Chargers hope to avoid key shortcoming
The temperature is expected to be in the mid-20s for today’s divisional playoff game at Pittsburgh’s Heinz Field. For the San Diego Chargers, however, the forecast calls for hot, hot, hot.
Hot read after hot read, that is. Those are the adjustments a quarterback makes at the line of scrimmage when he gets a look at the defense. He sees an opportunity, designates the “hot” receiver, and hits him with a short pass or screen to neutralize a blitz.
The blitzing Pittsburgh Steelers see those all the time, and they will be especially wary of them in this game because of San Diego’s change at running back. The logic: Darren Sproles, the 5-foot-6, 181-pound understudy to LaDainian Tomlinson, could be a liability for the Chargers in pass protection because he will be blocking much bigger players. Tomlinson is 5-10, 221.
“I think that 21 is a better pass protector than 43,” said Pittsburgh defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau, referring to the jersey numbers of Tomlinson (21) and Sproles (43). “And they’ll probably be scheming ways to keep him off of that job. We would like a matchup between 43 and our 92 (linebacker James Harrison, the 6-foot, 242-pound NFL defensive player of the year), so they’re probably going to do the best they can to keep that from happening.
“But [Sproles] isn’t a complete zero at pass protecting. Guy that runs the ball as well as he does, he’s used to stepping up and hitting people. He’ll do a good job.”
In San Diego’s 11-10 loss at Pittsburgh eight weeks ago, the Chargers’ longest play was a short dump-off pass to Tomlinson for a 26-yard gain. The Steelers are anticipating a heaping portion of screens today, mostly to Sproles, because Tomlinson is hampered by a groin injury.
“We see it,” cornerback Deshea Townsend said of the common tactic of countering blitzes with screen passes. “A lot of times, they feel like they can figure out where we’re coming from. A lot of times when we send five [blitzing players], they don’t know which five are coming. If they can’t figure it out, they have to go hot. But if they don’t go hot, they’ve got to block it up with their O-line and their running back.
“Our thing is just to put you in third-and-long situations where we know we can send guys from different places. We have blitzes that come from the right, the left, where you don’t know if the nickel or the dime or the safety is coming.”
As a result, the San Diego offense is likely to nickel and dime its way down the field, relying more on tight end Antonio Gates and other underneath receivers than slow-developing plays such as deep passes.
Then again, it might be the Chargers who dictate the flow and pace of the game by stretching the field with their big receivers, players who were not as directly involved in the first-round playoff victory over Indianapolis.
Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers said he has no reservations about the ability of Sproles to excel in every aspect of his job.
“Previously he’s been the screen-draw guy, so you know certainly defenses are alert for that when he’s in there,” Rivers said. “The fact that he had (23) carries last week and will be more of an every-down-type back this week, you can’t play the screen every play. You can’t play the draw every play. I think he showed last week he can do it all, make every run and pass-protect and do it all.”
Truly, the Steelers don’t know for sure how good Sproles is as a pass blocker. They haven’t seen enough of him. Byron Leftwich, Pittsburgh’s backup quarterback, is never quick to dismiss the blocking abilities of a smaller player.
“The best blocking back I ever played with was Maurice Jones-Drew,” said Leftwich, whose former Jacksonville teammate is an inch taller and 27 pounds heavier than Sproles, and has a much more compact build. “Just because a guy’s small doesn’t mean he can’t do his job. They wouldn’t put [Sproles] out there on the field, out there with Philip Rivers and everybody, if he wasn’t capable of doing that.”
Leftwich called Jones-Drew, a former UCLA standout, a “great blocker.”
“I’ve seen a million linebackers come up to Maurice Jones-Drew and just look at him as if he’s small,” he said. “And I’ve seen him win nine out of 10 of those battles. The height means nothing in football, we all know that.
“It’s being a football player, determination. If you want to block that guy, you’re going to block that guy. You’re going to do whatever you can to block that guy.”
Steelers safety Troy Polamalu considers Jones-Drew the second-best blocking back in the NFL behind Washington’s Clinton Portis. Whether Sproles even approaches that level remains to be seen.
“We’ve seen him on third down,” Polamalu said. “They scat him a little bit and he blocks a little bit. But with the way we like to bring pressure, we’ll find out.”
The Steelers say the scariest thing about Sproles is he can disappear behind his hulking offensive linemen. But the Chargers trust he’ll be there when they need him.
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