Chargers Gather in Secrecy for Surge

There was no hopping up and down. No yelling or chanting. Quietly, every last remaining San Diego Chargers player circled together at the start of Wednesday's practice for a double-secret players-only pow-wow. Afterward, they were about as forthcoming of the roughly two-minute gathering as a USS Carl Vinson sailor probed on the burial at sea. "I wasn't aware," center Nick Hardwick said with his best poker face. "I didn't know. I wish I could help you." "Ah, nah," linebacker Takeo Spikes said. "We usually do that all the time, so it was nothing." Fine. But if this mystery meeting had a message, it was this: The season ain't over yet. Riding a five-game losing streak with the surging Denver Broncos coming to town, the reeling and injury-depleted Chargers have their backs to the proverbial wall, and only a rally — the kind of rally most off that Mission Valley field give the group little chance to assemble — can cure t...