Freeney, too much of a good thing
Put on the film and what you see again and again from the man wearing 93 is impressive.
He pushes the right tackle backward, altering Buffalo quarterback E.J. Manuel’s route, contributing to a too-short gain. He comes off a block to tackle E.J. Spiller a yard behind the line. He drops into coverage. He sprints around the edge to chase down Manuel from behind.
Dwight Freeney here, Dwight Freeney there, Dwight Freeney everywhere.
Three games into his second season with the Chargers, his 13th in the NFL, 11 months after a major surgery, four months shy of his 35th birthday, Freeney has answered the question of whether he can still be a difference maker.
Freeney’s 11 quarterback hurries are tied with Washington’s Ryan Kerrigan for most in the NFL among 3-4 outside linebackers. Just four 3-4 OLBs have more sacks than Freeney’s two. He’s participated in 129 of the Chargers’ 186 snaps.
It’s remarkable.
And it can’t keep happening.
Well, it can. But then it wouldn’t for long.
Freeney knows this, even as he shrugs and says he can sustain his current workload.
“You got a guy like me who’s played a million snaps in his career,” he said Monday. “That means I know how to go through it. I know how to maintain. It is what it is. It’s not optimal, but oh well.”
Freeney is 34 with a recently surgically repaired quad tendon. Playing 688 snaps, his current season-long pace, is not what he is designed to do at this point. That’s about how many snaps he averaged during his extended prime, when he was leading the NFL in sacks from 2002-10.
The problem is there isn’t anyone else, at least for a while, as Melvin Ingram missed Sunday’s game in Buffalo and is down at least another six games with a hip injury and Jerry Attaochu played just one snap in Buffalo due to a bothersome hamstring.
Freeney, whose 110 career sacks rank 21st in NFL history, said he knew in the preseason he was healthy and ready to play at a high level. But he acknowledges, too, that he is aware not everyone shared his certainty.
“I use that as motivation,” he said. “I don’t pay much attention to what is said, but I figure, year (13), coming off injury, guys think you’re done, think you’re old, you’re not as good as you used to be. You use those things as motivational tools to keep yourself going, especially when things are tough. You have a constant reminder: you’re going out there, you have to ball out.”
Freeney will likely continue to get days off during the week, and he has long made taking care of his body a full-time job within his full-time job. He uses a hyperbaric chamber, stimulation machine, has an extensive stretching regimen and adheres meticulously to a diet that limits inflammation and promotes recovery.
“Sometimes you can’t avoid it,” he said of the excessive workload. “Guys go down.”
Yes, they do. As a result, sometimes more guys go down because those guys have to play more than they should.
The Chargers were fortunate their defense was on the field just 42 snaps against Seattle and this past Sunday got by playing with a big lead against a bad quarterback.
Reggie Walker played almost half the Chargers’ defensive snaps at outside linebacker in Buffalo after playing three defensive snaps the previous two games. He will likely continue there, though the Chargers suddenly need more depth at inside linebacker with Manti Te’o out several weeks with a fractured foot. The team also brought up Cordarro Law from the practice squad.
Those players won’t do what Freeney does. So it is now up to defensive coordinator John Pagano to pull the strings on his OLB rotation so mistakes are minimized, weaknesses hidden and strengths accentuated.
Better that Freeney miss some plays than miss games, or even miss the rest of the season.
