SAN DIEGO (AP) — NBC analyst Cris Collinsworth saw something wrong with San Diego Chargers
left tackle Jared Gaither and predicted that New Orleans Saints
defensive end Martez Wilson would sack Philip Rivers to end Monday
night's game.
Chargers coach Norv Turner
wasn't alerted to Gaither's injury, either by the player himself or an
assistant coach. Sure enough, with the Chargers
desperately trying for the tying touchdown in the final seconds, Wilson
blew past the hobbled Gaither on Rivers' blind side for the strip-sack
and recovered the fumble to preserve the Saints' 31-24 victory.
"It wasn't brought to my attention," Turner said Monday.
After
Rivers threw an incompletion on second-and-10 from the New Orleans 33,
Collinsworth said: "Gaither looks lame. He's gonna have to get some help
here or Wilson's gonna get a sack to end this game."
After it
played out like Collinsworth suggested it would, he said: "Nobody saw
it. You could see it on the play before. He couldn't move. ... He's
limping out there. He's doing his best. He should have turned around to
Philip Rivers and said, 'Either I've got to go out or you have to give
me help on this side.' "
The victory was the first in five games
for the Saints and Drew Brees, who broke Hall of Famer Johnny Unitas'
half-century-old record by throwing a touchdown pass in his 48th
straight game. Brees beat his old team for the second time since 2008 by
throwing for 370 yards and four TDs.
San Diego dropped to 3-2 heading into Monday night's home game against Peyton Manning and the division rival Denver Broncos.
Turner said at his weekly news conference that he had heard of Collinsworth's comments.
"He's
looking down from up above," Turner said. "It was actually in the
third-to-last play he strained his groin a little bit. I would rather
have him come out in that situation. He got back in the huddle.
Obviously there's no way you could see it. I think Cris saw it on the
next play where Philip had to throw the ball away and the last play was
the sack. You'd like Jared to come out of the game. We could have put
(Mike) Harris in. It would have helped us. I think he wanted to fight
through it and felt he could play."
Last season, left guard Kris
Dielman was staggered by a helmet-to-helmet hit with a New York Jets
player. He did not come out of the game and wasn't diagnosed until
afterward. Dielman had a grand mal seizure as the team plane approached
San Diego and was taken by ambulance to a hospital, where he spent the
night. Dielman retired on March 1 rather than risk another concussion.
Asked
about the team's increased diligence in detecting players who aren't
100 percent, Turner said: "We're trying to stay on top of that. In that
case the player's got to let you know he can't go."
None of the Chargers' assistant coaches who watch the game from a booth in the press box alerted Turner.
"I think Collinsworth saw it on the second-to-last play," Turner said. "It wasn't brought to my attention."
Gaither
missed most of training camp and the first three games with back
spasms. Turner says Gather has a chance to practice this week and play
Monday night.
The play that helped turn the game came in the third quarter. Chargers linebacker Demorrio Williams intercepted Brees and returned it for a touchdown that would have given the Chargers
a 31-14 lead. But the score was negated after rookie Melvin Ingram was
whistled for roughing the passer after he drove his helmet into Brees'
chin.
It was Ingram's second roughing the passer penalty of the season.
"We're
going to fix that issue," Turner said. "It's coaching, it's technique,
it's him understanding the way the games are officiated. There's no
question we addressed it after the Raider game and It's something we're
going to deal with. Everyone in the league has dealt with it. You look
at the great pass rushers in the league and they've all learned how to
handle it. We've got to get Melvin to do the same."
Five plays later, Brees hit Marques Colston on a 16-yard touchdown pass that started the Saints' comeback.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.
