More of Mathews crucial to Chargers
Ryan Mathews’ eighth carry of Sunday’s game went for 19 yards and got the Chargers nine yards from the end zone a little more than a minute into the second quarter.
It was the fifth play on what had the makings of possibly the Chargers offense’s finest drive in a month.
A 17-yard Mathews run off a draw. A quick screen to Keenan Allen for 20 yards. Another quick screen to Eddie Royal for 11 yards. A four-yard run by Mathews. Then the big gain to the 9 on a draw.
Frank Reich was coordinating like Eisenhower, equipping his beleaguered crew with the calls to give the pause to the Rams’ aggressive defense.
And then, Mathews was replaced by Branden Oliver. He would play just two more snaps in the first half.
Again.
I’m not that sharp. And you (yes, you) don’t know as much about football as you think you do.
But we’re not as dumb as Mike McCoy thinks we are. And what you and I and everyone knows is that some really smart football men are overthinking the Chargers’ running game.
“As a play caller, you call the game the way you do … you go with what you think ,” McCoy said Monday. “You have a gameplan going into a certain situation. You’re going to have good balance … We’ve got all the confidence in the world in Branden and Donald (Brown).”
I won’t hold against the Chargers that the two plays they gave Oliver the ball inside the 10 netted one yard (2 and -1). You can’t complain about Oliver’s overall production; kid has a great feel for on screens and is a nice change of pace running the ball. And I understand the Chargers were in their two-minute offense at the end of the half, and you’re not going to see Mathews in for that unless two other backs have had both legs amputated mid-game.
That’s not what this is about. It’s not second-guessing ever taking out Mathews.
It’s about us not understanding the reasoning behind the ebb and flow of how the Chargers use Mathews.
And, really, we don’t have to know. But what we do know is this doesn’t make sense sometimes.
A Ferrari with an open road and no cops in sight put in the garage. Paparazzi up ahead and Kim Kardashian ducks into a side door and goes home to play Scrabble. That’s how powerfully, how beautifully Mathews is running, how his being yanked defies logic sometimes.
Rest assured, there were players wondering why Mathews was taken out Sunday too, same as they questioned his usage in the first half of last season. I’m a firm believer that players play and coaches coach. However, there are times (like when they agree with me) that I think players have a good grasp on the situation.
McCoy said the Chargers were monitoring Mathews’ carries the past two games, especially last week against the Oakland Raiders when he carried 16 times in his first game back after seven sidelined with a knee sprain.
But, truth is, that wasn’t so much the issue yesterday. After his long rest before and during halftime, Mathews carried two times on the Chargers’ first three plays of the third quarter. On the other one, he lined up in the slot and caught a short pass for 10 yards. On that drive’s fifth play, he took a handoff and ran 32 yards for a touchdown.
If the plan – before he left the game late in the third quarter with a shoulder injury that doesn’t seem to be a concern – was to pound it with Mathews at the end Sunday, so be it.
Philip Rivers marveled Sunday how well Mathews was running and said “We’ll need him” for the season’s final five games.
“Whatever we have to do to keep him fresh,” Rivers said.
Amen. If that’s what they’re doing.
But at some point – soon! – time to let the kid just keep running. Remember last December. Mathews carried 107 times for 473 yards, at least 24 carries and 99 yards in each game. The Chargers won all four.
Mathews is the kind of back who is more productive the more you put him out there.
The Chargers are the kind of team that has a better chance of winning when he is out there more.
