The Chargers say a stomach virus may have contributed to their star’s problems with the heat.
By The Associated Press

CARSON, Calif. – LaDainian Tomlinson had to leave the San Diego Chargers’ practice Thursday morning and eventually was taken to the training room on a golf cart.

“He was dehydrated,” general manager A.J. Smith said.

Tomlinson, a Pro Bowler last year after rushing for a team-record 1,683 yards, was still being treated 11/2 hours after the practice ended. It was 71 degrees with 71 percent humidity at the start of practice but was hotter than that by the time it ended.

Coach Marty Schottenheimer said Tomlinson might have had a stomach virus that’s been going around.

Tomlinson walked off the field on his own power and was treated for 10-15 minutes in a shady area before being driven by cart to the training room at the Home Depot Center.

“I don’t think he was even going to come out,” Schottenheimer said. “He was going to keep working. I just happened to glance over and see him. I asked him, “Are you OK?’ He said, “Well, I’m all right. I’m just a little fatigued. I didn’t sleep very good last night.’

“We pulled him out of it, but he’s fine.”

Schottenheimer said Tomlinson should be available for a few plays when the Chargers host the Arizona Cardinals in an exhibition game Saturday night in San Diego.

Giants looking forward to seeing Fox

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – After struggling on offense in their preseason opener, the New York Giants aren’t catching a break with old pal John Fox returning to Giants Stadium for the first time since becoming the Carolina Panthers coach last year.

“I have a lot of good friends in that organization, but in a competitive situation, sometimes beating your friends is more important,” Fox said of Friday night’s preseason game.

During his five seasons as the Giants’ defensive coordinator, Fox built one of the best defenses in the NFL and saw Michael Strahan set a single-season record for sacks.

In Fox’s first season with the Panthers (7-9), Carolina jumped from 31st in total defense to second and Julius Peppers earned NFL defensive rookie of the year honors with 12 sacks.

The Panthers showed the same traits last weekend in defeating Washington 20-0 in their exhibition opener. The Giants, expected to have a potent offense this season with Kerry Collins, Amani Toomer, Tiki Barber and Jeremy Shockey, showed little in a 26-6 loss to New England in which they gave up seven sacks.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if they were in a Bears defense with eight guys in the box and someone coming off the corner on the first play,” Barber said with a big smile on his face.

Collins expects to see a lot of blitzes with the first-team offense expected to play the entire first half.

“He is probably going to have a little added incentive for this game,” the Giants quarterback said. “We have to play them again in the regular season (Dec. 28) so he won’t show too much, but it’s in his nature. He has to do that stuff, dog and blitz, and we’ll see a lot of it.”

Falcons’ QB wary of Ray Lewis

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. -Michael Vick avoided Ray Lewis last year. The gifted quarterback will have nowhere to hide this time.

Keeping Vick healthy is the Atlanta Falcons’ top concern as they prepare to face Baltimore and the Ravens’ star linebacker in a preseason game Saturday night. Vick will play the first quarter and maybe take a few snaps of the second.

Lewis, coming off reconstructive shoulder surgery that forced him to miss 11 games last year, could be limited. Just his presence on the field, though, will remind the Falcons of last season’s struggles against other top linebackers, like Tampa Bay’s Derrick Brooks, Chicago’s Brian Urlacher and Pittsburgh’s Joey Porter.

“It is exciting, man, just due to the fact that Ray’s such a great player,” Vick said. “When I faced Urlacher and Derrick Brooks early in the year, I was still young. I look at myself now, and I’m a totally different quarterback.”

Vick and the first-team offense have watched some film of Baltimore, but Atlanta head coach Dan Reeves rarely installs game plans before the regular season.

“It gets you a little juiced because you know it’s going to be a test,” Vick said. “Last year they were minus Ray Lewis. This year they have him. With him in the lineup, that team is a totally different team.”

Cleveland’s Brown will sit out game

CLEVELAND – Cleveland Browns defensive lineman Courtney Brown will skip Friday night’s exhibition game against Green Bay as he works his way back from offseason knee surgery.

The No. 1 overall draft pick in 2000 participated in all of Cleveland’s practices this week and was expected to see some time against the Packers.

But the defensive end told the Browns on Thursday that he’d prefer another week of work before testing his knee in a game.

“Although Courtney is meeting the timeline our doctors have outlined and has progressed each week of training camp without any setbacks, we feel it is wise to follow a very conservative course,” coach Butch Davis said.

Brown has missed 16 games the past two seasons with a variety of injuries. He had left knee surgery in December.

Redskins prepare for punt-off vs. Pats

ASHBURN, Va. – The Washington Redskins will hold a punt-off Saturday when they host the New England Patriots.

The Redskins signed punter David Leaverton on Thursday to compete for the regular season job. First, however, he must await the outcome of a one-game duel between Bryan Barker and Brent Bartholomew, who have been around since the start of training camp.

“The better of the two will be the guy standing Sunday,” special teams coach Mike Stock said.

So, for example, when Bartholomew watches Barker kick one against the Patriots, he’ll have the pressure of knowing he has to go out and top it.

“It’s an odd situation,” Bartholomew said. “Normally as a punter, you’re punting against the conditions and the other team, and now you’re punting against the guy next to you. It’s a little tougher.”

Leaverton will not punt in the game. He’ll instead split kickoff duty with John Hall, then go head-to-head against the Barker-Bartholomew winner for the rest of preseason.

Leaverton was a fifth-round draft pick by Jacksonville in 2001. He’s been with five teams – Jacksonville, New England, New York Jets, Tampa Bay and St. Louis – but he has yet to make a regular-season roster.

Rain riddles Steelers’ preparations

PITTSBURGH – Injuries and rain have dampened coach Bill Cowher’s spirits at the Pittsburgh Steelers training camp.

“Without a doubt, we are definitely not where we need to be at this point,” Cowher said Thursday.

Cowher normally wouldn’t be so concerned with the season still three weeks away, but this has been anything but a normal camp.

Cowher finally gave up following a week of persistent rain and moved practice Wednesday from St. Vincent College’s waterlogged fields to a high school stadium with artificial turf. The trip required a 50-minute bus ride each way that forced the Steelers to rearrange their day’s schedule.

It’s not just where they’re practicing that concerns Cowher, but who is practicing. The starting offensive line has yet to practice together because of center Jeff Hartings’ knee injury and right guard Kendall Simmons’ diabetes, which caused him to miss 21/2 weeks of camp. Simmons practiced for only the fourth time Thursday.

Last week, drenching rains forced the Steelers to move their final two practices before their exhibition opener against Detroit into St. Vincent’s gym. Cowher subsequently pinned part of the blame for his team’s sluggish performance in the 26-13 loss on not getting the usual amount of preparation.

“I think it’s put us back,” Cowher said. “But you can’t twitch your nose and go back in time; this is where we’re at. … We have a ways to go and a period of time to get there and we have to understand that.”