Public Relations Contact InformationBill Johnston
. . . . . . . . . . Director of Public Relations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .(858) 874-4661 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . johnstonb@chargers.nfl.com
Scott Yoffe
. . . . . . . . . . . Assistant Director of Public Relations . . . . . . . . . . . .(858) 874-4659 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .yoffes@chargers.nfl.com
Jamaal LaFrance
. . . . . . . Media Relations Coordinator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .(858) 874-4563 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .lafrancej@chargers.nfl.com
Jennifer Rojas
. . . . . . . . . Corporate Communications Coordinator . . . . . . . . .(858) 874-4662 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .rojasj@chargers.nfl.com
Casey Pearce
. . . . . . . . . . Web Site & Publications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .(858) 874-4660 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .pearcec@chargers.nfl.com
Joel Price
. . . . . . . . . . . . . Manager, Internet Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .(858) 874-4609 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .pricej@chargers.nfl.com
Coryell a Hall of Fame semifinalistDon Coryell
is among 25 semifinalists for the Pro Foot-ball Hall of Fame’s Class of 2010. Coryell is theonly head coach who remains on the list,which was recently pared down from 131candidates. The list will again be reduced to 15 on Janu-ary 7, 2010. Coryell, who was also one of the coaches se-lected to the Chargers’ 50th Anniversary All-Time Team recentlyturned 85. Coryell’s contributions to pro football and the modernpassing game are almost too numerous to mention.Clothing retailer Van Heusen has teamed up with the Hall of Fameto provide fans with a forum to cast their vote for induction. Anyonewishing to do so can online at
www.fanschoice.com
. The Hall of Fameclass of 2010 will be officially announced on Feb. 6, 2010.At present, seven former Chargers are members of the Pro FootballHall of Fame. They are
Lance Alworth, Ron Mix, Coach Sid Gillman,Dan Fouts, Kellen Winslow, Charlie Joiner
and
Fred Dean
.
Red zone run
After struggling early in the season, the Chargers’ offense hasfound its rhythm inside the red zone. The Chargers havescored on 21 of their last 22 red zone possessions and hada streak of 20-straight scores from the 20-and-in come toan end last Sunday. During the present stretch, the Charg-ers have converted those 22 trips into 15 touchdowns and six fieldgoals. Though not considered an official “red zone” possession, forpurposes of this note we are including
LaDainian Tomlinson’s
20-yard touchdown run Nov. 15 against Philadelphia.
A winning formula
Six times this season, including last Sunday vs. KansasCity, the Chargers defense has recorded more sacks andforced more turnovers combined than the offense allowed.In those six games, the Chargers are 6-0 and have outscoredtheir opposition by 112 points. In games when that ratio is even, theChargers are 1-1 and both games were decided by 10 points. In gameswhere there’s been a negative ratio, the Bolts are just 1-2 with the twolosses by 16 combined points.The Chargers had a season-high four takeaways against the Chiefsthat resulted in 28 points on Sunday.
Quentin Jam-mer
had an interception and a forced fumble thatboth resulted in offensive touchdowns;
Paul Oliver
returned a fumble 40 yards for a touchdown, and
Larry English
recovered an errant shotgun snap that the offense con-verted into yet another TD on the ensuing possession. Though notconsidered an official turnover, linebacker
Tim Dobbins
got into theact too, drawing an intentional grounding penalty in the end zone thatresulted in a safety.
Game Balls
Following each win this season, Head Coach
NorvTurner
and the Chargers’ coaching staff will awardgame balls. Here is the list.•
Oakland —
Rivers, Naanee, Mruczkowski, Weddle,Cooper, Nwagbuo, Osgood, Scifres and Sproles•
Miami —
Rivers, Jackson, Nwagbuo, Weddle, Wilson and Tolbert•
at K.C. —
Clary, Jackson, Gregory, Dobbins, Scifres and Hester•
Oakland —
Tomlinson, Jackson, Merriman and Phillips•
at N.Y. Giants —
Rivers, Jackson, Dielman, Merriman, Phillips, Ce-saire, Kaeding and Osgood•
Philadelphia —
Rivers, Tomlinson, Gates, McNeill, Tolbert, Boone, Bur-nett and Holt•
at Denver —
All defense, Tolbert, Hester, Clary, Kaeding and Naanee•
K.C. —
Binn, Tolbert, Siler, McNeill and the 11 active players fromthe Chargers 50th Anniversary All-Time Team: Rivers, Tomlinson,Williams, Hardwick, Dielman, Scifres, Osgood, Sproles, Gates, Jam-mer and Merriman
NFLers prefer Chargers
Sports Illustrated
recently conducted a poll of NFLplayers league-wide, asking them “Which team theywould most like to play for?” Of the 296 players polled,11.1% picked the Dallas Cowboys, but the three-time defending AFCWest Champion Chargers were second, culling 8.5% of the votes.
Unsung heroes
Recently, Head Coach
Norv Turner
cited the play of two unsungheroes during the Chargers’ six-game winning streak. The two werecenter
Scott Mruczkowski
and linebacker
BrandonSiler
. Mruczkowski, a Cleveland native,has started the last 10 games at centerwhile
Nick Hardwick
has been rehab-bing a foot injury. And Siler, who no coincidence has seenhis playing time on defense increase over the last sixweeks has recorded 38 of his 39 tackles during those six weeks, in-cluding a season-high 10 against the New York Giants on Nov. 8 andanother 10 last Sunday against Kansas City. Siler collected his first ca-reer sack in the Bolts’ Nov. 15 game against Philadelphia and a fum-ble recovery last Sunday against Kansas City led to a touchdown thatgave the Chargers a 21-7 lead.
Sack attack is back
Led by
Shaun Phillips
and
Shawne Merriman
, theChargers have recorded 20 sacks in the last six games.Phillips, who leads the team with six, has recorded all of thesix during the Chargers’ six-game win streak. This season,the Bolts’ linebackers have collected 16.5 of the team’s 27 sacks.
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