FOXBOROUGH, Mass. —During Sunday’s AFC championship game against the New England Patriots, the San Diego Chargers sent word to the press box that running back LaDainian Tomlinson “can return” from the sore knee that knocked him out in the first quarter.
That was news to Tomlinson.
“It’s obvious that I couldn’t play,” he told reporters after the game. “If I could have played, I would have been in there.”
Tomlinson sprained his left knee in last week’s victory over the Indianapolis Colts, then re-injured it on his first carry Sunday. He carried one more time and caught a swing pass out of the backfield, but he said he knew he had lost his explosiveness and wouldn’t be much help.
The conflicting information did Tomlinson no favors. In his postgame news conference, coach Norv Turner got miffed when a reporter asked what Rivers and Gates should think when they played hurt but Tomlinson didn’t.
“That’s the stupidest thing you could ask,” Turner said. “The guy was not able to go. The doctors and trainers said he couldn’t go.”
Limited Moss: For the second consecutive playoff game, Randy Moss had just one catch.
Moss, who caught 98 passes for 1,493 yards and an NFL-record 23 touchdowns in the regular season, had one catch for 18 yards and also carried once on an end around for 14 yards.
Volleyball: Patriots special teamer Kelley Washington had one of the biggest plays of the day when he kept Chris Hanson’s punt from going into the end zone in the second quarter.
Hanson punted from the Chargers’ 40-yard line, and the ball bounced toward the goal line when Washington jumped and knocked the ball back toward the field of play. Kyle Eckel downed it on the 4.
“That was huge,” Pats’ coach Bill Belichick said. “That led to a big touchdown for us.”
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