If I were a San Diego Charger fan, I would be wondering today why it took my team almost three full quarters to give the ball to the best player on our team, LaDanian Tomlinson. Once Marty Schottenheimer decided this should be done, the Chargers cruised to a 32-25 victory over the Cleveland Browns yesterday. Of course, by this time, shouldn’t an odd coaching decision be called a "Schottenheimer"?
Tomlinson carried the ball just 7 times in the first half, and the Lightning Bolt offense struggled after a good opening drive. The Cleveland defense put pressure on Phillip Rivers, gave up the short pass, and totally bottled up San Diego, holding their offense to 3 points in the first 30 minutes. Does Browns’ defensive coordinator Todd Grantham do a great job of adjusting or what? The last two weeks, the Cleveland defense stopped the opponents after good opening drives. Add that to the fact he is constantly changing personnel due to injuries to key people. Yesterday for example, the brown and orange were missing Orpheous Roye, Willie McGinest, and lost Leigh Bodden early in the game.
When Marty decided to put the ball into LT’s hands, the running back dominated. A 10 yard game became a short pick up, as Tomlinson started picking up yards in chunks. He wound up averaging over 9 yards per carry. The Browns’ defense just could not stop him, and his three TD’s in the last 17 minutes of the game had to leave Charger fans scratching their heads.
On offense, Charlie Frye struggled. Frye injured his thumb in practice on Saturday, and probably missed some throws due to the injury. However, the thing that bothers me is his stubbornness in not getting rid of the ball. He is a competitor and his natural instinct is to try and make something out of nothing, but he also needs to realize when it is okay to take a sack or throw the ball away. I find myself sitting in my living room yelling "get rid of it" on repeated occasions.
I understand he made a great play to hit Joe Jurevicius off a scramble in the fourth quarter, and he only alluded one tackler on that play. On his fumble that resulted in a San Diego touchdown, he was running around for his life, dodging would be sackers until he put the ball on the ground. That’s a play where he should have chucked the ball into the stands after getting by the first tackler. The same thing happened in the third quarter, but Frye’s fumble was nullified by a penalty.
Frye is a young quarterback and he’s going to make mistakes. Heck, he’s started about 10 games in the NFL. What bothers me is that he’s not learning from those mistakes. Yes, he’s operating behind a sieve for an offensive line. Yes, his receivers drop balls at times. But, please Charlie, you have to take these prior experiences and apply them the following week. Maybe if Cleveland employed a veteran back up QB, the learning curve would be accelerated.
On the bright side, the Brownies once again played a competitive game against a probable playoff team. Four of the team’s six losses have been against teams that are currently 6-2 (Saints, Ravens, Broncos, and Chargers). That’s not an excuse, just an explanation of how tough the slate has been so far. And of course, it doesn’t get any easier next week when they play the Falcons and Michael Vick. Atlanta leads the NFL in rushing. Hopefully, Crennel and Grantham’s defense will be up to the challenge.
JD
Cleveland Sports Perspective 