Chargers are at critical juncture
The Chargers are in critical football condition at a critical football juncture.
Good: They’re 3-1, in first place in the AFC West, a half-game in front of the idle Broncos.
Bad: Their roster is beaten like 53 eggs. They’re playing people who either haven’t participated in a real NFL exercise or are too new to grasp coach “Mysterious” Mike McCoy’s system.
Pretty Good: Their schedule. Remember that beast everyone was looking at in August? It’s the NFL, so it’s still not a day sipping mojitos on the Hotel Del veranda, but in just four weeks it’s been broken like a wild steed.
The hay may not be in the barn, but now’s the time to make it -- if they hope to play in January. They’re limping. They may or may not get some players back -- some certainly won’t return Sunday -- when the New York Jets fly in, although not like a bat out of hell.
But grab the pitchforks and start bailing, guys, because this is your inning now. The wild NFL reaper has cleared the acreage nearly from here to December. The only obstacle seems to be training room.
The next eight weeks of their schedule: Jets, at Oakland, Kansas City, at Denver, at Miami, bye, Raiders again and St. Louis. Among them, only Denver (2-1) has a winning record.
Almost certainly, the Chargers’ fate will be confirmed by the end of November. For them having to rely on contenders collapsing again and sneaking into the postseason as they did last year probably has a much chance of working as a McCoy gig at the Improv.
Especially when they are half of their whole.
In their 33-14 win over Jacksonville last Sunday, they were down to their third center. Their starting right guard has been out. Two of their three top running backs were missing. Their first-round rookie corner was excused. Starting left corner? Damaged a knee. A starting outside and inside linebacker sat, as did a backup outside backer who would have started. Two tight ends were spectators.
Injuries are a part of football, we all know that, and to McCoy’s credit, not once has he groaned about them. “We’re not making excuses,” he was saying Monday.
They could be without all their troops and beat the Jaguars. And maybe, just maybe, they can claw past the Jets, who aren’t good. But the Chargers certainly don’t always play well against Rex Ryan-coached teams, and New York is arriving with the top run defense in The League, No. 4 overall.
Rex’s time as a head coach may have past, but he still can defend. And he knows the Chargers run like a bale of turtles.
San Diego’s backs (starter Ryan Mathews went out for at least a month when he damaged his knee week one in Arizona) have rushed 117 times for 278 yards, or 256 fewer on 18 more carries than Cowboys’ tailback DeMarco Murray, the league leader. They average 2.4 yards per rush, by far the worst.
“We should run the football better,” McCoy said. “I know we can run the football better, we will run the football better, we have to run the football better. And we can do better in the passing game, too. We gave up a couple of sacks (vs. Jacksonville). That’s too many.”
But there’s little wrong with the passing game and McCoy and fantasy players in China know the Chargers will go as far as quarterback Philip Rivers’ arm can extend. He’s been brilliant. He leads The League in passing. He’s completing better than 70 percent of his throws. He has nine touchdown passes against one pick.
But McCoy talks about those four-minute situations, when you have the lead and want to devour clock. If you can’t run the ball, the degree of difficulty quintuples. Donald Brown and Branden Oliver may not be Hall of Famers, but they’re professional runners. Run-blocking has been awful, especially so last Sunday. No holes, no yards.
History tells us that, when you throw successfully, it opens up the running game.
“Then it’s a good time to fix the running game,” McCoy confirmed.
Easier said. But it would be nice.
There are some teams out there in that vast orchard hanging on lower branches. Harvest time.
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