The San Diego Chargers began Wednesday with a special-teams walk-through in the morning. Players wore shells for the evening’s full practice, which lacked the contact of recent days.

“We took the shoulder pads off,” coach Norv Turner said. “We had gone four straight days in pads. We’re very physical. I thought our guys responded today with a very up-tempo speed practice. We worked on a lot of game situations, so tomorrow we will start looking at Dallas.”

What stood out: OLB Melvin Ingram (round one, 18th overall pick) has frequently been in the face of QB Philip Rivers. Before Rivers could throw the ball, Ingram came up on his blind side and tapped Rivers on the shoulder as if to say, “Hello, I’m here.” Rivers ended the play by spiking the ball in disgust.

RB Ronnie Brown had a heavy workload and will likely see significant playing time against the Cowboys on Saturday. Brown had the day off on Tuesday.

P Mike Scifres boomed several punts. One traveled in excess of 70 yards and had a hang time of about five seconds.

WR Vincent Brown, TE Antonio Gates, TE Ladarius Green and WR Robert Meachem all had long receptions.

Position battles: SS Corey Lynch (free agent, Buccaneers) intercepted Rivers. Lynch has picked Rivers at least three times in camp. He is considered to be on the bubble but could play his way on to a roster. Lynch, however, is behind FS Atari Bigby (free agent, Seattle) and Brandon Taylor (round three, 73rd overall pick), and they are almost assured roster spots.

C-G Rex Hadnot (free agent, Cardinals) played on the first-string at LG in the place of Tyronne Green (foot stepped on), who missed his second consecutive full practice.

CB Greg Gatson and CB Arthur Hobbs made fine plays to earn praise from DB coach Ron Meeks. Neither is likely to make the 53-man roster but are potential practice squad candidates. Gatson has had an overall stronger camp than Hobbs.

Injury updates: DT Garrett Brown (left foot in boot), DE Jacques Cesaire (unknown), DT Antonio Garay (worked on bike, left foot), WR Richard Goodman (unknown), RB Ryan Mathews (clavicle), TE Dante Rosario (unknown), WR Eddie Royal (leg) and G Johnnie Troutman (pectoral) worked out on the side and did not practice. Also did not practice: G-T Brandyn Dombrowski (foot, cyst), LT Jared Gaither (back spasms), and LG Tyronne Green (foot).

Rosario was a new addition to the non-participants list.

Green and Gaither were both described as day-to-day by Turner. It's reasonable to expect Green will be back in a few days, but it could take Gaither a little longer. Gaither was present at the team’s facility for the first time in over a week but gave no indication that he has made significant progress toward his return.

Blacked out: Per NFL policy, Saturday night's game between the Chargers and the Cowboys will not be shown live in Southern California because not enough tickets have been sold.

What's next: The Chargers will begin their preparations for the Cowboys with a walk-through Thursday morning followed by a full practice in the afternoon. All practices are now closed to the public.

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