Chargers cherish win, know the cost
Before he stood in front of the mirror straightening his bolo tie, before he spoke of what was good and what was bad and what had been lost, Philip Rivers walked around the visitors’ locker room at Ralph Wilson stadium clad only in a towel.
“That’s a win,” Rivers bellowed repeatedly, a little defiant, a lot relieved.
The Chargers came across the country hoping to show they were a new kind of team. They did. They’ll have to keep doing so.
Whatever concerns lie ahead – and no team can sustain the loss of significant contributors week after week after week – there was a deep sense of satisfaction after Sunday’s 22-10 victory over the Buffalo Bills.
The time for savoring would be short. Rivers knew that. He and everyone else acknowledged this victory came at great cost.
Already without Ryan Mathews, sidelined at least another month after spraining his knee the previous week, the Chargers appear to have lost Danny Woodhead for an extended period, perhaps for the season, with a severe lower leg injury.
If there was someone the offense could not afford to lose more than Woodhead, it would be only Rivers and maybe Antonio Gates.
“To say you can just replace Danny, that doesn’t happen,” Rivers said of the running back who is sometimes his first option and sometimes his saving grace. “You lose a lot with Danny out.”
A fourth quarter that saw the Chargers gain 19 yards on 13 plays and punt five times was lamented, as was the Chargers’ 2.3 yards per carry for the game.
But the immediate pervasive feeling around the locker room was that limping to the finish was something to be cherished.
A team that has too often been unable to string together victories early in seasons had found a way to finish.
“I‘ll take as many wins as we can get in a row,” head coach Mike McCoy said. “It’s never easy . . . We’ve got to find a way to improve. I think the great thing is a lot of guys stepped up in different roles. A lot of guys were thrown into situations.”
Yes, for now, let the focus be on the Chargers’ second straight victory, a persevering performance that followed up their big win against the Seattle Seahawks.
This is who they thought they were, the fortified team they appeared to be.
“The depth, like we said early on, it’s showing up,” safety Eric Weddle said.
The Chargers relied on: linebackers Dwight Freeney and Reggie Walker playing more and different snaps than they had previously because Melvin Ingram is out with a hip injury; on safety Richard Marshall stepping in late at his old position when cornerback Jason Verrett hurt his hamstring; on Jahleel Addae playing his first snaps of the season filling in for Marcus Gilchrist for a time in the second half.
And on Donald Brown carrying the ball 31 times and catching five passes after Woodhead was carted off following the Chargers’ third play from scrimmage.
“Obviously, we want to play with our best guys,” Weddle said. “But to be 2-1 -- and the way we’ve done it – it’s a complete team effort. Guys are going to have to step up.”
For 13 more games, they will. This season isn’t even a quarter over. The Chargers lost their No. 1 running back and most disruptive pass rusher last week. Neither will be back for several weeks. Now one of their biggest playmakers is gone. Those injuries followed center Nick Hardwick being lost for the season after injuring his neck 16 snaps in the season opener.
It can’t keep going like this.
“It’s early,” Rivers acknowledged. “I’m not saying I don’t have confidence we will (overcome), but it’s a long way to go.”
Results, though, helped put conviction behind his words.
“I do think we have the guys in the room,” Rivers said. “We feel like the group that played out this game today, we can win. It’s not like this panic of what are we going to do, we have to change. We still have the group where we can be us and have a chance to win.”
There is merit based on what they did Sunday.
San Diego Chargers 22, Buffalo Bills 10
9/21/2014 at Ralph Wilson Stadium
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