Key Chargers veterans get a break before next game

SAN DIEGO (AP) — One day before training camp ends, Chargers coach Mike McCoy let many key players sit out on Wednesday.

Among those not there were quarterback Philip Rivers, safety Eric Weddle, wide receiver Keenan Allen and linebackers Dwight Freeney and Donald Butler.

Their teammates kept preparing for Friday’s preseason game against the Seahawks.

Most, if not all the idle Chargers, should participate in Thursday’s brief practice before the team departs for Seattle.

“We rested a bunch of guys today just like we have done all camp long,” McCoy said. “We pick and choose the guys at the right time to rest them and to kind of reward them for their good work.

“Those guys deserve the breaks. We’ve got some older players on our football team and the health of our football team is No. 1.”

For their second preseason game the Chargers get the NFL’s top team in one of the league’s loudest venues.

“They got what everybody wants,” McCoy said of the defending champion Seahawks. “They are in the position that everyone wanted to be in at the end of the year.”

McCoy said competing in Seattle, even in the preseason, will be a challenge.

“It’s going to be loud and it will be a good test for us to stick together as a team, us against the crowd,” McCoy said. “We have to go out and play our best game and take that next step as a football team.”

Rivers is rested and ready. He knows his ears, if nothing else, are in for a workout.

“It’s the noisiest stadium I’ve ever been in,” Rivers said.

That’s why the music McCoy was playing during practices was replaced on Wednesday by a shrill.

“This is different, a little more annoying,” McCoy said. “We have to tune in and focus and make sure we communicate in a hostile environment.”

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AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com/AP_NFL

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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