Attempting to collect his thoughts, Antonio Gates exhaled as he stood outside the old stadium in Mission Valley.
Gates had deferred a postgame chat so he could compose himself by walking out of the Chargers’ cramped locker room and up a stadium tunnel.
Outdoors now, the tight end angled away from the New York Jets team bus, set his bag down and pivoted near a cluster of pine trees.
The longtime Chargers star was trying to make sense of the offense’s poor performance that January afternoon 15 years ago. It seemed too soon for him to process another exasperating playoff defeat.
Playcaller Norv Turner’s offense had scored only half its season average and its fewest points that year, leading to the 17-14 Divisional Round loss. The Chargers were favored by nine points, which still stands as a franchise-high entering a playoff defeat in the Super Bowl era.
Philip Rivers, following a decent first half, looked uncomfortable against coach Rex Ryan’s cagey Jets defense that Tom Brady would rank among the best he faced. On the day, Rivers was intercepted twice — once more than Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez, a rookie.
LaDainian Tomlinson never heated up, nor did his blockers.
The Jets held the Canton-bound running back to 24 yards on 12 carries and no yards on three catches. As the game wore on, Tomlinson appeared dejected, even defeated, while standing on the sideline.
An All-Pro kicker that season, Nate Kaeding missed two field goal tries of less than 41 yards.
Gates, standing outside the stadium afterward, said he had no good answers for why things had gone as they had.
“That wasn’t the San Diego Chargers that you saw out there,” said the tight end, who had eight catches for 83 yards.
There wasn’t much else to say. It was Deja Blue — powder or navy.
The defeat was San Diego’s third in six years as a betting-line playoff favorite in Mission Valley, recalling losses to the New England Patriots and Jets. For old-timers, the gloom resurfaced memories of the Air Coryell Chargers falling as home favorites in consecutive Januarys.
The Chargers haven’t won the AFC West since 2009, when the club went 13-3.
Years later, Gates would call the ’09 team’s loss to the Jets the worst defeat he’d experienced — yes, worse than the 14-2 Chargers’ Divisional Round loss three years earlier to the Patriots.
“I believe that if we beat the Jets, we would have gone on to win the Super Bowl,” Gates said.
Instead, the Super Bowl was won by a Saints club directed by Drew Brees. The former Chargers quarterback won the game’s MVP award by leading New Orleans past the AFC-champion Colts.
Thursday night in New Orleans, Gates was told by Tomlinson he’d been voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Class of 2025. While embracing Tomlinson, Gates said he had buried his father less than two weeks ago, adding emotion to his pending Hall induction this August. His dad, Gates told Tomlinson, developed his competitive edge.
The Chargers have fielded several players who fashioned most or all of a Hall of Fame career while playing in San Diego. They included linebacker Junior Seau and several offensive stars: tackle Ron Mix, receivers Lance Alworth and Charlie er, sport-changing tight end Kellen Winslow and Tomlinson. Defensive end Leslie O’Neal warrants special mention, despite not gaining induction. O’Neal had 12 1/2 sacks in a spectacular rookie season before blowing out a knee the next year. Nevertheless, O’Neal finished with 134 sacks and defended the run well.
As an NFL rookie in 2003, Gates was reacclimating to football while at the same time trying to survive in the NFL. The Chargers had signed him as an undrafted free agent. He hadn’t played football since his high school career in Detroit. Basketball was his first love, but the 6-foot-4 Gates, understanding he wasn’t tall enough to become a basketball star despite having led Kent State on a deep run in the NCAA Tournament, decided that the NFL offered him more opportunity than the NBA.
By his second season, he was a game-wrecker. Gates’ next eight seasons, with their accompanying eight Pro Bowl selections and three All-Pro picks, matches up well with most, if not all, runs by other Chargers Hall of Famers.
Gates’ touchdown rate was astounding. Before toe injuries and age forced him to rely more on guile, Gates was both very fast and very quick at 255 pounds.
Over those eight years, his 74 TD receptions trailed only Hall of Famer Randy Moss, a split end. The NFL’s only other tight end near the top of that TD list was Tony Gonzalez, whom Hall voters elected in 2019.
Having a -catcher who thrives within the middle of a defense creates enormous opportunities, said Bill Belichick, the six-time Super Bowl-winning head coach who won two Super Bowls as a defensive coordinator.
The Chargers did a fine job of leveraging what Gates could do. Over those eight regular seasons, San Diego finished 40 games above .500, and only the Patriots scored more points.
It didn’t translate into any Super Bowl appearances for the Chargers.
But on most NFL Sundays, Gates and friends were fun to watch.
