The play is known as “50 Power,” and its concept is as straightforward as LaDainian Tomlinson is slippery.
Hand the ball to LT and give him an escort of big bodies. Clear out the left side of the line of scrimmage and let him pick a path between his blockers. Give him a glimpse of daylight and try not to get in his way.
“It's a play,” Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers said yesterday, “we can run in our sleep.”
Pro football is a game of repetition, and few men have ever played it with the monotonous efficiency of LaDainian Tomlinson. The last of his three touchdowns yesterday – the 7-yard product of “50 Power” – was his 29th of the season. This was one more than Shaun Alexander's year-old NFL record, an astonishing feat with three games remaining on the schedule.
What's more, when his latest rendezvous with the record book arrived late in yesterday's 48-20 thumping of the Denver Broncos, Tomlinson was able to find a sliver of paydirt when everyone at Qualcomm Stadium could have predicted what was coming.
Tomlinson could run “50 Power” in his sleep with every confidence of a sweet dream.
Awaiting the huddle preceding yesterday's landmark touchdown, Chargers fullback Lorenzo Neal raised and lowered his right arm as if conducting the crowd chanting Tomlinson's initials. Rivers looked around, sensed that the spectators were all standing, and thought, “ 'You may never be part of something like (this) again.' ”
Though they were minutes away from clinching a playoff spot and celebrating a division title, the Chargers recognized that this day would be remembered mainly for one individual's achievement, the dude coach Marty Schottenheimer has designated as “the finest running back ever to wear a uniform.”
Historic stuff. Center Nick Hardwick turned toward guard Mike Goff and reminded him that his upcoming block could be on the highlight films in perpetuity.
“So I was like, 'OK, Mike, make sure you don't screw this up. Make sure you get this done,' ” Goff said. “No pressure or anything.”
Tomlinson told his teammates that if he were able to reach the end zone, he wanted all of them to join him there, a request Rivers repeated at a higher, twangier pitch. Both of them had run “50 Power” enough to appreciate its possibilities.
“I could have guessed that was the play we were going to call,” Tomlinson said, “because that's Marty's favorite play. . . . I love the play because it's obviously been good to me over the years. I've gained a lot of yards on that play.”
As diagrammed in the Chargers' playbook, Tomlinson is supposed to turn the corner and cut inside when the opportunity arises on “50 Power,” but he has earned the latitude to improvise. This time, he chose to chart a wider course, testing the suspect tackling of Denver cornerback Darrent Williams. Williams tried to take Tomlinson down at the ankles, and was trampled.
“Usually, what the coaching staff tells me (is) if I go out there, I'm on my own,” Tomlinson said. “I knew I was on my own, (and) I went out there. Sometimes, it's the chance you take, the risk you take. I just felt like there was no way that I could let Darrent tackle me when, you know, Darrent is a great corner, but he's only 160-170 pounds.”
For an athlete of his stature, Tomlinson is remarkably unassuming, but he is not oblivious to his own talent. He expects to make guys miss, and he chooses his cuts accordingly. He might not win a footrace with the fastest men in football, but he's the guy you would want in an agility drill or on a balance beam.
Tomlinson scored his second touchdown yesterday – the one that tied Alexander – while pushing backward through a pile at the goal line. Because it happened with only 3:57 left to play, some spectators took this as a cue to make for the exits.
Yet two plays following the subsequent kickoff, Chargers linebacker Shawne Merriman sent fans scrambling back to their seats by forcing and recovering the fumble that afforded Tomlinson an encore.
“I turned into a cheerleader for about 12 seconds,” Merriman said. “I was hoping that he just got the ball across (the goal line), but he just walked in.”
Denver's Domonique Foxworth tried to push Tomlinson out of bounds before he reached the pylon in the south corner of the west end zone, but his lunge was too late. Then Tomlinson turned around and motioned to his teammates to give him company. Soon, he was hoisted on their shoulders, the record football raised high for all to see.
Beneath him, the big bodies felt buoyant.
“He is a king, and he should be treated like one,” Chargers guard Kris Dielman said. “That is what a king gets when he is the best.”
Tim Sullivan: (619) 293-1033; tim.sullivan@uniontrib.com
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