The drama is 1/100th of TO in Philly, but San Diego is having some similiarities with their top reciever of last year holding out....He will now miss the home opener.
Antonio Gates had a breakout year in 2004, helping the Chargers go 12-4 and reach the playoffs for the first time in nine seasons. Gates caught 13 touchdown passes -- a league record for tight ends -- and led the Chargers with 81 catches for 964 yards.
``You don't understand,'' Gates said during a nine-minute news conference before he was hustled off to a meeting. ``I tried to come in Saturday but I couldn't get a flight. So we ended up calling and explaining we weren't able to make it in Saturday. So it wasn't my intention to actually miss the deadline.''
That was news to the Chargers, who despite 10 months of talks have been unable to agree with Gates' agent on terms of a long-term contract.
The team never mentioned Gates' failure to get a flight, either in a statement Saturday afternoon announcing that Gates had missed the deadline, or on Sunday when general manager A.J. Smith held a news conference at halftime of a 36-21 exhibition win over St. Louis.
`As you know, all the rumors were that he was on his way,'' Smith said Sunday. `We had not officially heard that. But we got a phone call before we kicked off. He is on his way. He is going to sign the tender this evening.''
Smith didn't immediately return a phone call on Monday.
But, said team spokesman Bill Johnston: ``We only had conversations with the agent on Saturday morning, and the agent never informed us that Antonio was coming in on Saturday. We weren't notified until Sunday before the game.''
Gates' agent, Andre Colona, didn't return a phone call or e-mail seeking comment.
