Charger Defense Stops Run, Not Scoring

The Chargers’ defensive game plan worked. They snuffed Barry Foster, the NFL’s leading rusher, limiting him to 36 yards in 21 carries. He had an average of 148.5 yards in his first two games, but his long gain Sunday was eight yards.

But guess what?

None of it mattered. The Chargers still lost, 23-6 to Pittsburgh, and the defense had to be content with moral victories.

“Defensively, we still didn’t the job done,” linebacker Gary Plummer said. “People are going to say, ‘You guys shut down their run,’ but they scored more points than we did.”

People are also going to say the Chargers’ zone defense was carved up by Pittsburgh quarterback Neil O’Donnell, who completed 17 of 24 passes for 215 yards and two touchdowns.

Charger cornerback Gill Byrd said O’Donnell, fifth in AFC passing efficiency, simply took what the Chargers gave him.

“We gave up some big plays in the aerial attack,” Byrd said, “But that’s what we wanted to do: cause O’Donnell to throw the ball. We felt our chances were better by him throwing the ball than by them stacking the running game.”

“He showed that he is a excellent quarterback. He rose to the challenge. He had an exceptional day throwing the ball.”

And what of the Charger zone defense?

“(The Steelers) found the creases and the seams in the zone,” Byrd said. “We have to get better vision in knowing where we may be weak and where teams are going to take advantage of us.”

Richard said the Steelers took advantage of the defense on third down, when they converted five of 13 opportunities.

“It’s important as a defense that we go out there and win on third down,” Richard said. “Get out of there and give our offense a chance to score some points. Today, we didn’t win that.”

The defense isn’t winning the battle of big plays either. They had an interception by Donald Frank and a fumble recovery by Byrd, but neither resulted in points. After three games, the Charger defense has created four turnovers, two fumbles and two interceptions. The offense has given the ball away eight times.

By comparison, Pittsburgh’s defense has come up with 15 turnovers, 12 on interceptions. The Steelers picked off three passes Sunday.

“We’re getting turnovers here and there, but they’re not impact plays,” Byrd said. “They’re not happening at the right time.”

Byrd and linebacker Henry Rolling appeared to make a key play in the third quarter. Rolling stripped Foster of the ball and Byrd recovered at the Pittsburgh 38. But the Charger offense did not pick up the defense. After five plays, John Carney’s 25-yard field-goal attempt sailed wide and Byrd’s fumble recovery became meaningless.

Nothing new there, however. The Charger offense hasn’t taken advantage of much this season. In three games, the offense has two touchdowns.

“It’s tough, but it’s nothing that we haven’t been through before in San Diego,” linebacker Gary Plummer said. “We’ve persevered in the past and overcome that adversity. Guys on the defense have to make a few more big plays.

“(The offense) is struggling right now. There might be a few times where we’re struggling and they can help us out. It’s a team proposition.”

Maybe if the defense produced a shutout the Chargers could win?

“We go out there looking for a shutout,” said linebacker Junior Seau, who led the Chargers with eight tackles. “We didn’t get it today and we’re going to have to keep on trying.”

At least they shut down Foster.

“We came in knowing we had to stop him,” Seau said. “I don’t know how good we did, but we lost, so it obviously wasn’t a great performance for our defense.”