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Chris rim
There was not much Chargers Fans to cheer in Los Angeles’ 2023 game Denver bronchos In the week 14.
One season after another The most embarrassing playoff loss In NFL history, the Chargers came to the campaign, which was motivated to defeat and arrive at his ability to struggle for a championship. Instead, on this Sunday, they were 5-7, and the possibility of their playoffs was just gone. The Sophie Stadium, his home stadium, was covered by Bronchos fans at Denver Orange.
Then quarterback Justin Herbert The first quarter faced the season-ending right index fracture, and as it came out, the Chargers season also occurred.
But between a day and a season of despair, the organization gave fans a reason to smile. In Haftime, the team held a ceremony to include the tight end Antonio Gates In Chargers Hall of Fame.
“For the city of San Diego,” Gates said, stopping as chargers, roar loudly as that afternoon. “You supported me. You embraced a 22 -year -old child from Detroit, and you will always be my second home.”
Gates played 16 seasons in NFL, 14 in San Diego and two in Los Angeles after transferring the team. The move is still an neck for some fans, who were mummy when Gates thanked Los Angeles and smelled loudly when Gates thanked the team owner Dean Spanos and Spanos family.
While Gates never won the championship, he was partially responsible for coming into an exciting era of Chargers Football, including some of the most successful sessions in the history of the franchise. The roar of the day for Gates was reminding how much Gates was meant for a city that had embraced him in his form.
As Gates is included in the Pro Football Hall of Fame with Saturday’s essay, many people will cheer loudly in San Diego.
“He was a person who used to fits in the city,” said David Drojeer, a native of San Diego. “A man who realizes that he has gone from here, even if he was not. He was ours.”
From the beginning, Gates’s NFL’s visit looked far -reaching.
On leaving the Detroit Central High School, Gates accepted a football scholarship from Michigan state, which was then led by coach Nick Saban. But Saban Gates will not allow both football and basketball play. Gates left Michigan state and never played football in college.
After staying at Eastern Michigan and College of the Sequius of Eastern Michigan and a Community College in California, Gates ended as a junior in Kent State and became one of the best basketball players in the history of the program. As a junior, Gates led the Kent State, 10-C, 10-Cd in Elite Eight in 2002, the school has scored the deepest run ever in the NCAA tournament. His jersey – number 44 – retired in 2010, as Gates became the fourth male basketball player in school history to receive such honor.
Despite the dominance of Gates in the Kent State, he was not expected to be an NBA player primarily due to his size; He was a 6 -foot -4 power forward, a situation where NBA players are about 5 inches long on average. Therefore, Gates returned to football, working for NFL teams, which were surrounded by their physical symptoms. Chargers decided to sign him as an unpublished free agent in 2003, but was a long shot to form the team.
Linebacker Stephen CooperLike Gates, an unpublished free agent, during that 2003 training camp, Holiday Inn had Gates Roommate. Since the Chargers started making final cuts, Cooper left two spots to the team, but he and Gates assured themselves that only one of them would form one team.
When they came to know that both of them did, there was a silent celebration in their hotel room; This is a moment that Cooper will never forget, especially given how far the gates will move forward to complete as a tight end.
Cooper said, “We tried not to be very loud and excited around the room, because we did not want to be derogatory to our other colleagues who did not make it.” “Among all the moments with Antonio, this is the one I remember the most.”
The success of Gates changed the tight end position. The background of his basketball was clear how he boxed the defenders and highlight the football as if he was getting a reversal on hard wood.
Jim Harbow, the coach of the current chargers, stated that Gates stands out as the first tight end as the focal point of a team’s crime: “The first man I can remember to catch 10, 12, 13, 14 balls in a game … the greatest ever.”
The achievements of Gates gave teams a chance at former basketball players at every level. The most notable is tight end Jimmy GrahamWho played a year of football after four years in the basketball team of Miami University. Graham was drafts in the third round New Orleans Saints And became one of the best tight loops of the league. He played 13 seasons and made five Pro Bowls.
“Without [Gates]I would not have been given this opportunity or given an opportunity to play in college, “Graham asked reporters in 2012.” He paved the way for me. ,
While the size of the gates was not a fit for the NBA power forward, he created an ideal NFL tight end. He was mostly covered by linebackers and was very strong to be covered by the protective back, putting de-monks in a bind each week.
“You knew that if a team wanted to go with him one-to-one, he is going to kill them,” former charger safety Eric wedding Said. “He was a matchup nightmare.”
It did not take a long time for Gates to become one of the best tight ends of the league. He was a first-team all-flow in his second season, the first of three consecutive choices. Gates’s breakout came in his second campaign in 2004, when he ended with 964 yards and 13 touchdowns. In the first game in that season, the chargers faced Houston TexasWith whom the current Chargers were the quarterback coach of the aggressive coordinator Greg Roman team. Gates caught each target, finishing with eight receptions for 123 yards in victory.
“This doesn’t happen much often where you go, ‘Who is this boy?” “Roman said with a smile.” But everyone was leaving on the sideline, “Who is this boy?” “
Gates is the all-time leader of Gates NFL who receives the all-time leaders and yards (11,841) of the chargers in a tight end (116) and reception (955). There are many injuries behind the data that their former comrades remember that they are playing through Gates.
Beyond the 2007 AFC Championship Game, Gates’s position was uncertain. He had disorganized his big toe in the winners’ victory in the wild-card round. Tenasi TitansThe injury was quite serious that he left the game on a medical cart. Nevertheless, Gates played through it on Chargers Divisional-Round Win Indianapolis colts And their AFC championship game damage new England Patriots,
Former Chargers Line Backer Shaveen meriman Prior to the conference championship game at the training table, Gates’s image said, where they remember that doctors have numbered the feet of Gates, cling to them and one of the many reasons which means gates means a lot for the organization.
“Below the ankle, he could not feel anything,” said Meriman. “And you think, man, [that] Any person from his caliber who has already done so much in his career, he will settle and take that risk, at that point my honor level for him simply went through the roof. ,
While the chargers are mainly associated with not living on expectations and never winning super bowls, they have some of the best players of the league, including quarterback Philip River, including Ladenian Tomalinson, Lineback Junior CU, Wide Receiver Lance Alvethe, Cabby Dan Fouts and Tight End.
Nevertheless, many of those stars went to finish their careers elsewhere. Gates, Fout and Vinslo are three in the group to play for the chargers for their entire career, in which Vinslo plays nine seasons and Fout 15. Gates’ 16 years of Gates as a charger as a charger probably during the most transformative years of the history of the franchise, when the organization separated many of its fans with La, Gates will always form relationships with San Digo.
“I think it’s really special that someone is a person who started his career in San Diego and stayed with the team all the time,” said Drogmier. “But with Antonio, he was a person who always did things properly, and he was also such a playmaker. It is really easy to echo with those types of players.”
