ROOKIE PUTS IT ON THE LINE.

Byline: BILLY WITZ NFL 

SAN DIEGO - When LaDainian Tomlinson cut through a crease on the left side of the line and outraced the rest of the Kansas City defense for an 85-yard touchdown in the second quarter, it was yet another signature moment for the Chargers star in a season full of them.

It was the longest run of Tomlinson's career, and it established NFL records for rushing touchdowns with 28 and most consecutive multi- touchdown games with eight, and continued his push past Paul Hornung's 46-year-old NFL scoring record, now with 184 points.

The play, coming as it did just after the Chiefs muffed a punt that they'd blocked -- handing the ball back to San Diego -- also set the Chargers on the way to a 20-9 victory on Sunday night, their ninth in a row, maintaining a one-game lead over Baltimore in the race for home field advantage in the AFC.

On a night when quarterback Philip Rivers was jittery and the special teams uncharacteristically shaky, the Chargers leaned on a defense that kept an opponent out of the end zone for the first time since the season opener, and of course, on Tomlinson, who rushed for 199 yards on 25carries.

On this night, Tomlinson had five sets of helping hands.

``For a lot of people on the offensive line, that might be the best game they've played as a unit,'' Chargers coach Marty Schottenheimer said.

Overlooked on Tomlinson's long scoring run was that he scooted untouched through a hole that was created by fullback Lorenzo Neal, who cleaned out linebacker Kendrell Bell and tackle Marcus McNeill, who sealed off defensive end Jared Allen.

``I saw the safety was a little over and once L.T. went past all I saw was elbows and booty cheeks,'' said McNeill, who has done plenty to separate himself from the crowd, even beyond his mammoth 6-foot-7, 336-pound frame.

A rookie from Auburn, taken 50th overall, McNeill is among an extraordinary crop of rookies in the NFL. The Jaguars' Maurice Jones-Drew, the Titans' Vince Young, the Saints' Marques Colston and Reggie Bush, the Bears' Mark Anderson and Devin Hester, the Colts' Joseph Addai and the Texans' DeMeco Ryans all warrant consideration as the NFL's best rookie this season.

But no team was banking on more from a neophyte than the Chargers have asked of McNeill: protect the blind side of a quarterback who'd never started a NFL game.

It was clear by the start of training camp that veteran tackle Roman Oben, who had been sidelined the second half of last season, wouldn't be ready until midseason. The fallback was Leander Jordan, who had been victimized filling in for Oben during the final eight games last season when the Chargers allowed 19 of their 31 sacks. But that option was gone early in training camp when Jordan was injured and placed on injured reserve. McNeill has proved it unnecessary. He was named the NFL's offensive rookie of the month as part of a line that didn't allow a sack in September, and he's continue to play well despite having broken bones in each hand.

There was vindication for McNeill on Sunday in that he struggled against Allen when the two met in Kansas City. Allen had two sacks, three hurries, forced a fumble from Rivers that was turned into a touchdown and recovered another fumble.

``I wasn't as physical as I could have been,'' McNeill said. ``(Allen) is a guy who has a second, third and fourth effort. I had to raise my level of intensity. And the Chiefs came in that game not really having shown much blitzing and that came at us. It was hard to adjust. As soon as Marty and Cam (Cameron, the offensive coordinator) started talking, we knew we were going to get back to mugging people.''