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SAN DIEGO ---- Antonio Gates has certainly been toeing the line since returning to practice two-plus weeks ago. One day, the Chargers' tight end will say his ailing big toe feels fine; the next afternoon he'll openly tell you his foot is throbbing.

The four-time Pro Bowl selection returns to game action Sunday for the first time since he limped through the AFC Championship Game last January with a torn plantar plate in his left foot. And he knows every fan in Qualcomm Stadium will be wondering the same thing: Will he will be the old Antonio Gates or a lesser version?

"That's what they're all waiting to see," Gates said Friday. "At some point, that's what I'm waiting to see."

Gates and the Chargers open the 2008 regular season against the Carolina Panthers at Qualcomm Stadium six-plus months after Gates underwent surgery to repair the plantar plate and move the dislocated sesamoid bone back in place.

Even if the player who has caught 70 or more passes in each of the past four seasons isn't yet up to old standards and is dealing with pain, the 6-foot-4, 260-pound Gates knows this much: Nothing that occurs Sunday can match the pain of last January when he played back-to-back playoff games in excruciating pain.

"Now I'm not playing with a torn plate and I'm not playing with a stressed sesamoid bone," Gates said. "I'm playing with the plate repaired and the sesamoid bone is back in place. I'm dealing with pain tolerance. There's not an injury and that's the biggest difference in the world."

The thinking last January was much different. At the time, Gates was just trying to make it through games; not focusing on excelling during them.

"Why am I out here when this thing is torn completely?" Gates said of his thought process last January. "That's a big difference. Mentally, it's a huge difference."

The signature play of how much Gates was struggling last January is the play near the New England goal line when linebacker Tedy Bruschi covered him one-on-one ---- something the Patriots would never have tried if Gates was healthy ---- and broke up a pass.

Gates dreams of that play often and referenced it Friday when comparing the difference in how the left foot feels now.

"If Tedy Bruschi was checking me now, I'd beat him," Gates said.

While he knows he can out-run Bruschi now, Gates hasn't yet determined what should be expected from him against the Panthers.

He will test the foot in pregame warmups to see how it feels. He knows he will play fewer snaps than he normally would ---- he didn't play a single snap in the preseason ---- but isn't sure how much stamina he will have or how much pain he might need to tolerate.

Gates also asserts he won't do anything that will hurt the team. That's easy to say in the relative calm of the locker room on a Friday, but much tougher when the adrenaline is flowing Sunday in front of a sold-out stadium full of fans.

Yet he knows it's his responsibility to be honest with the coaching staff if the toe starts throbbing.

"If I'm going to be out there and can't give it my all, I'm going to be a man and step back and say, 'Let somebody else take this,' " Gates said. "If I get out there Sunday and I feel like I'm not helping the team, I won't sacrifice a win. I'll step off.

"Obviously, I'm anticipating on playing well and being able to help the team but that still remains to be seen on Sunday."

Gates' close friend, quarterback Philip Rivers, isn't expecting any dropoff. He expects to be looking for old reliable No. 85 early and often against the Panthers.

"I don't want to set an expectation level for him; that's not fair for me to do," Rivers said. "But just based on what I've gathered and what I've been able to see of his progress, I'm going to treat him like the same old Antonio Gates we've been seeing the past (four) years before he got hurt.

"One thing about Gates from being around him for four years: He hates to lose and he's as big a competitor as you'll ever find. That alone gives you a little bit more. If it is bothering him a little bit, that alone can make up for it."

Gates is fine with dealing with a little bit of pain. He expects it, actually.

But his first dose of game action since the surgery will help him decipher where he is health-wise and how far away he is from regaining his All-Pro form.

"This game will definitely give me a clear, clear picture of what I'm able to do, how I feel during the game, how I feel after the game and then I can move forward," Gates said. "It will definitely help me mentally.

"I tell you what ----- I'm still going to give 110 percent like the old Antonio Gates. Whatever happens, happens."

Contact staff writer Mike Sullivan at (760) 739-6645 or msullivan@nctimes.com.