Who is available to be the next man up?

Next man uh … where are you?

To broadly paraphrase Joe Namath, who hardly had running backs on his mind when he uttered his fabulous bachelor motto: “It’s September 23rd, and Earl Campbell ain’t walkin’ through the door.”

Of course, here I’ve substituted the date for Joe’s original “2 o’clock in the morning” and Earl for “Miss America,” but if you’ve been paying attention to the Chargers and heard the ambulance sirens the past few weeks, you don’t need a GPS to get where I’m driving at.

For Chargers coach Mike McCoy, whenever a player goes down, it’s always: “Next man up.” It’s become far too prevalent in his coachspeak. If overdone, it also is true.

But what if your next man’s out? And the next man after him? You’ve run out of next men.

Which is what’s happened to McCoy.

As Don Coryell often told me when one of his players got hurt or held out: “I can only play the guys I’ve got.”

McCoy and General Manager Tom Telesco are in a pickle barrel. Think of them as chefs. They have to make a gourmet meal in an NFL minute, so they go to the cupboard to get salt and the shaker is empty. Next salt up. Only they open the pantry to get some more sodium chloride and realize they’re down to a few grams.

Not enough for dinner. That’s what the Chargers now are facing at the running back position. And they once had plenty enough in stock.

Two weeks ago, in their win here over Seattle, they lost lead tailback Ryan Mathews for at least a month with a sprained knee ligament. Then Sunday, in their victory at Buffalo, multi-purpose back Danny Woodhead was carted off the field with a high ankle sprain and broken fibula that will require surgery. He is gone for the year.

“It’s a brutal business,” McCoy was saying, naturally later adding: “Next man up.”

Except, as of yesterday afternoon, the Chargers were down to two healthy active backs -- veteran free agent Donald Brown and undrafted rookie Branden Oliver. As the month began, this was one of their deepest positions. Now, Telesco looks like a swami genius bringing in Brown from Indianapolis during the offseason.

With Woodhead out and Oliver without real-game experience, Brown carried the ball 31 times for 62 yards and caught five passes for 27 more. Brown is not Campbell or any of the great beasts of burden who could carry such loads. Or even Mathews.

Brown is 5-11, 207. Strong, but not an ox.

If the Buffalo game had been different, if the Chargers had not been sitting on the lead in the second half -- or better yet, been able to move it consistently (they had five straight 3-and-outs, which should never happen to this offense) -- Brown probably wouldn’t have touched it so much.

But McCoy wants to run the football. They beat the Broncos in Denver last year running it successfully and keeping the ball from Peyton Manning. Against Seattle they ran it 37 times for 101 yards and they kept the Seahawks’ offense off the field for 42:15.

“You don’t want anyone to carry the ball 31 times,” McCoy was telling me. “Donald didn’t want to come out, but you’ve got to keep an eye on him. Ryan carried it 58 times in back-to-back Sunday-Thursday games last year (and 25 more the game after that) but you don’t want Donald carrying it that many times if you can help it.”

Maybe it couldn’t be helped in Buffalo -- those who criticize offensive coordinator Frank Reich for conservative play-calling should realize they were trying to win a game on the East Coast, no picnic in Pacific Beach -- but this can’t be a steady-diet thing.

If the Chargers are to make the playoffs, there must be a running threat. Telesco spent his Monday looking around for a back to bring in at least until Mathews returns (practice squad back Marion Grice was picked up by Arizona on Monday) and that has to be done by today. A new player has to have a playbook in hand before the team practices Wednesday in preparation for Jacksonville here Sunday.

Losing Woodhead was a blow. He could do many things, most of all play football.

“We’re going to miss him,” McCoy said.

Next man, whoever you are, up.

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