Jackson thrives in first preseason action

Chargers wide receiver Vincent Jackson certainly didn’t look like a man who hadn’t played in a game in more than seven months.

Jackson saw his first action of the preseason Monday night in the Bolts’ 18-17 win over the Seattle Seahawks and caught three passes for 84 yards to help lead the Chargers to victory.

“It’s great to see Vincent,” Head Coach Norv Turner said. “He needs to play. I didn’t think he was sharp early in the week in practice because he hadn’t been (out there). He wasn’t at the same speed as the other guys. As the week went on his speed picked up and I thought he played fast tonight.”

Two of Jackson’s three catches came on third down and resulted in Chargers first downs. Another was a 59-yard reception that set up the Bolts’ first touchdown of the night.

“It was nice to get out there in a little live environment,” Jackson said. “Preseason is a great time to fine tune some things. Everything was smooth tonight.”

Jackson drew raves from his coaches and teammates after his extremely strong start to training camp. Then a hamstring injury kept him out of practice for more than a week and prevented him from playing in the team’s first two preseason games.

“I was glad he got to play and get out there before we go crank it up for real,” quarterback Philip Rivers said. “I would hate for him to have his first catch in the first game of the (regular) season. It was good to get him out there.”

Tucker okay

What started out to be a great day for Jyles Tucker appeared for a moment to have gone wrong Monday night. Hours after signing a new five-year contract, Tucker had to leave the field after injuring his ankle. Fortunately, it appears Tucker will be fine.

“Jyles is alright,” Turner said. “He got rolled up on late. Obviously they called a penalty on it but he’s okay.”

Tucker finished the night with five tackles, second most among Chargers defenders.

Tough snap

Rivers took the blame for a mishandled exchange on the team’s first drive that cost the Chargers a chance to score. Center Jeremy Newberry snapped the ball like Rivers was under center but he was in a shotgun formation. The loose ball fell to the turf and Seattle recovered to end the threat.

“I didn’t say ‘gun’ in the huddle,” Rivers said. “I’m glad it happened now but there are some things you take for granted when you have a new center.”

Like all their starters, the Chargers’ top offensive line played into the third quarter and had an impressive showing.

“Obviously if you run for close to 90 yards in a half, the offensive line has got to be doing something good,” Turner said.

Happy for Malcom

Turner called out Malcom Floyd last week for his strong camp, and Floyd made his head coach look good Monday night. In addition to hauling in the game-winning two-point conversion, Floyd, caught three passes for 37 yards.

Two years ago, Floyd appeared on his way to a big role in the offense when an ankle injury suffered during a touchdown catch in Cincinnati ended his season early. Last season, Floyd got a bit lost in the shuffle but now appears ready to take hold of his place.

“He’s fought awfully hard,” Turner said. “He wasn’t active very many games last year but every time we’ve called on him this training camp and in games he’s made plays. He brings a dimension he brought to this team two years ago and it’s exciting for me to see him playing the way he is. He’s going to be a part of what we do.”

Floyd has expanded his responsibilities on special teams, which will help him get on the field more often this fall.

“We’ve got a good group of receivers, but there are things we’re going to ask him to do,” Turner said. “He’s improved a great deal as a special teams player. If you can play on special teams and then you can make plays in the passing game, your chances of getting a lot of action go up.”

First mishap

The bad exchange between Rivers and Newberry resulted in the Chargers’ first turnover of the preseason. The Bolts recovered a fumble and also got an interception from safety Brian Bonner late in the game to improve their turnover ratio to 6-1 on the preseason.

Nice night

After not playing against the Rams last week, Rivers was on the field for almost three full quarters and impressed his coach with his 11-for-21, 143-yard performance.

“Every time Philip gets out and goes it’s positive for him,” Turner said. “Just being in the game action, handling the situations that come up. He was sharp.”

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