Rivers shrugs off praise for toughness

By: MIKE SULLIVAN - Staff Writer | Sunday, January 20, 2008 11:29 PM PST ∞

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. ---- Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers wanted a victory, not praise for playing through pain. He also didn't want to use his injured right knee as an excuse for any shortcomings.

"It held up pretty good," Rivers said. "It really was no impact on my play. I couldn't move around quite as good as I maybe could have needed to on a couple occasions, but it really didn't have an impact as far as throwing and those kinds of things."

Rivers was 19-of-37 passing for 211 yards and two interceptions as the Chargers lost 21-12 to New England in Sunday's AFC Championship Game. But the Chargers failed to score an offensive touchdown despite moving inside New England's 10-yard line on three different drives.

"We get down there and turn those three into touchdowns ---- and I know it's a what-if game ---- and then it's a whole different story," Rivers said.

While putting points on the scoreboard was tough, Rivers earned plenty of points with his teammates by persevering through a knee injury that the team reported as a sprained medial collateral ligament. Rivers said he would "probably" need knee surgery.

"We don't really know yet," Rivers said. "We've got time now, plenty of time, to get all that figured out. But it is certainly a possibility."

RB LaDainian Tomlinson was amazed by Rivers' fortitude.

"Not too many guys would've been able to do what he did," Tomlinson said. "Philip proved a lot to all of us, his teammates, just for him to be able to play through it.

"There's a lot of respect that we have for him."

Gates feel pain
TE Antonio Gates was a shadow of himself for the second straight playoff game because of the dislocated left big toe he suffered in the victory over Tennessee on Jan. 6.

Gates wouldn't have played the past two weeks if it had been the regular season.

"Oh, man, my toe feels bad, man," Gates said. "I can say it now. It was basically burning out there today. The pain doubled this week because of the fact of playing on it against the Colts and then coming back and making a push to try to get to the Super Bowl."

Gates had just two receptions for 17 yards against New England. A week earlier against Indianapolis, Gates had two catches for 28 yards.

"But you know what? I gave it all I had," Gates said.

Kaeding gets kicks
K Nate Kaeding set a franchise postseason record with four field goals, booting aside his track record for playoff struggles. Kaeding kicked field goals of 26, 23, 40 and 24 yards.

The former record of three was held by Ben Agajanian, who did it against the Houston Oilers on Jan. 1, 1961 when the Chargers were in Los Angeles.

Kaeding was 2-of-6 in the postseason before Sunday's performance.

He also handled kickoff duties for the first time since injuring his left fibula on Dec. 24. His kickoffs were repeatedly short in the windy conditions.

Cold weather success
The frigid conditions ---- 23 degrees at kickoff with a wind chill of 9 degrees ---- were to the Patriots' liking. Sunday's victory makes New England 16-1 since 1993 when the kickoff temperature is below 30 degrees.

The 23-degree temperature was the eighth lowest in which the Chargers have played. The lowest of minus-9 also came in an AFC Championship Game ---- the Chargers lost to Cincinnati on Jan. 10, 1982 when the wind chill was minus-59, making it the coldest game in NFL history.

Injury report
Tomlinson's injured left knee didn't hold up well. Tomlinson played only during the first two series before sitting out the rest of the game.

Tomlinson also disclosed that he sprained the medial collateral ligament in his left knee a week earlier against Indianapolis, an injury the Chargers never reported.

WR Legedu Naanee injured an ankle in the first half, with the severity unknown.

The Chargers did not produce an injury report after Sunday's game. They indicated they will release their injury report today.

Key stat
0

Touchdowns for the Chargers in three trips to the red zone

Turning point
The Chargers faced a third-and-1 play from the New England 4-yard line on the opening drive of the second half and had a chance to take the lead. Instead, they settled for their fourth field goal after Junior Seau burst through the line and tackled Michael Turner for a 2-yard loss.

Quotable
"Obviously, I wanted to play, but if I did try to play, I would've been hurting the team because I didn't have any explosiveness. And I wouldn't have been myself."

---- RB LaDainian Tomlinson on not being able to play because of his left knee injury

Who's hot
Laurence Maroney

New England running back took over in the second half, gaining 106 of his 122 rushing yards.

Who's not
Antonio Gates

The Pro Bowl tight end deserved better than being derailed by a dislocated left big toe with a Super Bowl berth on the line.

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