Leave Nothing: The Chargers' Postseason Hopes Must Run Through LT

At Week 9 of the NFL season, the San Diego Chargers are looking up at the Denver Broncos in second place at 3-5.  They are also looking for answers for their running game.  

This season, the Chargers running game is ranked 14th in the AFC and 27th in the NFL with 96.6 yards per game.  The reasons of an inconsistent and under performing running game for San Diego has nothing to do with Tomlinson's lingering toe injury.

Reason number one is the fact that the Chargers have fallen behind too frequently and become too dependent on Philip Rivers.  Rivers is having a fine season, but his success has limited any rhythm the running game has created.  

The second reason is due to a new fullback in Mike Tolbert and an offensive line desperate for game repetitions.  Former Chargers fullback, Lorenzo Neal, is arguably one of the top blocking fullbacks ever to play in the NFL.  His current team, the Baltimore Ravens, is 5th in the NFL in rushing.

Left tackle Marcus McNeil and center Nick Hardwickhave been hampered withneck and foot injuries that has sidelined them for much of the season.  McNeil's run blocking strength and mobility to pull is not there.  Hardwick has lacked the explosiveness to pull and hasn't been able to control interior defensive linemen, which slows down the back side pursuit and creates cutback lanes for LT.

A case can be made for successful flashes of Darren Sproles and the loss of Michael Turner.  But Sproles has done damage in the open field coming from the backfield or returning kicks.  Turner had his huge games against Detroit, Kansas City, and Green Bay.  Three poor rush defenses.  The carries Turner received last year have been given to Sproles and to Rivers' right arm.

Now the question is, what has the bye week done to prepare the rushing game for the home stretch? 

The bye week has given the offensive line and LT a chance to rest and regroup and has given the coaching staff time to rethink their offensive scheme. 

The offensive line is still hurting and more passing means more pass blocking.  Pass blocking takes more of a toll on their bodies because players react to the violent pass rush and cannot dictate the play as opposed to running the ball.

But the most importantly, the bye week should have given the coaches the mentality of staying with the running game, especially in the red zone, to keep the defense off the field. 

Consider the following statistics from Pro Football Weekly and Yahoo!.

In eight games, the Chargers have had 32 offensive possessions in the red zone, which is four per game.  Their red zone touchdown percentage is 50%.  The offense leaves at least 12 points on the field per game.  No running game in the red zone means less room to throw to Antonio Gates inside the 20.

Tomlinson has only 142 rushing attempts for an average of 3.9 yards per carry in the first eight games of the 2008 season.  That's 551 total rushing yards.  In the first eight games of 2007, he rushed for 657 yards on 155 attempts, a 4.2 average. 

The lowest rushing attempts LT had during the first eight games in 2007 was 16 during the blowout lost against Minnesota.  In 2008, it is 10, 12, and 14 rushes during games where the Chargers lost in a one- possession game.     

Embrace change...embrace watching LaDainian Tomlinson run his team to wins, hopefully.