Lowe Is Chargers’ Constant

He has played behind linemen Louie Kelcher, Gary Johnson, Fred Dean, Wilbur Young, Leroy Jones, Charles DeJurnett, John Lee and John Woodcock. Among others.

He has played alongside linebackers Bob Horn, Tom Graham, David Lewis, Rick Middleton, Dewey Selmon, Cliff Thrift and Jim Laslavic. Among others.

He has played in front of backs Mike Williams, Tim Fox, Glen Edwards, Mike Fuller, Pete Shaw, Frank Duncan, Ken Greene, Bob Gregor, Reuben Henderson, Bruce Laird, Hal Stringert and Andre Young. Among others.

All of these--and more--have departed from the Chargers’ defensive platoon since a linebacker named Woodrow Lowe came out of Alabama as a steal of a fifth-round draft choice in 1976.

Woodrow Lowe has been a defensive constant for the Chargers in continuing periods of change, sometimes gradual and sometimes accelerated.

“Football,” he said, “is a game of change.”

Lowe got to training camp this summer and looked around the defensive side of the ledger, and sighed.

“Oh my,” he said to himself. “What’s going on?”

Or, more precisely, where did everybody go?

Lowe was suddenly the Dean of Defense. He probably felt old, even though he wasn’t. When a group of veterans was swept out the revolving door on the eve of the 1985 preseason, Lowe was suddenly the old-timer at age 31.

“I never think of my age, except when the younger guys remind me,” he said.

Woodrow Lowe is a lot like Charlie Joiner, the Dean of Offense. He goes about his chores just as Joiner does, quietly and with professional efficiency. Nothing nicer can be said about a man than to suggest he is a Charlie Joiner clone.

With so many youngsters on defense, Lowe simply has to be the leader. Obviously, he is not the type to wave towels or deliver verbal harangues. He leads by being there.

“The way I exemplify leadership is by going out and doing it,” he said. “I can’t get too far up and I can’t get down in the dumps, and neither can anybody else. There’s always another game coming up.”

And Lowe is always in the lineup, as durable as the Rock of Gibraltar. The Chargers have played 146 regular and postseason games since 1976, and Lowe has played in 145 of them. What’s more, he has started 141 of them. A hip-pointer caused him to miss a game at Seattle on Sept. 9, 1984.

“It was pretty sore,” he understated.

It had to be. A fellow does not play in 125 consecutive games and then miss one because he is slightly uncomfortable. If he can roll out of bed in the morning, Woody Lowe plays.

Through those nine-plus years and 145 games, Lowe has seen football undergo drastic change. He has survived by making adjustments as the offenses entered the space age and the defenses improvised in response.

“You never saw anything like four wide receivers,” he said, “and now everyone is doing it. Most teams had a regular pro set, formation left or right, and now and then a slot left or right. Now . . . “

Lowe shook his head. Football has become almost scientific in its sophistication.

Rules have had a lot to do with it, of course, because most rule changes have favored the offense. National Football League offenses have become as hard to stop as an incoming tide.

“Sometimes,” Lowe said, “it seems more like playing basketball.”

And every offense has a fast break--a bomb--built into it.

“It’s very demanding for the defense,” he said. “There’s much more pressure than there used to be. You’ve got to be in the right place at the right time about 95% of the time to have what might be considered a good game. Very few guys have the athletic ability to be in the wrong position and still make the play.”

Therein lies Woodrow Lowe’s appreciation for the work ethic. Football is a 9-to-5 job.

“You’ve got to put in that kind of time,” he said, “because offenses are so complicated.”

Defenses too. Offensive specialists are now countered by defensive specialists. It takes Star Wars defenses to bring space age offenses down to earth, or at least drag them into a lower orbit.

Woodrow Lowe has made all these adjustments, including the Chargers’ change from the Pleistocene 4-3 alignment to the chrome-and-glass 3-4. His role changed, and he changed.

For the last few years, about all that didn’t seem to change was the defensive effectiveness. It was so porous the Chargers took to hoping 40 points would be enough to win. Consequently, the defense was booed rather mercilessly.

It seemed so long ago when the Charger defense would habitually leave the field to the opposition’s punter rather than the kicker. Those were days when the deeee-fense was toasted rather than roasted.

“Our best defenses were probably in 1978-79-80,” Lowe said, “but I feel pretty good about the defense we’ve got now.”

That defense played perhaps its finest game of the year Sunday, and received standing ovations reminiscent of those good old days. Lowe and Linden King, his colleague at linebacker, are the only Charger defenders who have been around long enough to remember the 1980 season.

So this is a new defense, with a new defensive coordinator. Dave Adolph is the fourth man to hold that position since Lowe became a Charger, but we have already established that Lowe is a man who can make adjustments.

“He’s fiery and he’s gotten us going,” Lowe said. “He tells us what we have to do--no ifs, ands or buts about it.”

The distractions and controversies, Lowe suggested, are in the past.

“We’ve got to put everything behind us,” he said, “and play football.”

Anybody who does not know what that means can learn quickly. Watch Woodrow Lowe.