It Was a ’70 Blast’: For Just an Instant, Chargers Got It Right

SAN DIEGO — It was the perfect play, an NFL rarity, in what is rapidly becoming a highly imperfect season for the Chargers. It was one of only three touchdowns scored by the Charger offense in the past three games, all losses. And it came against a Denver defense that was ranked No. 1 in the NFL against the rush at the time.

When 248-pound fullback Marion Butts roared through a huge hole between left guard and left tackle three Sundays ago, the Chargers suddenly led the heavily favored Broncos early in the third period. The two-yard run and subsequent extra point gave the Chargers a 10-6 lead. It was their first offensive touchdown in Denver since 1985.

Lost fumbles and mental lapses eventually cost the Chargers that game. Injuries and an avalanche of more penalties and more mental breakdowns have been methodically dismantling their offensive continuity ever since.

But, as the song in Camelot goes, “for one shining moment . . . “ there was a glimpse of how bright the future might be for a team that three weeks later finds itself embarking on the trauma of changing starting quarterbacks.

“The hole on that play was so big, I thought I was going to fall down,” Butts said. “Even if I had fallen down, I still would have scored.”

Quarterback Jim McMahon, who had the best view of anybody, held his hands high above his head, signaling a touchdown, immediately after tucking the ball into Butts’ gut.

“That play went exactly as it was diagrammed on the board,” Charger Coach Dan Henning said. “When I see a guy go in clean like that, I know exactly what happened.”

“I can’t remember us running a better play all year,” said left guard Broderick Thompson, who threw one of four key blocks.

“Those are the kinds of things we have to take out of a game like that, leave our mistakes behind and carry our positive experiences along with us,” said right tackle Brett Miller.”

“Essentially,” said left tackle Joel Patten, “that play was textbook. It was fun to be in on.”

“It probably would have been a lot more fun if we had won,” fullback Tim Spencer said.

The name of the play: “70 Blast.”

Henning resurrected it for Denver because he remembered how well it had worked against the Broncos for his Falcons when he coached in Atlanta. In studying film, he had noticed Denver was playing a goal-line defense similar to the one it played under Joe Collier, the Broncos’ defensive coordinator last year.

The Broncos subsequently replaced Collier with Wade Phillips, former Philadelphia defensive coordinator. But apparently Phillips didn’t change everything.

“I don’t ever remember seeing Wade do that in Philadelphia films,” Henning said.

What the spectators saw was Butts scoring easily. It was such a quick-hitting play that it was almost impossible to notice its subtleties.

Television viewers were reminded by play-by-play announcer Jay Randolph that the touchdown was Butts’ sixth of the year. “A half dozen, cousin,” Randolph said.

Even the first replay didn’t provide enough exposure to the complexity of the blocking scheme to give anybody a chance to explore all the things that went right for the Chargers on the play. Color commentator Joe Namath correctly credited Spencer for his block on right outside linebacker Simon Fletcher. And Namath also noted the block Patten executed against right defensive end Ron Holmes.

Nobody but his coaches and teammates ever gave Thompson credit for the “skin” block he used to wall right inside linebacker Karl Mecklenburg away from Butts’ path. And nobody but the coaches understood the importance of the “exchange” call made in the huddle that reversed the blocking assignments of Spencer and tight end Arthur Cox, who was lined up on the left side in the Chargers’ goal-line offense.

Normally Cox would fire out after Fletcher, and Spencer would block Dennis Smith, the smaller man at strong safety. But film study had showed Henning that Denver’s tendency was to cover Cox with Smith. That meant Cox would be able to block Smith outside.

When Charger H-back Rod Bernstine went in motion, from left to right, before the snap, that cleared Denver free safety Steve Atwater from the point of attack. All of which meant there would be less clutter for Spencer to execute his one-on-one block against Fletcher, who entered the game as the league’s leading sacker.

Denver’s mistake was lining up the force man, Smith, outside of Cox. It made Cox’s assignment relatively easy. And, said Henning, “It softened the area that Timmy has to block while opening the cavity for Broderick (Thompson).”

“It’s real nice to run a play the way you draw it up,” Spencer said. “It seldom happens like that.”

“We got a hat on a hat,” said Cox, using the in-vogue football vernacular to describe the opportunity offensive coaches search for to get one-on-one blocking match-ups across the board.

On the right side, guard David Richards fired out and got a piece of left outside linebacker Michael Brooks, while tackle Miller and right side tight end Joe Caravello moved left to prevent any penetration from the Denver weak side.

As effective as the blocks by Cox, Spencer and Patten were, the work of Thompson and rookie center Courtney Hall was equally important.

On the snap, Hall lunged low and knocked Denver nose tackle Andre Townsend off balance just long enough to show Thompson he didn’t have to worry about helping Hall with Townsend. The fact that Townsend had been switched from defensive end to nose tackle the week of the game because of an injury to Greg Kragen, the regular nose man, may have been a factor.

As soon as Thompson read the effectiveness of Hall’s block, he pulled left and looped around the back side of Patten to execute his “skin” block.

There is very little margin for error on a skin block. But when executed properly, it gives the left guard an opportunity to set and get a square block on the right inside linebacker. In this case, Thompson “skinned” off Patten so well and so tightly that Mecklenburg didn’t even see Thompson until it was too late.

Moreover, Townsend, now back on balance and moving to his right, got caught up in the “trash” caused by the collision between Thompson and Mecklenburg. That effectively walled him off from Butts.

In football jargon, Thompson explained it this way: “The key is to get around Joel as tightly as possible. But I have to read it on the move because either the outside linebacker (Fletcher) is pinching inside of the tight end (Cox), and I have to read that, or the outside linebacker reads out. I just have to read that on the run.”

Henning: “Broderick reads with the center. If the center can cut off the man over Broderick (Townsend), then Broderick has the liberty to make the call and go around. But if they read that guy in the gap there (Townsend), and they think he’s coming out, then Broderick and the center have to move him, and it’s not as good a play. In this case, Courtney made a swap call--I’m taking yours, he’s going outside, he’s not going to get penetration, you can go skin.”

Unless you have a PhD in football’s linguistics, you may have gotten bogged down with all this by now. But that’s precisely the point. There’s a whole game within a game played inside the ends on every play. And the complexity of it is one of the reasons teams practice five days a week, conduct mini-camps, rookie camps and voluntary off-season workouts.

Larry Beightol, the Charger offensive line coach, wishes every play worked the way 70 Blast did against Denver. Patten says Rod Bernstine’s 32-yard touchdown run against Kansas City, the team’s second-longest of the year, was close to perfect.

And Beightol says Butts’ 23-yard gain tothe Phoenix one was another example of team execution. He’s watched it time and again on film and insists he still hasn’t seen the holding they called on guard David Richards.

That, Beightol says, is the difference between offense and defense. Several players can err on defense on any one play. But if a Lawrence Taylor or a Reggie White or a Leslie O’Neal makes a great play, the other mistakes are forgotten. On offense, he says, 10 players can carry out their assignments perfectly. But one man can ruin an offensive play.

“We’ve had more than our fair share of plays that haven’t been perfect,” Beightol says. “To be a good offensive football team, we have to have a lot more perfect execution. That’s where we are right now.”

With rookie Billy Joe Tolliver scheduled to make his first NFL start in the noisy Seattle Kingdome Sunday, it will be even more important for the Chargers to do things as they are diagrammed.

Two weeks ago at home, the Chargers allowed the Seahawks to block an extra point and a field goal attempt in the fourth quarter of a game they lost, 17-16. Special teams coach Joe Madden did not diagram those failures on his chalk board.

“We have to learn from our mistakes and try to leave them behind,” Miller says. “And we have to learn from our positive experiences and carry them along with us.”

Charger Notes

More bad news for the Chargers Thursday on H-back Rod Bernstine. Bernstine underwent arthroscopic surgery Thursday to repair a small cartilage tear in his left knee and was walking around comfortably after team physician Gary Losse performed the operation. But Charger Coach Dan Henning said he isn’t sure when Bernstine will be able to return. If the Chargers place Bernstine on injured reserve, he must miss at least six games. “I don’t think so,” Henning said when asked if Bernstine was a candidate for IR. Bernstine was awake and lucid during the arthroscopic procedure. “I even watched it,” he said. Bernstine injured the knee Oct. 8 in Denver. Going into that game, he was the Chargers’ leading receiver and second-leading rusher. He has not played since. Asked why the Chargers didn’t decide to operate earlier, Bernstine said, “I don’t know.” . . . Also ailing is backup tackle Joey Howard with a painful Achilles tendon. Howard is not listed on the weekly injury report. Regular left tackle Joel Patten feels as if he can play Sunday in Seattle, according to Henning. “But we’re going to be very cautious about it,” Henning said. . . . Henning on new NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue: “I don’t know much about him, but I’m glad he’s been in the NFL.”