San Diego Chargers’ Struggles Connected to the Fall of LaDainian Tomlinson

The San Diego Chargers are once again struggling at the beginning of this season, just as they did last year.  Injuries, certainly are part of it.  But there’s an even bigger reason.

I’d never argue that losing Pro Bowl NT Jamal Williams doesn’t help.  Guys of his size and ability are few and far between, and you’re not going to find street free agents to fill that gap. 

Ask the Carolina Panthers if you have doubts.  And Shawne Merriman’s groin injury, combined with questions about him being less explosive since his knee injury no doubt have a huge impact on the defensive struggles the Chargers are having.

Offensively, with Center Nick Hardwick out until at least December, and possibly for the year, combined with the right side of the offensive line being a huge question mark coming into the season, it’s easy to see why Philip Rivers has been under duress and seen his numbers decline some from his Pro Bowl season of a year ago. 

But that isn’t the real story.

The real story is that LaDainian Tomlinson’s time as a legitimate bell cow running back has ended.  With that ending, the team simply lacks a guy they can hand the ball off to on a consistent basis and depend upon him to get the crucial yards needed, and to keep defenses honest against Rivers and the passing game. 

For some numerical proof, I’ll provide what I think is a good comparison.

Recall the way the career of Eddie George came to an end.  He seemed to be the same guy, then, all of a sudden, the wheels fell off.  Numbers prove that George was in fact declining his last four years in the league before the dramatic end in his final year.  I’ll show we are seeing the same thing with LT.

The barometer I’m going to use is yards per carry.  Let’s look at 1999, George’s last year with a yards per carry average of over four yards:

  G  GS  Att   Yds   Avg  Lng  TD   Rec  Yds   Avg   Lng  TD   Fum   Lost

 16  16  320  1304  4.1   40    9     47   458   9.7    54    4     5       4

 

Not a bad year.  Now, let’s look at the years 2000-2003, beginning with 2000, in chronological order:

  G  GS  Att   Yds   Avg  Lng  TD   Rec  Yds   Avg   Lng   TD  Fum   Lost

 16  16  403  1509  3.7   35   14    50   453   9.1    24     2    5       3

 16  16  315   939   3.0   27    5    37   279   7.5    25     0    8       6

 16  16  343  1165  3.4   35   12    36   255   7.1    14     2    1       1

 16  16  312  1031  3.3   27    5    22   163   7.4    22     0    1       0

 

These marked George’s last four years with Tennessee.  Note that in 2000, while his actual amount of yards increased, he needed 83 more carries to do so.  This marked the point of diminishing returns for George, as his yards per carry average never again reached four yards. 

While it is true that his average did increase very slightly in 2002, it declined yet again the next season.  But even both of these years he averaged less than 3.5 yards per carry.

 

This is his final year, 2004, in Dallas:

  G  GS  Att   Yds   Avg  Lng  TD   Rec  Yds   Avg   Lng   TD  Fum   Lost

 13   8  132   432   3.3   24    4      9     83    9.2   28     0    3        1

 

Here, we clearly see the accumulated punishment has taken it’s toll.  He was no longer able to play the whole season, in fact only starting half of the schedule. 

Now, let’s take a look at Tomlinson.  Admittedly, I am using less of a sample with him, but I believe that my point will be proven by looking at his yards per carry average.  I’m going to begin with his MVP season of 2006, and will end with his production from this season:

  G  GS  Att   Yds   Avg  Lng  TD   Rec  Yds   Avg   Lng   TD  Fum   Lost

 16 16   348  1815  5.2   85   28    56   508    9.1   51     3     2       1

 16 16   315  1474  4.7   49   15    60   475    7.9   36     3     0       0

 16 16   292  1110  3.8   45   11    52   426    8.2   32     1     1       0

  2   2     20    70   3.5   13    1      2      0    0.0     1     0     1       1

 

I realize that including this year provides an incomplete picture.  San Diego has 12 games left, and it is possible LT could turn things around and revert to being the productive back we’ve all come to know. 

The numbers however, make that appear unlikely.  No back is going to be equally as productive the year following one such as 2006.  Years like that are called “career seasons” for a reason. 

But examine his yards per carry averages for a moment.  He lost exactly a half a yard off his average in 2007, then almost a full yard in 2008.  The decline has continued thus far into this season.  Even his average per reception, which is part of the skill set Tomlinson has long been noted for, has dropped off almost a full yard. 

Finally, if you add in the fact that Tomlinson has failed to be able to finish the last two years due to injury, and now has missed time hurt this season already, I think we can conclude we are seeing the last days of a future Hall of Famer. 

What San Diego does to replace him going forward will certainly dictate what success they have in the future.  But Darren Sproles is not an every down back, and the Chargers have shown by his lack of use how little faith they have in Michael Bennett.

The supreme irony in this is that two offseasons ago, the Chargers were faced with holding on to LT or Michael Turner.  One has to wonder if A.J. Smith had a crystal ball, would he have done things differently?  My guess is he would have, but of course, we will never know.      

 

 

                           

 

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Bills Lose To Browns 6-3, Confirm Their Own Incompetency

On Sunday, the Buffalo Bills and Cleveland Browns put on a show that clearly set NFL football back about 50 years. That the Browns escaped with a 6-3 victory was due less to their own superiority than to the Bills proving their utter incompetency. 

In most cases, when you hold the opposing quarterback to a 2-for-17 stat line, you’re going to win the game. But these are the Bills we’re talking about, and they countered with an extraordinary stat line of their own. 13-11-9. As in 13 penalties, 11 on the offense, nine of them being of the false start variety. 

Bear in mind, this wasn’t due to crowd noise making things difficult for the Bills offense to hear itself. No, this game was in the confines of Ralph Wilson Stadium, the Bills own home field. So, what was the excuse for this performance?

Coach Dick Jauron stated that the Bills were trying to run a hurry-up offense, and the pace might have “confused” the team’s young, inexperienced group of offensive linemen. Really, Dick?  If that’s truly the case, why not an adjustment to a more conventional attack, giving the inexperienced players an opportunity to settle down and play better?  Perhaps an inability on the part of the head coach to make such an adjustment is a better explanation.

Worse yet was the Bills final possession of the game. The Bills get the benefit of a 15-yard roughing the passer penalty, putting them a mere 30 yards outside viable field goal range, with time for QB Trent Edwards to defy odds and successfully maneuver the ball down the field for a potential game tying kick. However, this would’ve required Edwards to actually attack the Brown’s defense.

What was Edwards’ preferred method of attacking the Browns defense to get the ball into field goal range? A four-yard pass. Needing 30 yards of field, with less than a minute to play, Edwards chooses a four-yard pass. Further proof of the Bills incompetence.   

There will be those who would blame Roscoe Parrish for failing to keep his eyes on a bouncing punt, mishandling the ball, allowing the Browns to fall on his fumble and subsequently kick the game winning field goal.  A bad play on Parrish’s part, certainly.  But the reality is that it never should’ve gotten to that point.

The hard reality for the Bills is this: Incompetency reigns in this organization, from the top right on down, and it has resulted in an atmosphere where players realize that critical errors are going to be tolerated, with no fear of reprisal or of losing their jobs.  Examine this year alone for just a moment.

The Bills had an offensive tackle in Jason Peters who is regarded as one of the best young players in the game at his position. Either Ralph Wilson, or marketing man Russ Brandon, who masquerades as the Bills GM, decide they don’t wish to pay Peters the going rate. Ignoring the fact that the man who will replace him, Langston Walker, has already failed once at the position miserably, they choose to trade Peters, getting a late first round draft choice for him.

On Draft Day, with the number eleven pick, the Bills pick Aaron Maybin out of Penn State. Never mind the fact that Penn State has a dismal record lately with players like Maybin, or that Maybin is a classic ‘tweener who some scouts say will have a very difficult time adapting his talents to the pro game. Or the fact that the Bills clearly lack the coaching acumen to bring out the best in a player like Maybin. There were far better choices to be made in that position.

What better choices?  Well, for starters, they could’ve traded down five to seven spots. A GM with average acumen would’ve done that. Too bad what the Bills have as a GM is someone whose true expertise is in the area of marketing rather than in evaluation of player personnel. But Michael Jenkins was available to the Bills at No. 11 and would almost certainly have helped the defensive backfield.

Other players who were available, and could’ve still been there when the Bills traded down were Brian Cushing, Clay Matthews and Rey Maualuga, USC’s fine trio of linebackers. Or, if they would’ve preferred an area of desperate need, OT Phil Loadholt, currently a starter with the Vikings could’ve been had, even with a move down of ten spots.

Of course, to get the best out of players, the key is good coaching. Unfortunately, along with the GM position being manned by an incompetent, the head coaching spot is as well. Going into this week’s game, the Bills were trailing the Rams by one in number of penalties, & were first in the league in yards penalized. Most of these penalties were identical to this weeks, in that they would be classified as mental mistakes, usually committed by an undisciplined team. That description fits this Bills team perfectly.

On rare occasions, leadership among the players can overcome some of these obstacles. Regrettably, for the Bills, what passes for leadership on the offensive side of the ball is Trent Edwards, a quarterback who lacks the courage to overcome his own mistakes.  In trying to play error-free football, Edwards plays passively, without any aggression at all.  This was evident in yesterday’s four yard pass when one of about 12 to 15 yards was necessary. 

On the rare occasion when Edwards does try to be bold, if he should throw an interception, that will be the end of any downfield attempts for the day and perhaps for next week as well. Unlike the great ones, who throw a pick and shrug it off to resume attacking at the next opportunity, when Edwards throws an interception, he reverts to dump-off passes which move the offense at a snail’s pace if at all, never gaining enough yards to make up for one dropped ball, which results in an inevitable punt by the Bills.

Surely, Edwards needs better protection from what passes as an offensive line in Buffalo. The huge question there is, knowing how sub-par this unit is, how could the Bills allow Jason Peters to go unsigned, and eventually be traded to Philadelphia?  Must have something to do with the tremendous ability to evaluate personnel of the general manager.

With this year’s edition of the Bills clearly doomed to a fate somewhere along the lines of 4-12, one can only hope for next year.  However, any high hopes for that would have to be predicated on some dramatic changes. I have a few suggestions.

Ralph Wilson needs to kick Russ Brandon back upstairs into a marketing-only role.  He also needs to kick Dick Jauron to the curb.

Place a call to Floyd Reese, currently acting as a consultant in New England.  As a GM, Mr. Reese rebuilt the Tennessee Titans not once, but twice. Do not give up trying to persuade him to resume being an active GM until he takes on the role in Buffalo.

Once that is done, give him a blank check for Bill Cowher. Instruct him to bring Cowher to Buffalo to rebuild this once-proud franchise, and to disregard the cost. Tell Cowher he is free to bring in any coaches he should choose, along with any scouting personnel he values. Advise him that he and Reese will have joint province over who to draft, as well as whom they would bring in as free agents. Tell them that there are no players currently on the roster who are indispensable, and that any who they feel are not on board with what they intend to accomplish are to be summarily dismissed. 

There are no guarantees that this would result in an immediate turnaround for the Bills.  But, if nothing else, Bills fans would most likely not have to sit through games where the offense spends four quarters shooting itself in the foot with undisciplined play resulting in nine false start penalties. Not to mention the fact that there would  be reason for having real hope for the future. As it stands now, the only hope Bills fans have is for a high first round pick next year that hopefully won’t be wasted.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Everyone Suffers When Athletes Behave Badly

 

Reflecting on the Steve McNair tragedy that dampened the holiday weekend for many folks, I just can’t help thinking, this is what happens when professional athletes behave badly. 

While no one is deserving of the fate that McNair suffered, no matter what it is they are doing in their personal life, the result is that people end up remembering them for one ugly incident that may not reflect who they truly are, or were. 

Steve McNair was one of the classiest, toughest players that I’ve ever seen on a football field.  He never complained and never quit, no matter the odds or how much pain he was in.  He would just buckle his chinstrap, haul his beaten body to the field & seemingly will his team to victory.  I suspect many of his charitable acts were intentionally done quietly, because he didn’t need to have people know what a good man he was. 

Yet I wonder, is there someone out there who was just a child in 1999 when McNair took Tennessee to their only Super Bowl, or in 2003 when he was co-MVP with Peyton Manning, who will now remember McNair differently due to the circumstances of his death?  I know it has happened to me. 

I was 14-years-old when my late father and I first got season tickets to the Buffalo Bills in 1973.  I was blessed to watch history before my eyes that first year I got to watch live NFL games, as O.J. Simpson blazed a trail to 2,000 yards in a season the likes of which had never been seen before.  I recall a 90 degree cut at full speed that left defenders grasping at nothing and my 14-year-old mouth hanging wide open. 

But whenever I think of him now, my view is jaded by the fact that this man most likely got away with killing two innocent people and is now in prison on an armed robbery conviction.  I ask myself, can Michael Vick ever really fully rehabilitate his image, after being convicted for facilitating dogfighting?  Or will some child who watched Vick weave his magic in Atlanta remember him forevermore as someone who made dogs fight to the death and perhaps think of his own dog, leaving him with nothing but contempt for his former hero? 

Many people suffer when professional athletes behave badly.  Families suffer, which is the most important thing to remember.  Sometimes the franchise suffers.  Sometimes fans suffer.  Innocent people suffer too.  But what suffers in the long run may be the reputation of the player himself, and although that is sad, we have to remember:  He did it to himself by being in a situation he chose to put himself in. 

That may be the saddest part of all.

 

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