National Football League

Chargers' win over Seahawks proves that you cannot play scared against the champs

Published Sep. 14, 2014 7:45 p.m. ET

foxsports

The San Diego Chargers entered this season with a heaping load of promise, but it didn't start off very promising after losing to the Arizona Cardinals to open the season.

The Chargers we saw in Sunday's 30-21 win over the defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks, though, now that's a team with promise.

Philip Rivers looked like the Philip Rivers we all expected to see this season -- a dialed-in veteran who single-handedly can take over a game in a moment's notice.

The 32-year-old quarterback played a near-perfect game in the win, completing 28 of 37 passes for 284 yards and three touchdowns, all three touchdowns ending up in the hands of his longtime partner in crime, tight end Antonio Gates.

Gates hauled in seven passes for 98 yards to accompany the three scores. You would have thought it was 2005, the last time Gates recorded a three-score game.

"Seeing the connection with Philip (Rivers) and Antonio (Gates) today, that is one of the most, if not the most prolific tandems in football, in the history of the game," Chargers head coach Mike McCoy said after the game.

The Chargers entered Sunday with the right game plan: control the tempo, move the ball in small chunks, use the middle of the field, use the sidelines, don't take unnecessary risks, win.

That's exactly what they did, too. San Diego dominated time of possession 42:15 to 17:45, averaging 5.0 yards per play, and registered 26 first downs to Seattle's 14.

"It's definitely good to have the ball in your hands," Chargers running back Danny Woodhead told FOX Sports after the game. "That's definitely a good thing. We were able to control the ball a little bit. I think that helped us out."

What Rivers was able to do to Seattle's vaunted defense left many scratching their heads. What old man Gates was able to do left people scratching their heads.

We've come to expect teams to play scared against the Seahawks, allowing Seattle to dictate the flow of a game. But if there's one thing we know about Rivers, he ain't scared of anything.

Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman wasn't targeted one single time in Seattle's Week 1 win over the Green Bay Packers. Rivers must have been paying attention, too, because he targeted Sherman from the get-go. Rivers hit Keenan Allen for three catches on three targets for 38 yards in the first quarter with Sherman in coverage.

.@FOXSportsLive Chargers can be dangerous team w/ right game plan. Rivers is using every inch of field & def isn't afraid to attack Sherman.
— Bear Heiser (@BearHeiser) September 14, 2014

"We like that matchup, not in a sense that 'Oh, that was our star guy, go after Sherman,'" Rivers said after the game. "By any means, he's a heck of a corner, and Keenan made a few plays on him today."

Earlier in the week, Rivers even addressed how Sherman's presence on the field would affect the Chargers' game plan.

"We're not going with the approach that we're not going to throw to (Sherman's) side," Rivers said, via UT-San Diego. "At the same time, I'm not going to be careless. It would be silly to say, 'We're going to go after him.' You've got to be smart. You respect the defense as a whole. You don't try to get cute with their best players."

Those exact words were executed Sunday. Rivers went after Sherman, and he wasn't at all careless. He was careful. Many Chargers players used the word "exposed" when describing Sherman's performance.

"He's just a normal guy," Allen said of Sherman. "We can go at him. We are not going to shy away from him. He's not really a shutdown corner."

Sherman elected not to speak to the media after the game, which, if you know anything about Sherman, he's usually willing to talk. And with no injury to report, one could guess the reason to which why Sherman bypassed the media. But in true Sherman fashion, he attempted to get in the final word.

It wasn't just a bad day for Sherman, though. The Seahawks defense, for the first time in forever, wasn't able to make in-game adjustments that actually worked out. Seattle threw everything but the kitchen sink at Gates, and you know how that worked out. Whether it was a linebacker or Pro Bowl safety Kam Chancellor, Seattle couldn't stop Gates in the middle of the field.

"He's definitely crafty and smart," Chancellor said. "He has a great quarterback that looks for him, knows the moves he makes and gets the ball to him."

The Rivers-to-Gates combination has scored 65 touchdowns, which is the most from a quarterback to tight end in NFL history.

"The way Philip threw the ball to him (Gates) at time when he was covered, but he knew he could create the separation at the critical time to make the big plays," McCoy said.

The Chargers will need Rivers and Gates to keep up this type of performance, too, as starting rusher Ryan Mathews left the game early in the fourth quarter with a knee injury. The Chargers simply were trying to burn clock when Mathews took the handoff that eventually led to his injury. Almost as soon as the Chargers' training staff arrived on the field to tend to Mathews, a cart was being brought out, which is never a good sign.

After the game, McCoy said Mathews still was being evaluated and is set to undergo more tests Sunday night.

While McCoy was at the podium addressing his running back's injury, Mathews was leaving the stadium on a cart, with crutches by his side, covering his face with a hat. He looked about as sad as one could be after beating the defending Super Bowl champions.

Source says MCL sprain for Ryan Mathews. Further testing likely: http://t.co/7ojNR0Un91
— Michael Gehlken (@UTgehlken) September 15, 2014

Donald Brown was handed $4 million in guaranteed money during the offseason in case something like this happened. Mathews, now in his fifth season, has missed eight total games with various injuries. Mathews played in all 16 for the first time in his career last season.

The Chargers needed to win Sunday. You really don't want to go down 0-2 before divisional play begins.

"It's still one game," McCoy said. He can downplay the victory all he wants; it's not going to change the perceived magnitute of the win. The Chargers locker room was loud and proud following the game. You never would have guessed it only was Week 2.

The mood in the Seahawks locker room was somber -- very quiet, almost too quiet. It felt like Seattle never in a million years thought it would lose this game.

"We went out today and proved a lot of people wrong," Gates said.

Yes, Mr. Gates; yes you did.