Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
BERNIE WILSON
Associated Press
SAN DIEGO - LaDainian Tomlinson isn't about to start pondering his place in NFL history, and he's still trying to put into perspective what it means to have scored 100 touchdowns faster than any other player.
This much L.T. is certain of - he's never been better.
"I would say yes. You guys are getting to see every aspect of my game, of what I can do on the football field," the San Diego Chargers' star running back said Monday.
"Obviously I'm in the prime of my career. I see things clearly out on the football field. It's kind of a thing like when you were in high school and you knew you can make plays for your team because you're seeing things clearly and you felt like you were on top of your game. That's the way I feel right now."
Tomlinson had another remarkable performance on Sunday night, scoring four more touchdowns to help the Chargers rally from a 17-point deficit to win 35-27 at Denver in a showdown for the AFC West lead.
At one point, Tomlinson thought he might be cursed in the Mile High City. Instead, he pushed his NFL lead to 22 touchdowns, a Chargers single-season record and just seven shy of breaking the NFL record of 28 set by Shaun Alexander during his MVP season of 2005.
Tomlinson had been 0-5 and never rushed for more than 75 yards in five previous trips to Denver. That changed when he ran for 105 yards and added 74 more yards on three passes from Philip Rivers, including a short toss that he turned into a 51-yard touchdown that pulled the Chargers within three points late in the third quarter.
Tomlinson kept the ball from his 100th touchdown, but said the significance had yet to sink in.
"It's a landmark. 100 touchdowns is triple digits - one, zero, zero," he said with a laugh.
Tomlinson has 102 career TDs in 89 games. That's four fewer games than it took Hall of Famer Jim Brown and Emmitt Smith to score 100 touchdowns.
"I haven't given much thought to it," Tomlinson said. "Right now it hasn't set in on what it means because it's fresh. I'm caught up in the moment. It's like I'm going along for the ride."
Tomlinson has scored an NFL-record 19 touchdowns in six games and has topped 1,000 yards rushing for the sixth straight season.
"I'm focused on the present right now, and obviously the future ahead and I never really want to stop and look at what I've done or even to look back," he said. "I've got a one-track mind going forward, and that's to win and build something special, something that people can remember. When it's all done, then I think I'll look back on my place in history and say, 'You know what? I think I did something good or great.' We'll see what happens."
The Chargers (8-2), trying to get into the playoffs for just the second time in 11 seasons, have sole possession of the division lead going into Sunday's home game against the last-place Oakland Raiders.
"LaDainian is a remarkable, remarkable player," said San Diego coach Marty Schottenheimer, who ranks Tomlinson as the best running back he's ever seen.
"He's as good as there is," Rivers said. "He's going to keep performing at that level. Now, is he going to keep having four touchdowns every game and having 150 yards? Maybe. I mean, he might. That was like when he had a couple of 70-yard games in a row and everybody was wondering what's the matter. And to us, nothing was the matter. He was still dominant. Certainly, he's a force."
Watching the game film on Monday reinforced Rivers' belief that some of Tomlinson's best runs are the ones that don't make the highlight shows.
"The big runs and those things are awesome, but to me, some of his three- and four-yard runs are unbelievable. They're runs where most backs may have a 1-yard loss or they get hit in the backfield. But he scrambles around and gets three. He can get you a second-and-seven or get you to third-and-two.
"To be the big-play back that he is, he understands that he's not going to bust it on every play. He knows when to take his four yards, take his two yards, take his no gain."
A week earlier, the Chargers scored 42 points in the second half to rally for a 49-41 win at Cincinnati.
"This team, we're never out of it," Tomlinson said. "We really feel like that. We've got a great group of guys that love to compete."
Tomlinson wouldn't mind it, though, if the Chargers got ahead and stayed there.
"If we could, we would, believe me," he said. "If it was our way, we'll have it where we got our hat on, our socks rolled down, eating sunflower seeds with six minutes to go."