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Chargers brace for rematch with Titans

Jan 6, 2008 - 3:09 PM Tennessee (10-6) at San Diego (11-5) Sunday 4:30 pm EST

SAN DIEGO (Ticker) -- Sunday's AFC wild card game between the Tennessee Titans and San Diego Chargers will match a pair of familiar foes. Maybe too familiar.

The Titans will visit the Chargers on Sunday in a rematch from a highly emotional contest from four weeks ago.

In that game, San Diego rallied from a 14-point deficit by scoring two touchdowns in the final 7 1/2 minutes of regulation to force overtime.

Reigning league Most Valuable Player LaDainian Tomlinson then settled matters, scoring on a 16-yard run with 7:29 left in the extra session to give the Chargers a 23-17 win.

Emotions boiled over during and after the game. The Chargers lost fullback Lorenzo Neal with a fractured fibula while Pro Bowl linebacker Shawne Merriman injured his knee in the second half.

Afterward, Merriman call the Titans a "dirty" team and accused Titans coach Jeff Fisher of ordering a hit on him in retaliation for the linebacker knocking Tennessee quarterback Vince Young to the turf.

Fisher scoffed at the charges, which reportedly led San Diego coach Norv Turner to send film of some plays to the league for review.

"It was a 10-rounder and it was very physical," Turner acknowledged.

Expect Sunday's game to be much of the same. Even though they were dominated for much of the first matchup in Tennessee, the resurgent Chargers found a way to prevail as Tomlinson rushed for 146 yards and one TD on 26 carries.

It was the second of four straight 100-yard games for Tomlinson, who obviously will be the player the Titans must contain.

"It was definitely if not the most then one of the most top two at least physical games we've played in this year," said Tomlinson of the first meeting. "It did feel like a playoff game last time and it had that atmosphere. It was like a playoff game. That's kind of what I'm expecting again this week, the same type of intensity level, the same kind of atmosphere. It should be fun."

San Diego's confidence is buoyed by finishing the season on a six-game winning streak and the team also can fall back on more recent history against the Titans.

On September 17, 2006, Tomlinson scored a pair of second-quarter touchdowns as the Chargers jumped out to a 20-0 halftime lead and delivered a 40-7 thrashing to visiting Tennessee.

Turner, though, dismisses talk of the past, saying the postseason is a different animal.

"This is no different than when you play a team twice in the same year in your division," Turner said. "This is a totally new deal. It's a different game and I don't think what happened a month ago will have any affect on this football game."

Fisher, who is 0-4 lifetime against the Chargers, offers a similar take on what the previous two encounters means to his club.

"We played the Chargers last year and did not play well," he said. "We closed the gap with them in this last ballgame. Now they could probably make the case that they did not play well here a few weeks ago, but we went toe-to-toe with them, and they're an elite team. ... It will be a great ballgame."

The biggest concern for Tennessee is the health of quarterback Young, who was forced out of Sunday's playoff-clinching win over the Indianapolis Colts with a right quadriceps injury.

Kerry Collins replaced Young and completed 10-of-13 passes for 106 yards, but Fisher is not worried about facing a decision as to who to start vs. the Chargers.

"I don't anticipate that, no," Fisher said. "We're going to evaluate Vince's situation during the week. I don't want to get into hypotheticals, so we'll just take it one day at a time."