Searching for Consistency : After a 1-1 Start, Chargers Are Wondering Which Offense Will Show Today Against the Redskins
The crash of Air Coryell last week has been analyzed to the point of silliness.
One school of thought had Dan Fouts telegraphing his passes, thus accounting for five second-half interceptions. Perhaps. But how could he suddenly develop such a high school type habit only seven days after a flawless game against the Miami Dolphins?
Another theory was that certain rival coaches on AFC West teams had delivered top-secret tactics to the New York Giants staff. If so, why didn’t they help Don Shula a week before?
With such talk in the air, the Chargers logically should have promoted Tom Flick to starting quarterback for today’s game against the Washington Redskins. And Coach Don Coryell should have begged his old buddy, Joe Gibbs, who is now the Redskin coach, to disregard any defensive tactics they weren’t using back in 1964 at San Diego State.
It would be totally brainless to suppose the Charger offense will be adversely affected by all the conjecture, according to assistant head coach Al Saunders.
“We certainly didn’t play well at all, and we can’t afford to let it happen more than once or twice a year,” Saunders said. “But one poor performance isn’t going to create doubts in the minds of all our veteran offensive players.
“If there’s one thing that’s been characteristic of our offense, it’s been consistency through the years. Our players don’t get too high or too low, and I think they had collected their thoughts and were ready to go by the middle of the week. We may have been unusually good against Miami and unusually bad against New York, but I think the real Charger offense is somewhere in between . . . more toward Miami.”
The Chargers will be opposing a team that has opened its season impressively with victories over Philadelphia and the Raiders. The Redskins own an eight-game winning streak against AFC teams and have the league’s best road record since 1982.
The Redskins are one of only five teams against whom Fouts has not thrown for 300 yards or more in a game.
Assuming that Fouts is recovered from last week’s misbehavior, the key for the Chargers today will be limiting the effectiveness of Washington’s rushing attack.
The Redskins have won 26 straight games in which one of their backs gained at least 100 yards. Most recently, George Rogers got 104 yards in the season-opening victory over the Eagles.
Rogers is the focal point of the ground game because Kelvin Bryant will miss four to six weeks with a sprained knee.
“They are predominantly a running team, like New York, but their offense is better than the Giants because they do more with their system and their quarterback (Jay Schroeder),” Saunders said.
“Losing Bryant diminished them somewhat, but they are still a very formidable offense. Their running game is definitely a major concern.”
The San Diego defense, which ranks a respectable eighth in the league against the run, may derive some benefit from the new emphasis on rushing the passer, according to Saunders. The varied alignments of the Charger defense tend to create some confusion for opposing blockers, both against the run and against the pass, Saunders said.
It seems more likely that the Redskins will see some confusion in the Charger secondary, where rookie Donald Brown has replaced Danny Walters in the starting lineup. Walters is out for the season with a ruptured Achilles’ tendon. Brown will be backed up by Ken Taylor, signed this week, and John Hendy, whose knee finally seems to be mending.
The Chargers have another new starter, linebacker Gary Plummer, who replaces rookie Ty Allert, benched for not making enough plays last week.
“Our defense has been aggressive and effective in its penetration,” Saunders said. “We expected our defense to play well early in the year because other teams don’t know us yet. We’ve got 10 new faces now on defense, and they’re all playing with confidence.”
The Charger pass defense, however, has reclaimed its familiar No. 28 spot in the statistical rankings. If they could only get Schroeder to telegraph a few of his passes as a pay back for Fouts’ devilment last Sunday, the Chargers’ eighth straight home victory might be assured.