East Rutherford, N.J. – LaDainian Tomlinson and his Chargers teammates watched the Jets get one final chance to pull out an improbable victory.
One thought must have crossed their minds: “Oh, no. Not again.”
No matter that Tomlinson was dazzling, with a career-high four touchdowns and one particularly impressive move that left Pro Bowl cornerback Ty Law frozen in his tracks. Drew Brees fumbled with 3:06 to go, and a surprisingly effective Brooks Bollinger had 30 yards to lead the Jets to the winning score.
This was all too much for the Chargers, whose four losses all came in the closing minutes. But Quentin Jammer rescued San Diego when he batted down a fade pass for Justin McCareins on fourth-and-goal, preserving a 31-26 victory Sunday.
“It was nice. So many times we’ve been on the losing end of games like this. I figured one game would have to go our way,” Tomlinson said.
Tomlinson scored on three runs and one catch, becoming the first Charger since Chuck Muncie against Denver on Nov. 29, 1981, to have four touchdowns in one game.
Heading into the contest, Tomlinson had the same number of touchdown passes (three) as Jets quarterbacks. Bollinger changed all that with a furious charge.
Vinny Testaverde’s strained right calf tightened up, so Bollinger replaced him in the third quarter, then threw two touchdown passes to make it a game.
Laveranues Coles made a beautiful play on the second one, barely keeping his toes inbounds for an 8-yard score with 6:44 to play.
The scoring passes were the first through the air for the Jets (2-6) since Week 2 against the Dolphins.
Then John Abraham sacked Brees and forced a fumble, which Jonathan Vilma recovered. But the Jets failed on four attempts from the 3, and their disappointing season continued.
“We needed to make a play,” Jammer said. “They ran a couple fades on me. I figured they were going to try to run another one, and I just made a play on the ball.”
The Chargers (5-4) are tired of playing it close after a laundry list of tight losses this season, including two on field goals in the closing seconds.
“That was the first thing in my mind. I’m sick of these type of games,” said Antonio Gates, who had eight catches for 132 yards. “I was like, this ain’t about to keep happening. We worked too hard.”
Tomlinson, who finished with 25 carries for 107 yards, staked the Chargers to a 21-10 halftime lead. On his 25-yard touchdown reception, Tomlinson took a short pass from Brees and scooted down the sideline. He juked out Law so badly, Law seemed to freeze in place.
“I was like the fans,” Chargers coach Marty Schottenheimer said. “I saw the cut on the touchdown he made against Ty Law, and I was anxiously awaiting the replay of it. I wasn’t sure what I saw actually happened.”
Or, as Tomlinson said: “I was just being me. I enjoy making people miss. You don’t have time to think. You just react to what Ty is doing. Ty was kind of giving me the inside. He was forcing me inside, so I kind of stuck him outside and made him hesitate. Then I burst past him.”
The Jets defense decided to play in the second half.
Brees, who was 20-of-27 for 270 yards, was held to 55 yards in the half, and the Chargers had 114 total yards and eight first downs. Meanwhile, Bollinger put together an inspired effort, going 11-of-20 for 106 yards.
“All you can ask is to have the ball in your hands with a chance to win the game,” Bollinger said. “I did, we did – I just didn’t get it done.”
Curtis Martin had 21 carries for 72 yards and became the 16th player in NFL history to score 100 touchdowns, when he reached the mark with a 1-yard scoring run early in the second quarter.
Now a season that started with such high hopes is virtually ruined. No 2-6 team that lost in its eighth game has made the playoffs.
The Chargers hope this win is the last close one they see in a while.
“It’s about time something good like this happened,” Brees said.
