ven though two of the San Diego Chargers' top players remain holdouts, the club's offense seems to be running smoothly without them -- so far.In Friday night's 36-21 exhibition loss at New Orleans, San Diego's first-team offense continued the pattern of productivity it has shown through the preseason, despite the continued absences of star wide receiver Vincent Jackson and left tackle Marcus McNeill. Both players went to the Pro Bowl last season.
Brandyn Dombrowski is holding up well at left tackle in the place of McNeill, and wide receiver Malcolm Floyd caught a 9-yard touchdown pass at the end of one of two touchdown drives engineered by quarterback Philip Rivers.
Tight end Antonio Gates also appears poised to help pick up some of the slack in the absence of Jackson. He had a team-high five catches for 66 yards against the Saints.
"We had a lot of success early and drove the ball well," Gates told Associated Press of the performance by the Chargers' first-team offense. "We accomplished exactly what we had to."
Rivers finished up 16 of 27 for 167 yards passing and a touchdown and had the offense running effectively from the get-go, leading a 12-play touchdown drive on San Diego's first possession that Jacob Hester finished with a powerful 6-yard run.
"Coming out on the first drive, it was as good as it gets," Rivers told the AP. "We are playing against a good team out there, at their home. I really think we got what we wanted to get out of it."




