Chargers: A Score or Two May Do It
Once upon a time they used to advertise football games featuring a great offense against a great defense as “the irresistible force vs. the immovable object.”
When a lousy offense faced a lousy defense, the wags would turn it upside down and bill it as “the resistible force vs. the movable object.”
Today’s game between the Steelers and the Chargers at Three Rivers Stadium is “the resistible force vs. the even-more resistible force.”
The Charger offense has gained fewer yards than any team in the NFL this yearexcept Pittsburgh, a team that has also scored the league’s fewest points. The Charger offense has scored seven touchdowns in its past six games. The Steeler offense has produced one touchdown in the past nine quarters.
This is a game between two 4-6 teams that appear to be going nowhere. The Steelers appear to be getting there faster.
Three of the four shutouts in the NFL’s 140 games this year have been at the expense of the Steeler offense. Last week, Chicago beat the Steelers, 20-0, taking the ball away six times, and prompting Steve Hubbard of the Pittsburgh Press to write: “The only object on earth whitewashed more often than the Steelers’ offense is the graffiti on New York’s subways.”
“I just wish I could play, ‘I Dream of Jeannie’ and flip all this stuff out of the way,” said Tim Worley, Pittsburgh’s rookie running back.
“Right now, everything’s going backward,” said Steeler defensive back Rod Woodson. “Everything’s going the wrong way.”
And it doesn’t figure to turn around for the Pittsburgh offense against the Chargers, whose defense has allowed the fewest points in the league the past eight weeks (111). That’s fewer than 14 points per game.
The Chargers have won two consecutive games--upset victories over Philadelphia and the Raiders. But Coach Dan Henning admitted last Monday it’s more important for his offense not to “screw it up” for the defense than it is to score touchdowns.
“It’s been a bumpy road,” says Charger guard David Richards. “You can win more games playing great defense than great offense. But we need to carry our share of the load.”
Several weeks ago, Charger linebacker Gary Plummer, the team’s leading tackler, told quarterback Jim McMahon that “all we need is 20 points a week.”
If the Chargers had scored just 20 points in each of their 10 games this year, their record would be 7-2-1 and they would be in first place in the AFC West (one of those victories would have been against Denver, which would have dropped the 8-2 Broncos to 7-3).
Oddly enough, the last time the Chargers played in Three Rivers Stadium it was “the movable object vs. the even-more movable object.”
The two teams combined for 867 yards of offense. But the Chargers turned the ball over five times, quarterback Dan Fouts left the game early, and they lost, 52-24.
Pittsburgh’s quarterback that day was Mark Malone, who completed 18 of 22 passes for 253 yards and four touchdowns. Malone wound up being traded to the Chargers before the 1988 season, and he failed miserably as Fouts’ successor. Now the Chargers find themselves with McMahon, who has the birth certificate of a 30-year-old, the body of a 50-year-old and the sense of humor of a three-year-old.
Speaking of youth, Charger rookie Burt Grossman bruised the egos of several Steelers this week when he alternately ripped Worley, former Pitt teammates Tom Ricketts and Jerry Olsavsky and the Steeler personnel department.
Those remarks, his own team’s inconsistency on offense and the fact that two of Pittsburgh’s four victories have come against Super Bowl contenders--Cleveland and Minnesota--have Henning worried.
Henning is a good worrier. He got a lot of practice in Atlanta while coaching four seasons for the Rankin Smith family. The Smiths own the hapless Falcons and are referred to in impolite Atlanta society as “The Clampetts,” a comparison that reflects poorly on Uncle Jed, Granny, Jethro and Elly May of the “Beverly Hillbillies.”
Henning is also worried about the artificial turf at Three Rivers Stadium. He says it is “old and slick.” It is only the second game off natural grass for the Chargers this year.
This is also the first of four road games in five weeks for the Chargers, a team that is 3-3 at home and 1-3 on the road.
Grossman aside, the Chargers would like to enter quietly, win easily and sneak out of town before the winter arrives or the artificial turf gets any slicker.
“They (the Steelers) will definitely use what Burt said to motivate their players and fans,” Richards says. “It’s difficult enough to play in that stadium. My motto is: Praise ‘em, play ‘em, and praise ‘em after you play ‘em.”
Charger Notes
Running back Tim Worley, the Steelers’ No. 1 draft choice, is the team’s second-leading rusher with 300 yards on 91 carries. He is unhappy he isn’t getting the ball more. “I’ve never known a back worth his salt who didn’t want the ball more,” says Charger Coach Dan Henning. . . . Charger cornerback Gill Byrd is tied for the AFC lead with five interceptions. Defensive end Leslie O’Neal leads the conference in sacks with 10.5. . . . The Chargers have outscored opponents, 67-46, in the fourth quarter this year. Opponents have outscored them, 59-13, in the second quarter. . . . The Steelers have been held under 100 yards rushing seven times in 10 games.