Bolts like having extra day

With LaDainian Tomlinson nursing a sore toe, he’s grateful that the Chargers will kick off roughly 30 hours later than most NFL teams this week.

“It’ll give me some more time,” Tomlinson said. “Definitely I’ll feel a lot better. What’s the percentage? We’ll see.”

Although he was limited, Tomlinson was on the practice field Friday for the first time this week. He’s listed as questionable for Monday night’s game against the Jets.

“It was okay,” Tomlinson said. “I did what I wanted to do. I didn’t expect to do full participation, but I wanted to get out and do some stuff running the football. It was definitely a lot better than last week, so that’s the exciting part about it.”

The extra time for guys like Tomlinson to heal isn’t the only reason the Chargers appreciate the extra day this week. Head Coach Norv Turner adjusted the team’s practice schedule to allow his players to get a little extra rest and a little more preparation.

Wednesday’s practice was held two hours earlier than usual and the players didn’t have meetings afterwards, which gave them extra down time. The club went through it’s normal routine Thursday and Friday, and Saturday gives them the luxury of a fourth full practice, which they don’t normally get.

“We had the extra practice,” Turner said. “We’ve had very good practices, very good attention to detail. I think the biggest thing is we really focus on the areas we need to get better in. That’s the key, the areas that we need to improve in, we do.”

Chargers safety Clinton Hart practiced all week with a cast on his hand and is appreciative for the extra day on two fronts.

“I feel a lot better and I’m going to be ready to play,” Hart said. “I’m getting more comfortable with the cast and I’m ready to get out there. As a team, we needed an extra day to put last week behind us and really focus in on getting a win. We’re going to be ready to play.”

McNeill update

Offensive tackle Marcus McNeill went through a full practice Friday in hopes of making his 2008 debut Monday night. Turner said that it’s unlikely he’ll make a decision on his starting left tackle until after Saturday’s practice.

“We’ll see Sunday,” Turner said. “It’s conditioning, durability. There’s a lot of things that we’ve just got to see where we’re at.”

Special honors

Tomlinson and Chargers secondary coach Bill Bradley received some good news this week when they learned that they’ll both be part of the Texas Sports Hall of Fame’s Class of 2008.

Tomlinson starred at University High School in Waco, Texas before his standout career at Texas Christian University and his two-consecutive NFL rushing titles with the Chargers. Bradley was a high school All-America quarterback at Palestine and played quarterback at the University of Texas before becoming an All-Pro safety for the Philadelphia Eagles.

Old buddies

Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers has expressed his excitement this week about getting another chance to play against one of his favorite quarterbacks in Brett Favre, but he’s also looking forward to competing against a longtime friend Monday night.

Rivers and Jets wide receiver Jericho Cotchery played together for four seasons in college and had a special connection on the field. Rivers left as NC State’s all-time leading passer, and Cotchery set the school record with 200 career receptions.

“He was the go-to guy the whole time there,” Rivers said. “He’s probably, if not, at the top of my all-time favorite teammates. What he has done in New York certainly wasn’t surprising to me after being around him. I think, from everything I can gather, obviously he has been huge for those guys.”

Rivers and Cotchery were well acquainted before they ever got to college. They competed against each other in high school on both the football field and the basketball court. During Rivers’ senior year, Cotchery guarded him in a playoff basketball game and Rivers admitted that his friend got the best of him.

“The game before, I had had a couple threes, so they put him on me,” Rivers said. “He guarded me from when I took the ball out and it was a frustrating night. I think I might’ve had five or six points and I ended up fouling out.”

Rivers did however get Cotchery on the football field in high school when their two schools met.

“They tried to throw a fade, or something like that,” Rivers said. “I was playing free safety and I intercepted one that was intended for him. We beat him pretty good in football. We were 1-1 against each other in high school. Certainly those are all good memories.”

Cotchery, who caught 82 passes for 1,130 yards last season in New York, can’t say enough good things about his old buddy.

“Philip, he’s a cool dude,” Cotchery said. “He was definitely one of the reasons why I went to NC State. He left (high school) early and kind of did the recruiting to get me up there. He was a great teammate. He was a guy that we had good chemistry.”

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