CHARGER REVIEW : NOTEBOOK : Injury Gives Seau Reason to Stop, Think

TEMPE, Ariz. — Linebacker Junior Seau dived for a fumble, and was hit in the back of the neck as he lay on the ground. He did not get up.

Seau said he felt a tingling sensation down his back and to his leg, and then he thought about Jet defender Dennis Byrd, who remains in a hospital with a spinal injury.

“I got hit on the spine, and it was kind of scary,” Seau said. “I lost feeling in my leg. That (Byrd) goes through your mind . . . you don’t think about it until it happens to you.”

The Chargers’ training staff rushed to Seau’s aid, and team physician Dr. Gary Losse was immediately relieved.

“He was moving his legs, so that first level of concern was ruled out,” Losse said. “In our business that’s the worst thing you want to have happen, so was relieved when I got out there.”

Seau regrouped at halftime and returned to play in the second half, although his back was bothering him.

“I don’t feel any pain when I go out on the field,” Seau said. “It was a close game, and I needed to be in there.”

It’s an innovative idea, but it doesn’t figure to catch on.

The Chargers trailed the Cardinals, 21-17, midway through the fourth quarter, but they had the ball at the Phoenix one-yard line.

On first down the Cardinals dropped running back Marion Butts for no gain. On second down, quarterback Stan Humphries rolled right and tried to squeeze a pass into the hands of tight end Derrick Walker in the end zone. Humphries’ pass, however, bounced incomplete off the chest of Cardinal defender Tyrone Stowe.

On third down and five, Cardinal defenders came off the field, and three reserves came on from the sideline. The Cardinals had nine defenders on the field for one of the most important plays in the game, and no one seemed to notice.

“Really,” Humphries said. “I was probably still mad at myself for that pass on second down.”

The Chargers took their time in running the play, and the Cardinals made no move from the sideline to call time out or send in more players.

Humphries handed the ball to running back Ronnie Harmon, and Harmon ran right for an easy one-yard touchdown, and a 24-21 Charger advantage.

“That sure as hell wasn’t the play of the game,” said Cardinal defensive coordinator Fritz Shurmur, and he still didn’t have it right.

Quarterback John Friesz returned to Sun Devil Stadium for the first time since going down with a season-ending knee injury in the first exhibition game.

“It’s a good feeling to be walking out with a win,” Friesz said. “It felt a little weird being out there, but it was no big deal.”

Friesz continues to make great strides in his recovery, and he anticipates being ready for practice-like work by the first of the year.

Coach Bobby Ross expressed concern about the ankle injuries that continue to sideline defensive end Burt Grossman.

“We need to take a close look at that situation,” Ross said. “We’re short on defensive linemen.”

Ross suggested the possibility last week of placing Grossman on injured reserve, which means he would be lost for the rest of the regular season.

Grossman participated in one play, before taking himself out of the game. He said, however, that he anticipates being 100% by next week.

The Chargers took a 24-21 fourth-quarter lead, and then fell asleep on the ensuing kickoff.

Rookie running back Eric Blount, starting in place of injured Johnny Bailey, returned John Carney’s kickoff 52 yards to the Charger 48.

Carney was the first man to touch Blount, and while he forced him only to stumble, it gave Stanley Richard the chance to push him out of bounds.

The Chargers stopped the Cardinals from cashing Blount’s return in for a score by recovering a Ricky Proehl fumble.

Sometimes he only plays 10 to 15 plays in a game, but defensive back Darren Carrington has become one of the defense’s most productive performers.

Carrington leads the team in interceptions with four after grabbing an errant Chris Chandler pass in the first quarter and returning it 37 yards to the Cardinal 27. Carrington has averaged 27.5 yards a return this season.

“I’m standing on the sideline waiting for the ‘45,’ or ‘46,’ call,” Carrington said. “If there are five or six defensive backs in, that’s my chance, and I don’t know how many opportunities I’m going to get, so I have to make the best of it.”

Further Bobby Beathard-is-a-genius evidence:

The Cardinals had a 14-7 lead in the second quarter and were driving for another score when Charger defensive lineman Shawn Lee forced running back Johnny Johnson to fumble. Charger defensive end Chris Mims recovered.

Beathard is the man who discovered Lee and Mims. He used a first-round pick in this year’s draft to take Mims, and after failing to swing a trade with Miami before the season to acquire Lee, he signed him after the Dolphins released him.