2004 San Diego Chargers season

2004 San Diego Chargers season
2004 San Diego Chargers season
Owner	Qualcomm Stadium
Results
Record	12–4
Division place	1st AFC West
Playoff finish	Lost Wild Card Playoffs; (vs. Jets) 17–20 (OT)
Pro Bowlers	3 QB Drew Brees; TE Antonio Gates; RB LaDainian Tomlinson;
AP All-Pros	4 LB Donnie Edwards (2nd team); TE Antonio Gates (1st team); RB LaDainian Tomlinson (1st team); DT Jamal Williams (2nd team);
	← 2003; Chargers seasons; 2005 →;

The

NFL Coach of the Year

.

Offseason

NFL draft

Entering the draft, the consensus top pick was Ole Miss quarterback Eli Manning. However, Manning had said prior to the draft that he did not want to play for the Chargers and would not sign with them if he was drafted. The Chargers would strike a deal with the Giants before the draft that would shape the future of both franchises. The Chargers would select Manning first overall, as they had intended to. The Giants would then draft quarterback Philip Rivers of North Carolina State, and then swap him and two 2005 draft picks for Manning.

2004 San Diego Chargers draft

Round Pick Player Position College Notes

1
1
Eli Manning * QB Ole Miss traded to NY Giants

2 35 Igor Olshansky DT Oregon

3 65 Nate Kaeding * K Iowa From NY Giants

3 66 Nick Hardwick * C Purdue

4 98 Shaun Phillips * DE Purdue

5 133 Dave Ball DE UCLA

5 154 Michael Turner *
RB
NIU from Miami

6 169 Ryan Krause TE
Nebraska-Omaha

7 204 Ryon Bingham DT Nebraska

7 209 Shane Olivea
OT
Ohio State from Atlanta

7 254 Carlos Joseph
OT
Miami (FL)

Made roster † Pro Football Hall of Fame * Made at least one Pro Bowl during career

Personnel

Staff

2004 San Diego Chargers staff

Front office

Owner – Alex Spanos

President/chief executive officer – Dean Spanos

Executive vice president – Michael Spanos

Executive vice president/general manager – A. J. Smith

Assistant general manager/director of player personnel – Buddy Nix

Vice president of football operations – Ed McGuire

Director of college scouting – Jimmy Raye

Director of pro scouting – Fran Foley

Head coaches

Head coach – Marty Schottenheimer

Assistant head coach – Tim Brewster

Offensive coaches

Offensive coordinator – Cam Cameron

Quarterbacks – Brian Schottenheimer

Running backs – Clarence Shelmon

Wide receivers – James Lofton

Tight ends – Tim Brewster

Offensive line – Hudson Houck

Offensive assistant/quality control –
Pete Carmichael, Jr.
Defensive coaches
Defensive coordinator – Wade Phillips

Defensive line – Wayne Nunnely

Linebackers – Greg Manusky

Secondary – Brian Stewart

Defensive assistant/quality control – John Pagano

Special teams coaches

Special teams – Steve Crosby

Strength and conditioning

Strength and conditioning – Dave Redding

Assistant strength and conditioning – Matt Schiotz

^[3]

Roster

2004 San Diego Chargers final roster

Quarterbacks

9 Drew Brees

7 Doug Flutie

12 Cleo Lemon

17 Philip Rivers

Running backs

24 Jesse Chatman PR

41 Lorenzo Neal FB

34 Andrew Pinnock FB

21 LaDainian Tomlinson

33 Michael Turner

Wide receivers

87 Tim Dwight KR/PR

13 Malcom Floyd

86 Keenan McCardell

88 Eric Parker PR

81 Kassim Osgood

83 Bobby Shaw

Tight ends

85 Antonio Gates

89 Ryan Krause

84 Justin Peelle
Offensive linemen

65 David Brandt C/G

68 Kris Dielman G

77 Toniu Fonoti G

79 Mike Goff G

62 Bob Hallen C/G

61 Nick Hardwick C

75 Leander Jordan G/T

72 Roman Oben T

70 Shane Olivea T

Defensive linemen

74 Jacques Cesaire DE

90 Adrian Dingle DE

92 Jason Fisk NT

99 Igor Olshansky DE

94 Robert Pollard DE

78 DeQuincy Scott DE

76 Jamal Williams NT
Linebackers

54 Stephen Cooper ILB

59 Donnie Edwards ILB

53 Steve Foley OLB

58 Randall Godfrey ILB

51 Ben Leber OLB

95 Shaun Phillips OLB

56 Matt Wilhelm ILB

Defensive backs

45 Robb Butler CB

22 Sammy Davis CB

25 Jamar Fletcher CB

29 Drayton Florence CB

42 Clinton Hart SS

23 Quentin Jammer CB

48 Terrence Kiel SS

31 Hanik Milligan FS

20 Jerry Wilson FS

Special teams

50 David Binn LS

10 Nate Kaeding K

5 Mike Scifres P
Reserve lists

96 Dave Ball DE (IR)

91 Ryon Bingham NT (IR)

82 Reche Caldwell WR (IR)

93 Eric Downing NT (IR)

35 Leon Johnson RB (PUP)

57 Zeke Moreno LB (IR)

52 Carlos Polk LB (IR)

71 Courtney Van Buren T (IR)

Practice squad

26 Jonathan Cox CB

-- Brock Edwards TE (IR)

30 Ahmaad Galloway RB

-- Howard Hodges LB

73 Carlos Joseph T

18 Carl Morris WR

43 Cal Murray RB

80 Willie Quinnie WR

Rookies in italics
53 active, 8 inactive, 7 practice squad

Regular season

Schedule

Week Date Opponent Result Record Venue Recap

1 September 12 at Houston Texans W 27–20 1–0 Reliant Stadium Recap

2 September 19 New York Jets L 28–34 1–1
Qualcomm Stadium
Recap

3 September 26 at Denver Broncos L 13–23 1–2 Invesco Field at Mile High Recap

4 October 3 Tennessee Titans W 38–17 2–2 Qualcomm Stadium Recap

5 October 10 Jacksonville Jaguars W 34–21 3–2 Qualcomm Stadium Recap

6 October 17 at Atlanta Falcons L 20–21 3–3 Georgia Dome Recap

7 October 24 at Carolina Panthers W 17–6 4–3 Bank of America Stadium Recap

8 October 31 Oakland Raiders W 42–14 5–3 Qualcomm Stadium Recap

9 November 7 New Orleans Saints W 43–17 6–3 Qualcomm Stadium Recap

10 Bye

11 November 21 at Oakland Raiders W 23–17 7–3 McAfee Coliseum Recap

12 November 28 at Kansas City Chiefs W 34–31 8–3 Arrowhead Stadium Recap

13 December 5 Denver Broncos W 20–17 9–3 Qualcomm Stadium Recap

14 December 12 Tampa Bay Buccaneers W 31–24 10–3 Qualcomm Stadium Recap

15 December 19 at Cleveland Browns W 21–0 11–3
Cleveland Browns Stadium
Recap

16 December 26 at Indianapolis Colts L 31–34 (OT) 11–4 RCA Dome Recap

17 January 2, 2005 Kansas City Chiefs W 24–17 12–4 Qualcomm Stadium Recap

Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Game summaries

Week 1: at Houston Texans

Week 1: San Diego Chargers at Houston Texans

Period 1 2 3 4 Total
Chargers 3 7 10 7 27
Texans 3 10 7 0 20

at
Houston, Texas

Date: September 12
Game time: 12:05 p.m.
CDT
Game weather: N/A (retractable roof closed)
Game attendance: 70,255
Referee: Bill Leavy
TV announcers (CBS): Gus Johnson and Brent Jones
Box score

Game information

First quarter

HOU – Kris Brown 37-yard field goal, 11:49. Texans 3–0. Drive: 8 plays, 58 yards, 3:11.

SDG – Nate Kaeding 48-yard field goal, 6:35. Tied 3–3. Drive: 9 plays, 48 yards, 5:14.

Second quarter

HOU – Kris Brown 20-yard field goal, 14:07. Texans 6–3. Drive: 13 plays, 71 yards, 7:28.

SDG – LaDainian Tomlinson 1-yard run (Nate Kaeding kick), 9:51. Chargers 10–6. Drive: 5 plays, 45 yards, 2:22.

HOU –
Dominick Davis
2-yard run (Kris Brown kick), 4:43. Texans 13–10. Drive: 9 plays, 71 yards, 5:08.

Third quarter

SDG – Reche Caldwell 36-yard pass from Drew Brees (Nate Kaeding kick), 9:12. Chargers 17–13. Drive: 4 plays, 49 yards, 2:15.

HOU – Dominick Davis 1-yard run (Kris Brown kick), 4:36. Texans 20–17. Drive: 8 plays, 52 yards, 4:36.

SDG – Nate Kaeding 29-yard field goal, 0:00. Tied 20–20. Drive: 9 plays, 59 yards, 4:36.

Fourth quarter

SDG – Eric Parker 19-yard pass from Drew Brees (Nate Kaeding kick), 8:34. Chargers 27–20. Drive: 7 plays, 59 yards, 4:13.

Top passers

SDG – Drew Brees – 17/24, 209 yards, 2 TD

HOU – David Carr – 19/25, 229 yards, 2 INT

Top rushers

SDG – LaDainian Tomlinson – 26 rushes, 121 yards, TD

HOU – Domanick Williams – 21 rushes, 87 yards, 2 TD

Top receivers

SDG – Antonio Gates – 8 receptions, 123 yards

HOU – Domanick Williams – 5 receptions, 70 yards

Week 2: vs. New York Jets

Week 2: New York Jets at San Diego Chargers

Period 1 2 3 4 Total
Jets 14 3 10 7 34
Chargers 0 7 7 14 28

at
San Diego, California

Date: September 19
Game time: 1:15 p.m.
Peter Morelli
TV announcers (CBS (Blacked out locally)): Ian Eagle, Solomon Wilcots and Scott Kaplan
Box score

Game information

First quarter

NYJ – Curtis Martin 1-yard run (Doug Brien kick), 7:50. Jets 7–0. Drive: 7 plays, 80 yards, 3:08.

NYJ – Curtis Martin 2-yard run (Doug Brien kick), 3:42. Jets 14–0. Drive: 6 plays, 44 yards, 3:16.

Second quarter

NYJ – Doug Brien 28-yard field goal, 9:40. Jets 17–0. Drive: 6 plays, 22 yards, 2:55.

SDG – Tim Dwight 87-yard kickoff return (Nate Kaeding kick), 9:28. Jets 17–7. Drive: 0 plays, 0 yards, 0:12.

Third quarter

NYJ – Doug Brien 23-yard field goal, 11:16. Jets 20–7. Drive: 7 plays, 51 yards, 3:44.

NYJ – Jerald Sowell 4-yard pass from Chad Pennington (Doug Brien kick), 3:31. Jets 27–7. Drive: 9 plays, 49 yards, 5:24.

SDG – LaDainian Tomlinson 4-yard run (Nate Kaeding kick), 2:12. Jets 27–14. Drive: 4 plays, 71 yards, 1:19.

Fourth quarter

SDG – Reche Caldwell 33-yard pass from Drew Brees (Nate Kaeding kick), 7:38. Jets 27–21. Drive: 6 plays, 61 yards, 2:21.

NYJ – Chris Baker 1-yard pass from Chad Pennington (Doug Brien kick), 3:56. Jets 34–21. Drive: 6 plays, 70 yards, 3:42.

SDG – Doug Flutie 6-yard run (Nate Kaeding kick), 0:30. Jets 34–28. Drive: 18 plays, 81 yards, 3:26.

Top passers

NYJ – Chad Pennington – 22/29, 258 yards, 2 TD

SDG – Drew Brees – 8/19, 146 yards, TD, 2 INT

Top rushers

NYJ – Curtis Martin – 32 rushes, 119 yards, 2 TD

SDG – LaDainian Tomlinson – 19 rushes, 87 yards, TD

Top receivers

NYJ – Santana Moss – 4 receptions, 97 yards

SDG – LaDainian Tomlinson – 3 receptions, 76 yards

[1]

[2]

[3]

AFC West
view talk edit	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
⁽⁴⁾ San Diego Chargers	12	4	0	.750	5–1	9–3	446	313	W1
⁽⁶⁾ Denver Broncos	10	6	0	.625	3–3	7–5	381	304	W2
Kansas City Chiefs	7	9	0	.438	3–3	6–6	483	435	L1
Oakland Raiders	5	11	0	.313	1–5	3–9	320	422	L2

AFC^[4] view talk edit
#	Team	Division	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	SOS	SOV	STK
Division leaders
1	Pittsburgh Steelers	North	15	1	0	.938	5–1	11–1	.484	.479	W14
2	New England Patriots	East	14	2	0	.875	5–1	10–2	.492	.478	W2
3^[a]	Indianapolis Colts	South	12	4	0	.750	5–1	8–4	.500	.458	L1
4^[a]	San Diego Chargers	West	12	4	0	.750	5–1	9–3	.477	.411	W1
Wild cards
5^[b]	New York Jets	East	10	6	0	.625	3–3	7–5	.523	.406	L2
6^[b]	Denver Broncos	West	10	6	0	.625	3–3	7–5	.484	.450	W2
Did not qualify for the postseason
7^[c]^[d]	Jacksonville Jaguars	South	9	7	0	.563	2–4	6–6	.527	.479	W1
8^[c]^[d]	Baltimore Ravens	North	9	7	0	.563	3–3	6–6	.551	.472	W1
9^[c]	Buffalo Bills	East	9	7	0	.563	3–3	5–7	.512	.382	L1
10	Cincinnati Bengals	North	8	8	0	.500	2–4	4–8	.543	.453	W2
11^[e]	Houston Texans	South	7	9	0	.438	4–2	6–6	.504	.402	L1
12^[e]	Kansas City Chiefs	West	7	9	0	.438	3–3	6–6	.551	.509	L1
13^[f]	Oakland Raiders	West	5	11	0	.313	1–5	3–9	.570	.450	L2
14^[f]	Tennessee Titans	South	5	11	0	.313	1–5	3–9	.512	.463	W1
15^[g]	Miami Dolphins	East	4	12	0	.250	1–5	2–10	.555	.438	L1
16^[g]	Cleveland Browns	North	4	12	0	.250	1–5	3–9	.590	.469	W1
Tiebreakers^[h]
^ ^a ^b Indianapolis clinched the AFC #3 seed instead of San Diego based upon head-to-head victory. ^ ^a ^b New York Jets clinched the AFC #5 seed instead of Denver based upon better record against common opponents (New York Jets were 5–0 to Denver’s 3–2 against San Diego, Cincinnati, Houston, and Miami). ^ ^a ^b ^c Jacksonville and Baltimore finished ahead of Buffalo because they each defeated Buffalo head-to-head. ^ ^a ^b Jacksonville finished ahead of Baltimore based upon better record against common opponents (Jacksonville were 3–2 against Baltimore’s 2–3 versus Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, Buffalo and Kansas City). ^ ^a ^b Houston finished ahead of Kansas City based upon head-to-head victory. ^ ^a ^b Oakland finished ahead of Tennessee based upon head-to-head victory. ^ ^a ^b Miami finished ahead of Cleveland based upon head-to-head victory. ^ When breaking ties for three or more teams under the NFL's rules, they are first broken within divisions, then comparing only the highest-ranked remaining team from each division.

v t e Los Angeles Chargers
Founded in 1960 Played in San Diego (1961–2016) Based in Inglewood, California Headquartered in Costa Mesa, California
Franchise	Franchise History in San Diego NFL in Los Angeles Coaches Seasons Retired numbers Hall of Fame Anniversary teams 40th 50th Starting quarterbacks First-round draft picks
Stadiums	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Balboa Stadium SDCCU Stadium San Diego stadium proposals Dignity Health Sports Park SoFi Stadium
Culture	Fearsome Foursome Air Coryell Alex Spanos "San Diego Super Chargers" Los Angeles Charger Girls Bruise Brothers
Lore	Holy Roller Epic in Miami Freezer Bowl Snowball Game 2006 playoff game vs. New England Patriots
Rivalries	Denver Broncos Kansas City Chiefs Las Vegas Raiders
Wild card berths (4)	1995 2013 2018 2022
Division championships (15)	1960 1961 1963 1964 1965 1979 1980 1981 1992 1994 2004 2006 2007 2008 2009
Conference championships (1)	1994
League championships (1)	1963
Media	Broadcasters KYSR Matt "Money" Smith
Current league affiliations	League: National Football League (1970–present) Conference: American Football Conference Division: West Division
Former league affiliation	League: American Football League (1960–1969)
Category

2004 San Diego Chargers season

Offseason

NFL draft

Personnel

Staff

Roster

Regular season

Schedule

Game summaries

Week 1: at Houston Texans

Week 2: vs. New York Jets

Week 3: at Denver Broncos

Week 4: vs. Tennessee Titans

Week 5: vs. Jacksonville Jaguars

Week 6: at Atlanta Falcons

Week 7: at Carolina Panthers

Week 8: vs. Oakland Raiders

Week 9: vs. New Orleans Saints

Week 11: at Oakland Raiders

Week 12: at Kansas City Chiefs

Week 13: vs. Denver Broncos

Week 14: vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Week 15: at Cleveland Browns

Week 16: at Indianapolis Colts

Week 17: vs. Kansas City Chiefs

Standings

Division

Conference

Postseason

Game summary

AFC Wild Card playoffs: vs. New York Jets

See also

References