, Hilliard had the ball batted up in the air just in front of him and intercepted by Antoine Cason who returned it for a San Diego touchdown.
| WR Michael Clayton, Rec: 2 - 23 - 0 (4 targets) |
Clayton had a modest two receptions, neither of which made a terribly significant impact on the outcome of the game.
| TE Jerramy Stevens, Rec: 2 - 21 - 0 (4 targets) |
Stevens is the first receiving tight end in quite awhile that failed to take advantage of San Diego's propensity to give up big numbers to the opposing tight end. Stevens caught a 19 yard first quarter reception and had a short one in the fourth quarter, but nothing in between. He was not a focal point of the offense.
| PK Matt Bryant 1 - 1 FG, 3 - 3 XP, 6 points |
Bryant perfectly nailed a 49 yard field goal midway through the second quarter on his lone field goal attempt of the afternoon.
| TB Rush Defense |
Early on, LaDainian Tomlinson had some decent running lanes as his offensive line was doing a good job of opening up holes. The Chargers also kept feeding Tomlinson the ball as he was consistently moving the pile after first contact. As the game went on, the Chargers took to the air more and more. Tomlinson didn't break any huge gains (his long went for just thirteen yards) but he kept them honest with a four or six yard run here and there during the second half. Tampa appeared to be focused on not letting the Chargers gouge them like the Panthers and Falcons have done in recent weeks. It appears they succeeded in accomplishing that goal, but instead they allowed nearly 300 yards and four touchdowns through the air.
| TB Pass Defense |
Tampa had a lot of trouble containing the San Diego receivers over the middle or in the red zone. They mostly kept the Chargers in check on deep passes downfield but they were bludgeoned in most other aspects. CB Philip Buchanon in particular looked completely lost. No matter who he was covering, that player got open. He couldn't stay with either Vincent Jackson or Chris Chambers, and he seemingly didn't see the ball thrown right by him on Antonio Gates' second touchdown of the afternoon. The Buccaneers sacked Rivers only once and never came close to intercepting him. And almost every time the Chargers got in the red zone, they came away with a touchdown.
This game featured the most point allowed by a Tampa Bay defense since they lost 45-0 to the Oakland Raiders on 12/19/99.
