Rivers leads a new era for the Chargers

Mamba · Aug 3, 2010

It is customary in the NFL to “clap in” a player who is late to a meeting.

As he walks to his seat, the tardy offender is serenaded with sarcastic and good-natured applause.

It’s a small thing, but it shows camaraderie and that everyone is on the same level, that no one is too big to have their chops busted or have to answer to teammates.

At least now that will be the case at Chargers Park.

When LaDainian Tomlinson would walk into the offensive meeting room late, only a few players, namely Antonio Gates and Philip Rivers, felt comfortable enough to clap him in.

No one is saying that’s the reason the Chargers lost to the Jets or that it explains continued January failure.

But the makeup and personality of the Chargers has changed more radically going into this season than it has in a long time, perhaps even more so than when Junior Seau departed seven years ago. And those in the locker room think that might be one factor in them finally getting where they’re trying to go.

“It’s exciting,” center Nick Hardwick said. “We’re going to have to come up with our own identity, and we don’t know what it will be. We’ll go through some battles and see. Things are going to start to emerge and develop. Guys are going to have to step up and assume roles maybe they haven’t before.”

And while deference to the departed is shown, there is widespread acknowledgment in the Chargers locker room that metamorphosis almost certainly was not going to happen in the shadow of the man with the megawatt smile but also a pout that was increasingly toxic.

“I don’t know how everyone feels or if they felt it,” said Rivers, who answers questions about Tomlinson the way someone walks through a minefield. “Maybe it was a little bit of a relief. Maybe it’s a feeling of, ‘I can do a little more without wondering what he thinks.’ ”

The fact is that the Chargers are entering not only a new era but have a new aura, with personalities such as Tomlinson and, to a lesser extent, Jamal Williams no longer among them or hovering above them.

“Sometimes you would get the sense that people felt bigger than the team,” Gates said. “Not to say it was an issue, but we know it’s not an issue for sure now.”

No one could ever want more from Tomlinson’s work ethic or (at one time) production. But there was a belief he could have been more a part of the team.

For all the ways Tomlinson was a great man — his faith, charitable work, cooperation with the media, his generosity with teammates and good times he could share with them — there was an aura about Tomlinson that he was distinctively set aside.

It’s not that he never engaged teammates or spoke out as a leader. In fact, a team meeting he called in 2007 is credited with being the impetus for a midseason turnaround that took the Chargers to the AFC Championship game.

It would be difficult to find anyone around the team who would deny there was a darker side to LT that, due to his stature and intensity, at times threatened to smother the Chargers.

Rivers has shown nothing but respect for the departed legend. It’s been genuine appreciation and measured deference.

Rivers is too honest, however, to not acknowledge an underlying tension existed as Tomlinson’s dissatisfaction with his role was at times evident.

“That got real touchy the last 18 months,” Rivers said.

This is not a story about the Chargers being better off without Tomlinson, or even about the dark cloud or chilly breeze that sometimes accompanied the franchise’s biggest-ever superstar. This is an examination of how the hierarchy and leadership on this team has changed and how the offseason face-lift might be addition by subtraction.

While the defense in recent years has grown to take its cues from the emotional Stephen Cooper and also the quiet Quentin Jammer, and there is not a player in the locker room who doesn’t listen when Gates pulls them aside, the leadership of this new era begins with Rivers.

When the Chargers quarterback had surgery six days before the AFC Championship and played in the game with no ACL in January 2008, it marked his official ascension to a throne he had sought from his first day as a Charger.

It’s not that he wanted to or even felt it necessary to take anything from Tomlinson. Rivers has simply always believed leadership is the most important aspect of a quarterback’s job.

He began even when he was Drew Brees’ backup, working the entire locker room, bantering with offensive and defensive players. He jokes on the field with anyone and everyone. He surprises rookies by knowing their names and where they came from.

“He has done a phenomenal job with opening relationships with people,” Gates said. “… When you talk about great player, you have to be careful what you say. Obviously, I miss LT. I played with him a whole lot. But the reality is Philip and I have a more core friendship because of the openness.

“Me and LT had a wonderful relationship too. But sometimes you got the sense of stardom status and you can only take it so far. With Philip, I never feel that.”

Gates attributes what has been roundly described as the Chargers’ most energetic, well-attended, close-knit and fun offseason in years in large part to the fact that everyone felt secure with each other and that certain personalities (not specifically Tomlinson) were absent.

“It gives you the sense this is my family,” Gates said. “Not, this is the family and this is this person.”

It might be a little thing. But maybe it signals the turning point in a franchise’s fate.

“Everyone claps Philip in,” Gates said. “He gives that sense of, ‘I’m accountable too, I’m not above nothing.’ That’s something we recognize, and it helps us. … There’s camaraderie. People might say, ‘What does that have to do with playing football?’ I say, ‘I’ve been on championship teams, and that’s how we were.’ ”
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http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/aug/01/rivers-leads-a-new-era-new-aura-for-chargers/

Mamba · Aug 3, 2010

Again, I'm happy that LT is no longer with this team. Rivers can now lead 100% with out being concerned he's stepping on LT's toes. The other players are also more comfortable with Rivers leading. The talent has always been there for the Chargers, but the chemistry is never there.

Hopefully all that changes this year.

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Rivers leads a new era for the Chargers

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Rivers leads a new era for the Chargers

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