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Rivers has been throwing passes to Gates for nine seasons now.
The three touchdown receptions tied Gates' career high. Rivers was 28 of 37 for 284 yards.
He just shrugs it off.
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Antonio Gates hears the talk every offseason, that he's lost a step and isn't effective anymore.
The 34-year-old Gates scored on catches of 8, 8 and 21 yards as the Chargers controlled the ball and kept Russell Wilson and Marshawn Lynch off the field.
Gates' 21-yarder was epic, as the star tight end split two defenders and extended for Rivers' pass, reaching out with his left hand to gather it in. Flat on his back in the end zone, he held up the ball to show the referee. That gave San Diego a 27-14 lead late in the third quarter.
"The Legion of Boom is what I've been hearing about all week," Gates said. "Obviously,Jerseys NFL Wholesale, they believe in their skills to cover. It was a situation where fortunately I was matched up on linebackers at times, and I was able to come away with the win,Cheap Jerseys China, and Philip was able to put the ball basically where no other player could get it."
NUMBERS DON'T LIE: While Wilson and the Seahawks had some quick-strike scores, they simply didn't have the ball enough to hang in with the Chargers.
San Diego had the ball for 42 minutes, 15 seconds compared to 17:45 for Seattle, and ran 75 plays to 40 for the Seahawks. The Chargers had 26 first downs while Seattle had 14.
"I hadn't seen him from the early days, but I can tell you he is a good tight end," Chancellor added. "First thing is he had a good quarterback. A quarterback that looks for him that knows him. They have that bond, that quarterback-tight end bond. And he is very crafty. He is a crafty tight end."
"They had twice as many plays as we did today,Wholesale Football Jerseys," Seattle coach Pete Carroll said. "It was a great job by Philip and their offense. Antonio Gates was phenomenal today. They were moving it like crazy and they just kept the ball away from us."
"He doesn't surprise me,NFL Jerseys China Cheap, but I will say all three touchdown catches, for the most part, didn't come up exactly like they were drawn up," Rivers said. "They're a little bit backyard. We ended up close to the spots we were trying to do, but just a little bit different based on technique. They were obviously huge plays."
Rivers has thrown 65 touchdown passes to Gates, the most in NFL history between a quarterback and a tight end.
But Harvin had stepped on the sideline during the run and the NFL said after the game the score was "incorrectly confirmed." The league said the ball should have been spotted at the 21-yard line.
It wasn't quite like sandlot ball,Cheap Jerseys For Sale, but with these two guys, it might as well have been.
"I happened to mention that to Gates. I said, 'This is old-school day,Cheap Hockey Jerseys,' Freeney said. "Me and him are the oldest guys on the team and we made some plays today."
BETTER LUCK NEXT TIME: Gates "definitely capitalized on every opportunity he had and he showed why he is an All-Pro tight end," Seattle safety Kam Chancellor said.
It was vintage Gates on display Sunday, when the star tight end caught three touchdown passes from Philip Rivers to lead the San Diego Chargers to a 30-21 victory against the defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks.
OLD GUYS RULE: While Gates had a huge day, Freeney, 33, sacked Wilson to force the Seahawks to punt on their first drive. That led to the first of three field goals for San Diego's Nick Novak.
SINGLE COVERAGE: Gates got in lots of favorable matchups.
"That was bad. They missed that," Chargers defensive end Dwight Freeney said.
Here are some things that stood out Sunday as both teams evened their records at 1-1:
OOPS: Seattle's only lead came when Percy Harvin ran 51 yards down the left sideline to put the Seahawks up 7-3 in the first quarter.
"Philip trusts in me to make plays," Gates said. "I knew it was man coverage. The rest was history. I stuck out my hand and was able to make a one-handed grab. It just shows tremendous confidence in what the call was from the offensive coordinator on down to the quarterback." |
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