when he responded to an interview question using very similar wording. Smith later apologized to Tomlinson, and the two sides came to an agreement on a restructured version of his three-year contract on March 10. Tomlinson said in another statement, "My heart has always been in San Diego. I couldn't imagine putting on another uniform." In Week 1, Tomlinson rushed 13 times for 55 yards in Oakland, with a touchdown and a lost fumble in the 24–20 victory. It would be the only time all season that he averaged over four yards per carry in a game. He suffered an ankle injury in the Oakland game and missed the next two weeks while recovering. In his first game back, he rushed seven times for 15 yards in a 38–28 loss at Pittsburgh. His most productive rushing performance came in Week 10 against Philadelphia, when he ran 24 times for 96 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns in the 31–23 victory. The touchdowns gave him a total of 146 for his career, passing Marcus Allen for third place in NFL history. In Week 13, Tomlinson scored his 150th career touchdown in a 30–23 win at Cleveland; he was the quickest to reach that milestone, doing so in his 137th game. He rushed for 64 yards in the game, enough to lift him past both Marshall Faulk and former Cleveland Brown Jim Brown into eighth place on the career rushing yardage list. Brown was present in the stadium; Tomlinson pointed up to Brown after passing him and tapped his heart to show respect. Brown visited the Charger locker room to give his congratulations after the game. At the regular season's end, Tomlinson had new career lows in rushing attempts (223), yards (730) and yards per attempt (3.3), as well as receptions (20) and receiving yards (154). Two years after his second rushing title, he ranked only 29th in the league for rushing yards, although his 12 rushing touchdowns were joint-fifth in the league. That gave him nine consecutive 10-touchdown seasons, a record. San Diego's offensive line was impacted by injuries during the season, and the team as a whole averaged a league-worst 3.3 yards per rushing attempt; by contrast, their 8.0 yards per pass play led the league. Despite Tomlinson's limited contributions, San Diego finished the season with 11 straight wins, a 13–3 record, and their fifth AFC West title in six