ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. – Perhaps it was helium that took all the air out of the San Diego Chargers.
Three balloons became entangled in some NYSEG power lines yesterday, beginning a series of power outages and clock malfunctions during a football game at Ralph Wilson Stadium and sapping some juice from the participating players.
“It definitely affected our timing,” Chargers linebacker Matt Wilhelm said, “because pressuring them was a big part of our game plan.”
Without a dependable play clock, Wilhelm explained, the Chargers had difficulty disguising the blitzes they had devised for Buffalo quarterback Trent Edwards. This cost them the element of surprise – one element you won't find on the periodic table – and some of their capability to confuse.
Intermittent electricity did not cost the Chargers their 23-14 loss to the Buffalo Bills – the outages were temporary; larger issues have been lingering – but the symbolism was certainly striking. The Bolts are a team beset by power issues; by an unreliable running game and an unthreatening pass rush.
Offensively, they are all finesse and no force, an aerial circus absent a balancing act on the ground. Defensively, they are all react and no attack, unable to apply consistent pressure on the quarterback and, as a consequence, consistently picked apart. Overall, they are 3-4 and off to London in the face of daunting head winds.
Much of this relates to the compromised condition of sore-toed running back LaDainian Tomlinson and the absence of rehabbing linebacker Shawne Merriman – when whole, the best players at their positions. None of it augurs well for a team generally acknowledged to be among the most talented in pro football. Some of it might be fixed, but the issues are fundamental and the answers have been invisible.
To borrow a phrase from Cole Porter, the Chargers are starting to suggest “a toy balloon that's fated soon to pop.” Based on their recent results, though, that balloon may not be filled with helium, which won't burn, but hydrogen, which certainly will.
Like the Hindenburg.
“I think that we're at a point where there's no more talk of a slow start,” said defensive end Luis Castillo. “We're seven games into this thing and, at some point, if we want to be the team that we believe we can be, we have to start playing that way.”
Week after week, the Chargers keep saying their solutions are already on site; that it's merely a matter of better gap control or surer tackling or some basic adjustments that can always be improved or corrected.
But the evidence continues to suggest that the primary problem is personnel, and that's a tough problem to tackle now that the trading deadline has passed.
It's no accident that the injured Tomlinson has lost more than 1 yard per carry from last season (he toted 14 times for 41 yards yesterday), and it's no coincidence that the Chargers' defense has spent a disproportionate amount of time on the field.
Though the Bolts remain one of the NFL's most potent offenses, they have allowed opponents more possession time in six of their seven games. Yesterday, the difference was dramatic: 35:29-24:31. The inability to grind it out on the ground creates all kinds of collateral damage.
Neither is it an accident that the Chargers already ranked 31st in passing yards allowed before Edwards shredded them yesterday, and it's no coincidence that they have been operating for six games without the most formidable pass rusher in football – the guy who is known as “Lights Out” even when the power's on.
“Obviously we're trying to create some pass rush,” Chargers coach Norv Turner said. “A lot of pass rush, people think it's scheme; certainly it is. We're trying to create scheme. We did a lot of different things, but ultimately, someone has to beat someone. And that's what we're trying to get done.”
Suffice it to say that whatever Turner is trying is not getting done. Yesterday's stat sheet showed the Chargers with no sacks, no quarterback “hits” and Buffalo's Edwards with 25 pass completions in 30 attempts.
“The most important part was I wasn't taking hits,” Edwards said. “As a quarterback, you feel more and more comfortable throughout the game and the game starts to slow down a little bit when you are not getting knocked down by Castillo, Igor Olshansky and Shaun Phillips.”
Since Merriman won't be back before the season ends, the key to the Chargers' salvage efforts will be keeping their defense sufficiently fresh to apply more consistent pressure; a goal that could be predicated on the condition of Tomlinson's toe.
“Right now, the Chargers are a work in progress,” Mike Ditka said on ESPN's “Sunday NFL Countdown” show. “What they do, they do well, when they do it. . . . I think the whole key to them is LT, and they haven't gotten him on track.”
Tomlinson is the player most capable of powering the Chargers toward the playoffs, but so far this season, he's been suffocating.
Like a balloon, he needs air to function effectively, and enough space to avoid the lines.
Tim Sullivan: (619) 293-1033; tim.sullivan@uniontrib.com
