SAN DIEGO — Antonio Gates signed a $380,000, one-year contract last night to end his holdout with the San Diego Chargers.

The record-setting tight end still appears headed for a three-game suspension, including the season opener against Dallas, for missing a team-imposed deadline to report to camp.

In a new twist to the Chargers' most-pressing saga, general manager A.J. Smith seemed bewildered by reports quoting Gates' agent, Andre Colona, as saying that commissioner Paul Tagliabue can shorten the suspension if requested by the Chargers.

"If there's some development here that you all are reporting, and there is a hearing and the commissioner says he can come back to the San Diego Chargers for Dallas, I think that would be unbelievable," Smith said.

"That's exciting. But you guys are way ahead of me on that. But we'll explore, weigh the options, and go from there."

An NFL spokesman, though, said there doesn't appear to be any way to reverse the process set in motion by the Chargers in an attempt to break an impasse in negotiations for a multiyear deal for Gates, who was named an All-Pro in just his second season.

The team sent Colona a letter more than a week ago ordering Gates to be in camp and sign a contract by Saturday, or be put on the Roster Exempt List once he does sign, triggering a three-game suspension.

"Once the letter is sent, the player is out," spokesman Steve Alic said yesterday.

Manning to have further tests on injured elbow

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning will have further tests on the right elbow he injured Saturday night in a 27-21 victory over Carolina.

"Our situation is we want to wait until the complete exam is concluded," coach Tom Coughlin said. "We're very concerned."

Former player allegedly runs car into teens in L.A.

LOS ANGELES — Ex-NFL running back Lawrence Phillips, who was wanted by police for domestic violence, was arrested after allegedly running his car into three teenagers who argued with him during a pickup football game, police said.

Police had been seeking Phillips since earlier this month for allegedly attacking his girlfriend twice, once choking her into unconsciousness.

Phillips joined a group of 16- and 17-year-olds in a pickup football game in Exposition Park yesterday and got into an argument with several of the teens, said Los Angeles police officer Sandra Escalante. He left the park, but returned and drove a black Honda onto the field, allegedly running into three teenage boys, she said.

The teenagers were taken to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, police said.

The car Phillips was driving was reported stolen in San Diego earlier in the week, Escalante said.

Phillips was arrested and held on the domestic-violence felony warrant. Charges are pending in yesterday's incident, she said.

Exhibition game

At Chargers 36, Rams 21

LaDainian Tomlinson scored on a 55-yard run — his only carry of the game — and his backup, Michael Turner, also had a 55-yard run, plus a 2-yard TD scamper, as San Diego beat St. Louis.

Note

• Carolina Panthers S Colin Branch will miss the entire season because of a knee injury. He tore both the anterior cruciate ligament and the medial collateral ligament in his right knee.