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San DiegoChargers Conference Call
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HEAD COACH MARTY SCHOTTENHEIMER (on his relationship with Tony Dungy in Kansas City and what he saw in Dungy at that time (1989-91)) 12/14/05
"It was obvious he was extremely bright. He had a great repoire with his players, which is obviously an ongoing process as he's become a head coach, a terrific communicator, not withstanding the outward appearance, his demeanor. There's a fire that burns deep inside of him. Nobody ever knows with a certainty when the guy becomes a head coach of how he will do because there are so many circumstances that affect that, but I thought he had a great opportunity and he's certainly done that."
HEAD COACH MARTY SCHOTTENHEIMER (on Tony Dungy in Kansas City) 12/14/05
"There was a terrific relationship, a dynamic between he and his players. They trusted him. They knew that he knew what he was talking about, which is critical, obviously, for any football coach, and he did a terrific job."
HEAD COACH MARTY SCHOTTENHEIMER (on how much TE-Antonio Gates means to the offense) 12/14/05
"He's obviously our leading receiver right now. He does a terrific job, I think, in creating matchup problems when you have a tight end like him complemented by our passing game and then you add a player like LaDainian (Tomlinson) to the mix, I think the matchups become significant in many games. Some opponents, it's not that significant because they're not in man to man that much, but he's done a terrific job for us. People ask, 'Did you have any idea he would be that good?' My response has always been, 'If we had known he was going to be that good, we would have picked him No.1 instead of signing him as a free agent.' So, he's exceeded our expectations."
HEAD COACH MARTY SCHOTTENHEIMER (on TE-Antonio Gates being 'uncoverable') 12/14/05
"What he does is, his basketball background has enabled him to get his body in positions where the guy that's trying to get the ball has a difficult time getting through him. They generally don't have the same size that he has and, of course, he has extremely strong hands and like any good rebounder, he'll always attack the ball. He's never waiting for the ball to come to him. He's always attacking the ball."
HEAD COACH MARTY SCHOTTENHEIMER (on if it feels like the Chargers have been playing must-win games all year long) 12/14/05
"I've never really looked at it that way. I don't think our football team has. What we've done is played a bunch of very close, competitive games and haven't won as many of those as we'd like. I haven't felt that they're must-win games, because at this point, I have a difficult time imagining all of the scenarios.
