Charger Kicking Problems Didn’t Come From Fans
All last week, the Chargers threw white socks at Bob Thomas to simulate the snowballs that might or might not come the kicker’s way from the stands at Mile High Stadium.
The Chargers had the right idea, sort of. Field goals were a vexing problem Sunday afternoon. Thomas tried four and made only one. But the problem didn’t emanate from the stands. It was on the field, and it was a three-fold problem that wound up jeopardizing San Diego’s already slim playoff chances.
Part of the problem was Thomas himself. His timing might have been a millisecond slow, and his trajectory a few millimeters low. At least, the Broncos seemed to think so, although Thomas disagreed.
Another aspect of the problem was the Chargers’ blocking scheme. There was a seam between the tight end and the wing that was exploited by Denver rushers a couple of times.
The final part of the problem was the athleticism of Denver’s Dennis Smith, who blocked a kick in the first half and again in overtime. The second of those blocks was returned 60 yards by Louis Wright for the touchdown that beat the Chargers, 30-24.
As both Thomas and Coach Don Coryell noted Monday in discussing the disheartening loss, the Chargers showed strength of character by not pointing the finger or making excuses for the numerous errors they made Sunday.
And, as Thomas also pointed out, it’s vital for the Chargers to put the setback behind them and not overlook this week’s game against Houston, a team they should beat.
“If we had beaten Denver, but then lost to Houston, we’d have been in the same position,” Thomas said.
While the emphasis has to be on winning their final five games and hoping a 10-6 record would get them a wild-card spot in the playoffs, the Chargers aren’t going to think back on the Denver debacle without considerable pain.
Although the final, spectacular play will be analyzed in countless discussions this week, it wasn’t the only reason the Chargers lost. There were other failings, including second-half fumbles by Dan Fouts and Gary Anderson that gave the Broncos a pair of touchdowns, and a questionable timeout called by the Chargers just before they scored and took a 24-21 lead with 1:18 to play. That left the Broncos with sufficient time to set up a tying field goal by Rich Karlis.
In spite of these and other errors, there was no way to minimize the impact of the final episode in overtime. As Denver’s Smith said, the ending was one of the most bizarre imaginable.
After studying film of the two blocked kicks that beat the Chargers, Thomas offered a cogent explanation for what went wrong.
“As everybody suspected, Smith made a great play,” he said. “Both of my kicks were blocked from two yards away, so it’s not right for the Denver special teams people to say I was slow getting the ball off, or that I kicked too low. There’s no kicker anywhere who can kick the ball straight up, like a moonshot. The fact that I had a kick from 41 yards out hit well up on the upright in the first half should show I didn’t have a problem getting the ball up high enough.”
Thomas admitted the timing of the second blocked kick in overtime was slightly off. The snap was slightly high, and it took 1.5 seconds to get the kick off. It’s better if it only takes 1.35 to 1.4 seconds, he said.
In the first half, Smith blocked a field goal after lining up on the kicker’s right. The climactic block in overtime found Smith on the other side, but that shouldn’t have made any difference, according to Thomas.
Smith gave evidence of his athletic ability when he went between Billy Ray Smith and Eric Sievers and then leaped over the leg of Sievers to block the first half kick. In overtime, he went between Kellen Winslow and Jim Leonard to make the decisive block.
“The man in Kellen’s position is called the double bumper,” Thomas said. “His responsibility is to hit the inside rusher (in this case, Smith) and also to hit the outside man, which was Daniel Hunter.
“The Broncos did the same thing on both of the kicks in overtime. Kellen saw the move Smith made on the play when the Broncos had called timeout, so he was aware of what was going on. Smith just hurdled the legs and bodies and made a great play.”
Thomas said the Denver game won’t affect his future kicking, and Coryell said the job still belongs to Thomas.
“I’ve been around more than 10 years,” Thomas said, “and one of the reasons I’ve lasted is because I have a history of making the big kicks. There will never be any way of knowing for sure, but my holder, Ralf Mojsiejenko, told me the second kick sounded good to him, and I thought I had a good hit on the ball.”
All the rest is conjecture.
Charger Notes Coach Don Coryell said the offense didn’t play as well as it could against Denver, but he wasn’t including Lionel James in that assessment. “Train was almost the whole show,” he said. “We didn’t want to tire him out, but we have so much confidence in him. No matter how tired he is, he always seems to find that little something extra.” . . . Coryell also praised the blocking of offensive lineman Gary Kowalski, who was filling in for injured Sam Claphan, and lauded the play of fullback Tim Spencer. . . . Coryell on the playoff picture: “We have to win our last five, it’s cut and dried, and hope the other people in our division knock each other off. It’s not out of the realm of possibility that we could win all five (against Houston, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Kansas City).