Chargers Are What Broncos Ordered : Laufenberg Pulled Early in 34-3 Loss
One local newspaper bannered the Chargers’ Saturday arrival here with a headline that read: “Chargers Arrive at Perfect Time.”
The story referred to the Chargers as a “sunny bouquet from the land of the lotus flower” and a “get-well card” for the Denver Broncos.
This is the sort of inflammatory prose usually guaranteed to incite underdogs and infuriate visiting teams. But Sunday afternoon in Mile High Stadium, the Chargers couldn’t even live up to their own shameful clippings.
They allowed the Broncos to dominate them in every phase of the game. And, surprise, they lost, 34-3.
“It just wasn’t real pretty,” said David Richards, the rookie right tackle who was one of eight newly placed starters in the Charger offense. “And it wasn’t much fun.”
Hard to have fun when you’re 0-2, and your offense has scored a touchdown in eight quarters. Harder still when your starting quarterback completes only 2 of 8 passes for five yards and finds himself on the bench less than five minutes into the second period.
(Wait a minute. Weren’t those George Plimpton’s stats in “Paper Lion”?)
Anyway, the Chargers weren’t a get-well card for Denver (1-1) so much as they were a panacea.
They are, after all, a team that has scored only eight offensive touchdowns in the past 10 games. And they are a team that hasn’t sent a running back across the goal line on a running play in 20 quarters.
Worse for the Chargers, they now own the NFL’s longest regular-season losing streak at eight games. The Buccaneers had held a firm grip on this dubious honor (nine) before they upset the Packers Sunday in the Battle of the Bays.
Call this one: The Sigh at Mile High.
The Broncos scored midway through the first quarter on a 44-yard pass from John Elway (17 of 28 for 259 yards) to Mark Jackson, who had left Charger cornerback Gill Byrd looking for his athletic supporter.
Soon it was 10-0 on a 51-yard field goal by Rich Karlis. And the Chargers were finding it harder and harder to stop running back Tony Dorsett, the former Cowboy.
Dorsett, at 34, had been desultory the week before, gaining only 32 yards in 9 carries in the Broncos’ 21-14 opening loss at home to Seattle.
Against the Chargers, he had squirreled away 81 yards in 14 carries by halftime. That total included a 21-yard burst around right end that caught a man-to-man Charger secondary short on run support and provided Denver with a 24-3 halftime lead.
Dorsett finished with 113 yards in 23 carries to dart past Franco Harris and into third place on the all-time NFL career rushing list.
“When I catch Jim Brown, I’ll be a happy man,” said Dorsett, who has now rushed for 100 yards or more in the NFL 47 times.
Walter Payton is a distant first in the career standings at 16,726 yards. Brown ranks second at 12,312. Dorsett’s total: 12,181.
All of which stands in sad contrast to the Charger offense, which produced 244 total yards and boasted nobody with more than 35 yards rushing.
Curtis Adams reached that in 6 carries. Lionel James, described by Saunders as a “situational” player, tied for second on the team with relief quarterback Mark Malone at 29 yards.
Starting tailback Gary Anderson accumulated 16 yards in 9 tries to bring his two-week total to 54 yards in 23 carries (2.3-yard average). More significantly, Anderson did not carry the ball once in the second half.
James led all Charger receivers with 5 catches for 51 yards. Rookie No. 1 pick Anthony Miller caught 1 pass for 7 yards. Rookie No. 3 pick Quinn Early caught 2 for 11.
“We’ve got a ways to go,” Charger Coach Al Saunders said.
Much like the guy who wants to wind-surf to Hawaii.
Saunders replaced starting quarterback Babe Laufenberg with Malone after Laufenberg threw an interception to Denver cornerback Jeremiah Castille on the first series of the second period.
“I felt it coming,” Laufenberg said of the relatively quick hook.
Malone finished with 11 completions in 22 attempts for 115 yards. But he did little to capture Saunders’ confidence with regard to who will start against Seattle (2-0) Sunday in San Diego.
“We haven’t thought about who our starting quarterback will be next week,” Saunders said. “We’ll take next week when next week comes.”
Malone isn’t counting on anything. “I’m happy to play,” he said. “And I came here to play. But not too many things surprise me in this game.”
The Chargers’ only points came on a 20-yard field goal by Vince Abbott with 5:30 to play in the second quarter.
They wasted an excellent scoring opportunity late in the half when they drove from their own 20 to the Denver five with 52 seconds remaining. On fourth and four, they tried an inside handoff James, who was supposed to sweep right.
James cut back inside instead and gained only three yards. This failure dashed whatever small hope the Chargers had harbored to that point.
“The play was designed to go outside,” Richards said.
“There was a lot of pursuit,” James said. “The defense was overflowing to the outside, and as a runner I just reacted.”
“It looked like the lane was there to the outside,” Saunders said.
Gerald Willhite’s one-yard dive accounted for Denver’s other first-half touchdown.
The second half was little more than a scrimmage. Elway found Vance Johnson wide open for a 24-yard third-period touchdown. And Karlis added a 38-yarder in the final quarter.
The Charger defense allowed the Broncos to score five times from outside the 20-yard line. And it got credit for its one sack only when Elway ran out of bounds at the line of scrimmage.
Besides allowing 443 yards, the Charger defense intercepted no passes for the second consecutive week and recovered no fumbles. And so it goes for a team that doesn’t know when its two best linebackers--Billy Ray Smith (calf injury) and Chip Banks (holdout) will play again.
The offense that was 0-9 on third and five or longer in last week’s 24-13 loss to the Raiders, was 0 for its first 9 third-down attempts from any distance against the Broncos.
“There’s something wrong with you if you aren’t upset with losing,” said inside linebacker Chuck Faucette, who led the Chargers in tackles (seven) for the second consecutive week.
“San Diego is a young team, and they play very hard,” said Denver Coach Dan Reeves, damning the Chargers with the faintest praise.
The worst Charger injury was to backup free safety Pat Miller, who tore medial collateral ligaments in his left knee. Miller, whose value to the special teams is hard to underrate, will almost certainly miss the rest of the season.
The wheels haven’t fallen off the Chargers quite yet. But they are clearly a team on the verge of losing what little sense of direction they have.
What’s the solution?
“That’s a good question,” Laufenberg said. “I really don’t have the answer.”
Right now, neither does anybody else.
NEW NO. 3 RUSHER
Player Yrs. Att. Yards Walter Payton 13 3,838 16,726 Jim Brown 9 2,359 12,312 Tony Dorsett 12 2,787 12,181 Franco Harris 13 2,949 12,120 John Riggins 14 2,916 11,352