Chargers' Gates: Time to Rest

Chargers tight end Antonio Gates has caught 537 passes in his career.

For the past two weeks, the only thing he's received has been suggestions.

Freeze a water bottle and roll your foot over it. Use heel cuffs. Wear flip flops.

“You'd be amazed with how many people on Twitter give me different solutions to try to solve my problem,” Gates said Wednesday with a laugh.

After missing last week's game against the Kansas City Chiefs, Gates has decided that prolonged rest is the best route to take if he's to overcome plantar fascitis, which has lingered since last season.

“To me, it's the only solution I haven't tried yet, and I think that's where I'm at it with this point,” said Gates, who spent the offseason without the benefit of the Chargers training staff due to the lockout. "I've done just about whatever it is you can do. Whatever you can imagine, I've done it. So at this point, rest is the only thing that was left for me to try to do and to figure out how to get this thing heeled and back on the football field.”

The Chargers have two games before their Week 6 bye. Asked if he could rest and return in Week 7, Gates, 31, couldn't say.

However extremely unlikely, even this Sunday could be a possibility, he said.

“It'd be difficult; I must say,” Gates said. “There have been times where I've been pretty optimistic about going there, but you know, who's to say? I could tell you what. In a span of two to three days, I've seen miracles happen with my body, personally …

“I'm just trying to stay in it mentally. That's all I can do. Hopefully I can get to the point where I can contribute physically for this football team because, ideally, that's what I get paid to do. I'm just trying to stay in it mentally until I'm able to do something physically.”

Gates finds reasons to stay optimistic.

When he tears scar tissue and it rebuilds, he feels stronger than he did before. Also, the pain now is less severe than last year when he tore his plantar fascia and sustained the plantar fascitis.

His foot no longer bothers him when he wakes up in the morning. He can walk pain-free.

It only troubles him when he plays.

"I just have to take time off," Gates said.

He will test the foot every day. When he feels pain when running and cutting, he knows he must wait longer. When he feels just soreness, Gates said, he'll be ready.

"I'm quite sure there's going to be  some soreness there, and I can deal with that," Gates said. "But pain is my No. 1 determinant factor in whether I go or don't go. It ain't the soreness. It has nothing to do with soreness.

"The one thing I've learned over the last eight years is if you can only play when you're 100 percent healthy, then you really serve no purpose to this team, this league. That ain't what I'm trying to do. I'm not trying to get to a point where it's all going away. I'm just trying to get to a point where I can tolerate it and go out and play."