Dwight Freeney Must Step Up for San Diego Chargers to Keep Pace in AFC West

The San Diego Chargers are going to have to play better going forward to keep pace in the tough AFC West. They were supposed to rebound from three consecutive losses by nature of being healthier after the bye week, but they could muster only a 13-6 win over the winless Oakland Raiders at home.

Outside linebacker Dwight Freeney was one of the players who was supposed to regain his explosiveness and production after some time off. Instead, Freeney played less Sunday than he has at any point this season and was virtually invisible on the field.

When a team is struggling, it needs its star players to step up. In key moments of key games, that’s when we’re supposed to see the best of the best. The Chargers need Freeney to be the player that has notched 110 career sacks and not just a body over the final six games.

As Freeney goes, so have the Chargers this season.

In the team’s 5-1 start, Freeney notched two sacks, six quarterback hits and 19 hurries. In the team’s 1-3 slide over the last four games, Freeney has just four hurries, no sacks and no quarterback hits. Freeney’s struggles date back to the game in Oakland in Week 6 when he notched fewer than three pressures for the first time this season and the Chargers allowed 28 points.

Data via Pro Football Focus and Pro-Football-Reference.

Freeney said last week, via Tom Krasovic of U-T San Diego:

"

Four or five of those weeks, I probably shouldn’t have played, but we didn’t have numbers. And so, when you don’t have numbers and you have to help the team win, or try to get a victory, as me being an older guy, I want to go out and stick it out there and just try to play as effectively as I possibly can. So if it’s another body going out there, it’s another body going out there.

"

With the return of Melvin Ingram from injury, the Chargers backed off Freeney’s snaps to under 50 percent by cutting back the number of times he had to defend the run. If that was supposed to jump-start Freeney, it didn’t work.

Last Sunday, the Chargers held the Raiders to six points, but that’s barely a positive considering that team was averaging just 15 points per game on the road coming into the contest. Freeney didn’t have a sack, hit, hurry or even a tackle in the game. Nothing that would indicate he even played in the game except a penalty.

“I’m here just to help this team, however it takes -- especially when your team needs you, and especially when you know how to play through pain, and you’ve done it your whole career," Freeney said via Krasovic. "You want to try to help. Damn the stats."

Split	Sacks	Hits	Hurries	Team Record
Weeks 1-5	2	5	18	4-1
Weeks 6-11	0	1	5	2-3 (Both Wins vs. Raiders)

Without the stats, Freeney is almost useless. He’s never been very good in coverage or against the run, which is likely why the Chargers backed him off those responsibilities now that they have more healthy bodies. The Chargers haven’t won a game against a team other than the Raiders when Freeney doesn’t have pass-rush productivity above 9.0—the statistical equivalent of a sack and hit or hurry, or three combined hits and hurries.

In all fairness to Freeney, he’s not the only proven pass-rusher on the team, and he has been battling an injury. The weight of the entire defense shouldn’t be on Freeney alone, but the Chargers have no choice but to lean on him until rookie Jerry Attaochu is ready to take over. If Freeney isn’t more productive in the coming weeks, that transition could start sooner rather than later.

The Chargers pass rush hasn’t been good in 2014. With a sack rate of just 4.8 percent, they desperately need all the help they can get.  Last year, without Freeney and Ingram for most of the season, the Chargers had a sack rate of 6.0 percent.

A decent pass rush is necessary for good pass coverage. Over the first five games, cornerback Brandon Flowers was one of the best cornerbacks in the league, but he hasn’t been able to continue playing at that level over the last five.

From Weeks 1-5, Flowers allowed just 0.66 yards per snap in coverage, per Pro Football Focus (subscription required), which put him ninth out of 104 cornerbacks that qualified during that period. From Weeks 6-11, Flowers allowed 1.78 yards per snap in coverage, per PFF—the 18th worst of 109 qualifying cornerbacks.

The loss of rookie cornerback Jason Verrett for the season to a shoulder injury isn’t an insignificant injury. Verrett had already earned a starting job, and the team will be weaker in the secondary without him.

If Freeney doesn’t step up his game, someone else will have to if the Chargers want to keep pace in the AFC West. No one has the resume that Freeney does, and the Chargers can’t realistically rely on a rookie and Ingram to supply the majority of their outside pressure. If Freeney doesn’t produce down the stretch, the Chargers likely won’t be playing in January.

Unless otherwise noted, all statistics via Pro-Football-Reference.com or ProFootballFocus.com (subscription required).