San Diego – Whatever Marty Schottenheimer said at halftime was all it took to snap LaDainian Tomlinson and the rest of the San Diego Chargers out of their funk.
Tomlinson had another monster game, scoring three touchdowns late in the second half and finishing with 172 yards on 18 carries to lift the Chargers to a sloppy 32-25 win Sunday.
The Chargers also got a big effort from several defensive backups who were filling in for players missing due to injuries and, in outside linebacker Shawne Merriman’s case, a four-game suspension for a positive drug test.
Schottenheimer “gave us a mouthful, a tongue-lashing,” Tomlinson said. “We deserved it, though. I’d be lying if I told you we weren’t getting frustrated because we were. But we kept our poise when we needed to.”
The star running back had a whopping 9.6 yards per carry, gaining 47 yards on his first nine carries and 125 on his past nine.
Tomlinson had consecutive 100-yard rushing games for the first time this season. Last week he ran for 183 yards, had 57 yards receiving and scored three times in a win against St. Louis.
With Cleveland’s offense sputtering against a defense missing its two best pass rushers, Phil Dawson kicked a club-record six field goals – from 37, 20, 42, 30, 36 and 35 yards.
The Chargers (6-2) were trailing 12-10 when Tomlinson broke a 41-yard touchdown run with 1:08 left in the third quarter. The Chargers had great field position after pinning the Browns on their 2 and forcing them to punt.
“Give me a little hole I can squeeze through into the secondary,” said Tomlinson, who scored on runs of 7 and 8 yards in the fourth quarter.
Browns coach Romeo Crennel said the Chargers kept freezing their inside linebackers.
“I thought they wore us down,” he said.
The Browns (2-6) finally scored a TD with 1:11 left when Braylon Edwards caught a 4-yard pass from Frye.
Cleveland tight end Kellen Winslow had 78 yards on a career-high 11 catches, which tied for second-highest in franchise history.
The Browns were trying to win consecutive games for the first time in more than three seasons.
