Ryan Mathews, 1000 Yard Season

[Panama]

Not to take anything away from him (he's really turned it around these last 8 games ) but he does have a game up on the other RBs on that list.

Except for Moreno.

And the only person trailing him on that list with a realistic chance of catching him this weekend is Gore.

[Beerman]

When Mathews has to read blocks, and especially wait for them to develop, he is not very good. He is a prototypical zone runner. He makes one quick read and goes.

One thing lost on last night, if we can make it to the playoffs, a game or two like this for Rivers is almost like getting a night off in terms of getting hit. And I can think of a better guy than a franchise QB having a career year to get a little extra rest so that he can be extra sharp.

Oh, and didn't Rivers pass 4000 yds for the season last night?

That, IMO, is by far the biggest difference I've seen in him this season. No more dancing behind the line having to think where to go. Get up the damn field and hit someone in the mouth doing it.

I'm glad someone finally adjusted to suit Matthews strengths.

[richpjr]

That, IMO, is by far the biggest difference I've seen in him this season. No more dancing behind the line having to think where to go. Get up the damn field and hit someone in the mouth doing it.

I'm glad someone finally adjusted to suit Matthews strengths.

Clearly he is much more comfortable with this offense than Norv's, but one reason for less dancing is that there are a lot more actual holes to hit this year than last year.

[thelightningwill]

I live between a couple cacti and scorpions. I'm pretty sure the trailer over there is where blue meth was invented.

Mathews rules.

[Boltjolt]

I did have a place in Lone Tree. Our neighbor there is a student at that school.

This is now the 3rd lockdown my kids have been through. First one freaked em out pretty bad. Different world

From some programs ive seen over the years, Denver and Colorado Springs arent exactly great places for schools. Seems there is a lot of chaos there.A real lack of disiplined kids. There was a 20/20 ...or that type of program on it years ago.

[oneinchpunch]

I have to admit, I’m kind of annoyed with myself. When I was submitting my picks for the weekly PFF Pick’ems this game felt like one the Chargers could win. When the game was approaching last night I had a conversation on Twitter about how this game felt like it had the potential for a Denver slip-up. I used naughty words in the tweet otherwise I’d post it here in the article for proof, but the bottom line is I didn’t have the spirit to follow my gut and pick up a game over everybody else in the Pick-em!

So how did the Chargers overcome what is objectively a much better side in the form of Denver? It certainly wasn’t through pressure, with the Chargers upsetting Manning in the pocket on just seven snaps (though one of them did lead to an interception), instead they did it by limiting the damage Manning could do and chewing up great tranches of game time with their running game. Ryan Matthews had 127 hard earned rushing yards from his 29 attempts and overall the Chargers had 41 designed rushing attempts (not counting the two kneel downs by Rivers to see out the game or his lone scramble). They notched 166 rushing yards on those attempts but the important thing is what it did to the time of possession. I’m not normally a big fan of time of possession as a statistic – I’ve seen games where the side with the ball for just 25% of the time is sitting at that level because they’ve scored almost instantly four times and has a two-score lead – but in some cases it is indicative of a well-formed gameplan.

The Chargers had the ball almost twice as long as Denver. 38:49 to 21:11 in time of possession, and the key part of that is that Peyton Manning had the ball in his possession for just a third of the game.

The interesting thing about this success is that the San Diego line didn’t run block particularly well. King Dunlap earned a +2.1 grade for run blocking but the other four starters were all in negative figures and that slack wasn’t picked up by the TE’s or lead blocking. Matthews (primarily), Brown and Woodhead had to do most of the heavy lifting themselves.

The first play the Chargers ran shows perfectly how they achieved their ground success.

San Diego intended to run off LT King Dunlap on the play. Antonio Gates aligned at TE on that side of the field is going to run off into the secondary rather than block the man closest to him. He is going to take a wide release with the hope of drawing the OLB, Von Miller, with him and away from the point of attack. As it happens, Miller didn’t buy it so Gates just went for the first man he encountered in the secondary, eventually just dithering in front of him as the run arrived. Miller was actually accounted for in the blocking scheme elsewhere by the pull block of the second TE, Ladarius Green. The idea is that Green will kick out Miller and Dunlap would down-block on Malik Jackson to create the hole.

Initially all looked well, but Miller knifed across Green’s block and Jackson shed Dunlap pretty quickly. In addition to that, center Nick Hardwick was too slow getting to the second level so ILB Paris Lenon completes a trio of defenders blocking the hole. Miller crashing inside his block though has blown outside contain, and Matthews sees the new gap emerge.

In the process of making a hard cut to the outside Matthews was able to execute a solid stiff-arm to Jackson and break out of the dead-end he had been heading down. This was a play that should have been dead on arrival at the point of attack but Matthews was able to overcome the blocking to break contain and turn a run that should have got nothing into nearly a 20-yard gain. This not only moved the chains, but improved field position and kept the clock moving, all key things for the Chargers in this game, especially being down 7-0 already by the time they received the ball.

[oneinchpunch]

From some programs ive seen over the years, Denver and Colorado Springs arent exactly great places for schools. Seems there is a lot of chaos there.A real lack of disiplined kids. There was a 20/20 ...or that type of program on it years ago.

The schools are actually great in the Denver metro area. It one of the main reasons we moved here. The school where yesterday's shooting took place is a really good public school. I just don't see my kids being in public school at that age.

[Boltjolt]

The schools are actually great in the Denver metro area. It one of the main reasons we moved here. The school where yesterday's shooting took place is a really good public school. I just don't see my kids being in public school at that age.

I don't know. There was a program about school systems that had issues with kids running the classrooms(more or less but it was some time ago) and the teachers had little control and that area was a focus.

Looked pretty bad to me.

[Formula 21]

Love the effective use of "tranches".

[oneinchpunch]

The interesting thing about this success is that the San Diego line didn’t run block particularly well. King Dunlap earned a +2.1 grade for run blocking but the other four starters were all in negative figures and that slack wasn’t picked up by the TE’s or lead blocking. Matthews (primarily), Brown and Woodhead had to do most of the heavy lifting themselves.

Even though I thought the overall analysis was pretty weak I'd have to agree with this. I don't think the OL played all that well but did enough to keep Rivers upright. But I thought the RBs carried the load and found holes where there weren't any.

[Beerman]

Any line will have issues blocking out Von Miller in the run game. He has vastly improved in that regard compared to his rookie season. Shit I think last year he was the 3rd best in that department in terms of yards gained when run at. He's an absolute beast running down the ball carrier from the weakside as well.

All in all the line was effective just enough. Hardly a dominant performance though like it was mentioned.

[oneinchpunch]

Any line will have issues blocking out Von Miller in the run game. He has vastly improved in that regard compared to his rookie season. Shit I think last year he was the 3rd best in that department in terms of yards gained when run at. He's an absolute beast running down the ball carrier from the weakside as well.

All in all the line was effective just enough. Hardly a dominant performance though like it was mentioned.

Miller was the only guy they had to block. The rest of their DL and LBs were scrubs