Tag: LaDainian Tomlinson (Page 4 of 15)

Report: Chargers to cut Tomlinson by March 5

February 4, 2010 /

In an interview with San Diego radio station XX 1090 on Tuesday, Chargers’ running back LaDainian Tomlinson said that he was unhappy with the changes in the organization and that he wouldn’t take a paycut under any circumstances.

Today, beat writer Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune wrote that the Chargers will likely release Tomlinson before his $2 million roster bonus is due on March 5.

Tomlinson is due a $2 million roster bonus on March 5, the first day of the new league year. Provided the new league year is not postponed to allow for further collective bargaining negotiations, Tomlinson will likely be released before then, because the Chargers don’t seem inclined to pay his $5 million total salary. Both sides have said since a restructuring of Tomlinson’s contract last March that the deal would not be reworked again.

This is a breakup that seems destined to happen. The Chargers’ running game was ineffective last season and a 30-year-old Tomlinson isn’t the solution to their problems. With each passing day, it appears more and more likely that LT will be in a different uniform next season.

The question now becomes whether or not other teams will view him as a starter. I think that he could still be effective in a platoon, but I don’t see any team wanting LT to carry the rock 20-plus times a game now. Not that he could anyway with his durability concerns.


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NFL Divisional Playoff Preview: Sunday

January 17, 2010 /

Dallas Cowboys at Minnesota Vikings
1:00 pm ET
TV—FOX

Of any player that needed the bye week, you have to believe 40-year-old Brett Favre did the most. He might not say so, because in many ways, the man who had an incredible “comeback” season (4202 yards, 33 TDs, 7 picks) thinks he’s still 18. Dallas, meanwhile, has been on quite a roll ever since they upset the Saints in New Orleans in Week 15. They are playing lights out on both sides of the ball, and Tony Romo (whose boyhood hero growing up in Wisconsin was Favre) along with Jason Witten and Miles Austin are going to give the Vikings’ sixth ranked D all they can handle. On defense, the Cowboys rank ninth overall, and even though they are 20th against the pass, that’s skewed a bit because they terrorized Donovan McNabb for two weeks straight, and virtually shut down Drew Brees’ Saints for three quarters in that upset game. The Vikings will likely turn to all-world RB Adrian Peterson a bit more than usual, to try and soften Dallas’ front seven for Favre to take shots down the field with big receiver Sidney Rice and speedy rookie Percy Harvin. And pass rushing specialist Jared Allen will have fun chasing Romo all day. This one has all the makings of a classic, and it’s even more intriguing because these teams have not played each other since 2007. Upset? Don’t be surprised. THE PICK: COWBOYS 27, VIKINGS 20

New York Jets at San Diego Chargers
4:40 pm ET
TV—CBS

Imagine a tug of war where the other team lets go of the rope halfway through the contest. That’s basically what happened to the Jets when the Colts pulled their starters in Week 16, and a 15-10 Colts’ lead turned into a 29-15 Jets’ upset. Since then, the Jets routed the Bengals 37-0, when Cincinnati also basically rested their players most of the game. But rookie head coach Rex Ryan doesn’t think his team had any advantage or luck or whatever, and he proved it last week when his Jets went into Cincinnati and upset the Bengals at full strength, and on the road, 24-14. That #1 defense of the Jets is no mirage, so Philip Rivers and that fifth ranked passing offense will really have their hands full. They do have LaDainian Tomlinson, but based on the fact the Chargers are ranked 31st in rushing offense, either LT or his supporting cast is not the same. So the Jets will likely try to stop Rivers, along with big receivers Vincent Jackson and Antonio Gates first, but they can’t make the mistake of paying no attention to Tomlinson or the speedy change-up back, Darren Sproles. The Jets will try and use their top ranked run game to speed up the game, and with the Chargers ranked 20th against the run, they just might be able to do that a bit. What’s likely here is that the team which makes the most mistakes will lose. And the Jets are due for one of those games. THE PICK: CHARGERS 23, JETS 13

NFL

Decade Debate: Greatest Fantasy Players

November 30, 2009 /

In the world of fantasy football, a decade is a long time. It’s rare for a player to achieve fantasy stardom for five straight years, much less ten. As part of our Decade Debate series, here is a list of the top players of the ’00s, by position, under a high performance scoring system. The criteria is simple — we’re looking for sustained excellence.

QB: Peyton Manning, Colts

Let’s see, from 2000 to 2008, Manning has averaged 4,195 passing yards, 31.2 touchdowns, and only 13.6 interceptions. He is the model of consistency, never missing a start and finishing in the top 6 each and every season. In 2009, he’s on pace for another 4,967 yards and 35 TD. At just 33 years of age, the durable Manning has a shot at being the top fantasy QB of the ’10s as well.

Honorable Mention: Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Brett Favre, Donovan McNabb, Daunte Culpepper

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Barstool Debates, Fantasy Football, NFL

Running game powers Chargers over Broncos

November 22, 2009 /

For much of the 2009 season, the San Diego Chargers’ running game has been non-existent. But in the past two weeks, it has helped the Bolts recapture first place in the AFC West.

One week after rushing for 119 yards in a win over the Eagles, the Chargers racked up 203 rushing yards in a dominating 32-3 victory on Sunday. LaDainian Tomlinson was solid, rushing for 73 yards with a touchdown on 20 carries while Mike Tolbert finished with 58 yards and a touchdown on seven totes.

The Chargers revived another part of their game today too: Their pass rush. They sacked the combination of Kyle Orton and Chris Simms three times and intercepted Orton once when they blitzed a defensive back on the play. If they can get a similar effort from their pass rush moving forward, than this is going to be a tough team to beat over the final month of the season.

Denver is in a free fall right now. In their current four-game losing streak, they’ve allowed 29.3 points per game after allowing just 11 PPG in their six game winning streak. They couldn’t stop the Chargers’ running game and even when San Diego put the ball in the air, Denver got zero pressure on Philip Rivers.

Offensively, Simms started but was brutal again. Orton came in and immediately started moving the offense, but the drive stalled when Knowshon Moreno fumbled at the goal line and killed a scoring drive. After that, Orton failed to move the ball the rest of the contest and the Broncos’ offense fell flat.

Considering Denver is only one game behind with six remaining, I don’t want to overstate things. But San Diego has completely seized control in the AFC West and they look like they’re going to roll to another division title.


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Will this be Tomlinson’s final year in San Diego?

November 11, 2009 /

According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, running back LaDainian Tomlinson is likely playing his last season for the Chargers.

LaDainian Tomlinson is still a player who can help the Chargers win, but it seems clear he can no longer win games for them and is likely closing out his final season in San Diego.

The Chargers are averaging 3.1 yards a carry, worst in the NFL. And unless they can start getting some leads and let Tomlinson and others pound the ball while the line gets in a rhythm, that doesn’t look to get much better.

Sunday was the fourth time this season the Chargers rushed 21 times or fewer. They are on pace to rush just 364 times, which would be their fewest since 2000 and third-lowest total ever.

Tomlinson is a player who has served the Chargers incredibly well over his career and it was good to see San Diego rework his contract in the offseason. But it’s been apparent the past two seasons that he’s running on empty and as the article suggests, it looks like his time in San Diego is coming to an end.

That said, in LT’s defense the offensive line hasn’t been good either. The holes just aren’t there like they have been in years past and LT isn’t the only one suffering from it: Darren Sproles is only averaging 3.5 YPC, which is only a mild improvement over Tomlinson’s 3.2 YPC. I still don’t see the same explosion and decision-making out of LT as I did in previous years, but the O-line has played a part in Tomlinson’s decline.

If the Chargers do decide to part ways with LT, they need to find a back that can run between the tackles in the offseason because they could pair him with Sproles to form a nice 1-2 combo. They need a back that can wear opponents down throughout the course of games, because they don’t have that now and their offense remains unbalanced.

Looking back at things, it probably would have been wise to hang onto Michael Turner and part ways with LT, but how would the Chargers know that Tomlinson would break down the past two years? They probably had an idea that his time as a primary back was winding down, but they weren’t going to cut him before last season and pay Turner at the same time. It was unfortunate timing that Turner became a free agent when he did.

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NFL

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