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Week 5 Game Recap: San Diego Chargers 10, Miami Dolphins 17
What you need to know
| San Diego Chargers |
RB LaDainian Tomlinson looked a bit better running the ball early on. However, he briefly limped off the field in the third quarter and upon returning he showed no ability to move the pile on a fourth down rushing attempt from the goal line.
WR Chris Chambers was carted off the field with a lower leg injury late in the third quarter after a reception at the goal line. If he is to miss any time, Vincent Jackson and perhaps Craig Davis would stand to be the prime beneficiaries of any extra targets.
QB Philip Rivers was shaken up on his second pass of the game but remained in the whole way. Still, he looked tentative and out of synch and the offense had absolutely no rhythm all game.
The San Diego defense had a lot of trouble stopping anyone in this game. Much as they have for most of the season, they exhibited very poor tackling, lackadaisical pass coverage, and no semblance of a pass rush.
| Miami Dolphins |
In his first game following his five touchdown performance, Ronnie Brown again looked outstanding. He showed good speed, strength, and vision, and appears to be fully recovered from his knee injury of a year ago.
QB Chad Pennington was extremely efficient, completing over 75% of his passes and leading the Dolphins on three separate scoring drives. He took what the defense gave him, and then he took a bit more.
WR Greg Camarillo was again very solid, this time adding a touchdown reception to his stat line. He is quickly emerging as the team's number one option in the passing game.
What you ought to know
| QB Philip Rivers, Pass: 13 - 28 - 159 - 1 TD / 0 INT |
Rivers afternoon began very inauspiciously, as he was shaken up on his second pass of the game. He wasn't hit at a bad angle or anything, but he was knocked backwards and stumbled awkwardly to maintain his footing. Immediately after the play and for several plays afterwards, he was seen grimacing and clearly in some pain. While he didn't let on that he was hurt the rest of the afternoon, it's possible that the leg was bothering him. It didn't help that he was under constant pressure for the entire afternoon, either. In the early going, the Chargers attacked with a lot of short passes and screens. In fact, the downfield threats (Chris Chambers, Vincent Jackson, and Antonio Gates) had just three receptions combined on six first half targets. The Chargers opened up the offense more in the second half, with some success at times. Jackson hauled in a long 42 yard bomb on a jump ball for the longest play of the afternoon. And Chambers snagged a fade pass on the end zone sideline for a touchdown. But the good plays were few and far between. And on two occasions, the Chargers missed out on big plays by a slim margin. First, Chris Chambers caught a third down pass and was tackled about a foot short of the end zone (San Diego failed to score on fourth down, too). Later, Vincent Jackson got past the defense on a deep route but was overthrown on the play by Rivers on what would've been a 75 yard touchdown.
| RB LaDainian Tomlinson, Rush: 12 - 35 - 0, Rec: 5 - 22 - 0 (8 targets) |
Tomlinson showed a quick burst to the hole on his first carry of the afternoon and generally looked better running with the football. The Chargers passing attack early on was very focused on short strikes and screens, and Tomlinson was heavily involved in that aspect (all of his targets came before halftime). However, his afternoon quickly turned sour in the second quarter. He limped off midway through the third quarter, possibly re-aggravating his turf toe injury. On the ensuing possession, Darren Sproles got all of the touches until the Chargers got to the goal line. Trailing by seven and facing a fourth and goal at the Miami one yard line, Tomlinson's number was called. However, he was easily stopped well short by the Dolphins defensive front. He did get another carry later in the game, and picked up eleven yards, but it was too little too late both for Tomlinson owners and for the Chargers.
| RB Darren Sproles, Rush: 6 - 24 - 0, Rec: 1 - 23 - 0 (2 targets) |
For another game, Sproles looked outstanding. While LaDainian Tomlinson looked improved over recent weeks, Sproles simply looks like he's running in another gear. He took a simple screen pass for a 23 yard gain late in the third quarter to help set up a potential fourth down touchdown run for Tomlinson, but Tomlinson was stuffed at the goal line. Additionally, Tomlinson had left the game earlier after suffering some sort of injury -- that's why Sproles was in there in the first place. But he wasn't only playing because of Tomlinson's injury; Sproles got a carry on the second play of the game, and saw regular work throughout the contest in tandem with Tomlinson.
| WR Chris Chambers, Rush: 1 - 1 - 0, Rec: 3 - 30 - 1 (4 targets) |
On the bright side, Chambers made a terrific touchdown catch on a fade pass to the sideline in the end zone that cut the deficit to 17-3, badly beating his defender off the line to make the play. On the negative side, he was stopped just short of the end zone on a pass late in the third quarter that came up about a foot shy of scoring. And on the worst side of all, Chambers was hurt on that play and needed to be carted off the field. There was no immediate update given on his condition, but anytime a cart is involved one has to consider the possibility that it is a fairly serious injury.
| WR Vincent Jackson, Rec: 2 - 56 - 0 (6 targets) |
After a very quiet first half, Jackson salvaged his afternoon by hauling in a 42 yard bomb from Rivers midway through the third quarter. It was thrown up for grabs, and Jackson used his 6'5" frame to out-leap the defender on the jump ball. That was the extent of Jackson's productivity, through no fault of his own. He later shook free of the defense and got open deep downfield on another deep ball from Rivers, but the pass was overthrown. Had it been on target, the play would have gone for a 75 yard touchdown. Depending on the severity of the injury suffered by Chris Chambers, Jackson could see a greatly increased role in the offense in the weeks going forward.
| WR Craig Davis, Rec: 1 - 16 - 0 (3 targets) |
Davis showed nice hands on his only catch of the game, a 16 yard snag on third down early in the contest. Despite a second half injury to Chris Chambers, Davis only saw one pass in his direction after halftime.
| TE Antonio Gates, Rec: 1 - 12 - 0 (4 targets) |
In one of the quietest games of his career, Gates caught a short pass in the first half on his only target before halftime. His other three targets came in the second half, but none of them were all that close to being completed. And in fact, that first catch shouldn't have even counted because replays showed that Gates clearly dropped the ball as he was diving to the turf to catch it. However, since the play came on third down and the Chargers were punting anyway, Miami HC Tony Sparano elected to not use one of his challenges.
| PK Nate Kaeding 1 - 1 FG, 1 - 1 XP, 4 points |
Kaeding connected on his only field goal attempt, a rather easy 34 yarder in the first half.
| SD Rush Defense |
After five games, it's painfully obvious that the Chargers run defense is pretty awful. They allowed 167 yards on the ground to Miami, with nearly all of those yards coming after contact. It wasn't as if there were two or three big runs that did in San Diego, either. The long run of the game for Miami went for just thirteen yards. Rather, it was a methodical, grind-it-out approach that completely wore down the Chargers defense. It seemed as if the San Diego defense never pushed back at the line of scrimmage or got into the backfield. And on the rare occasions that they did lay a hit on either Ronnie Brown or Ricky Williams, more often than not it was the defender getting knocked backwards. Three times on Miami's last possession, the Dolphins ran the ball on third down. And three times, they converted those third down runs into first downs to keep the clock moving (and eventually run out the clock). On one of those plays in particular, the Chargers had Brown dead in the water but he simply fought off a couple of weak arm tackles to pick up the necessary yardage. The missed tackles weren't just on the last drive, as there were a number of them throughout the game that really cost San Diego big time.
| SD Pass Defense |
Either the Chargers pass rushers have lost all of their abilities, or defensive coordinator Ted Cotrell is playing a very conservative brand of football. Because with the talent level of the San Diego defenders, it's amazing how little pressure they applied to Chad Pennington. They sacked him just once, and that was really the only time he was even in a little bit of trouble. On most plays, he had so much time to sit back and wait for the open receiver that it was nearly impossible for the defensive backs to maintain their coverage the entire time. For four full quarters, the Chargers sat back and played off of the receivers, allowing Pennington to pick them apart with short and intermediate passes all game long. That's not to say the fault all lies in the scheme; the players didn't make plays, either. On the Camarillo touchdown, CB Quentin Jammer was beaten on an outside fake and couldn't recover in time to knock the ball away. Late in the game, Ted Ginn went up high for a third down reception to help keep Miami's game-ending drive alive. And S Clinton Hart made a bad play in coverage on TE David Martin. On a deep ball, Hart interfered with Martin on third and nine. The ball was probably uncatchable, but it was still flagged. That helped get Miami out of a lot of trouble from their own end.
| QB Chad Pennington, Pass: 22 - 29 - 228 - 1 TD / 0 INT, Rush: 3 - 3 - 0 |
Some people are going to say that Chad Pennington managed the offense. Don't listen to them. He didn't just manage the offense; he won the game. It helped that he was given loads of time to throw, and Pennington played outstandingly well, finding not just the open man but the most open man consistently. He consistently put the ball exactly where it needed to be, and never allowed himself to lock onto one target. That was important considering just about everyone on the Dolphins was open on nearly every single play. His job was to find the guy in the best position to make a play, and he did so every time. His two favorite targets were Ted Ginn and Greg Camarillo, and he found both on a regular basis. While neither put up huge yardage numbers, both were able to make key contributions with just about every reception they made. And while the knock on Pennington has always been his arm strength, it was plenty strong enough when he threw to his left while rolling out to the right on a key twenty yard completion downfield to TE Anthony Fasano in the fourth quarter.
| RB Ronnie Brown, Rush: 24 - 125 - 1, Rec: 1 - 8 - 0 (1 targets) |
Are we sure Ronnie Brown tore his ACL last season? He looked nothing like someone who is less than a year since major knee surgery. He looked outstanding against the Chargers, from the first drive to the last. The Miami offense clearly revolves around him. When he's not coming out of the backfield to take a handoff, he's lining up in the quarterback spot under center and running the "Wildcat" offense. He looked elusive in avoiding tacklers and looked strong when they finally got to him. On nearly every run, it was Brown pushing defenders backwards. On a late fourth quarter run with the Chargers knowing he was running, he bounced it outside to the corner and absolutely ran over CB Antonio Cromartie en route to a first down. Among his other highlights were the other two first downs he picked up on that final drive (both on third down), a fourth down conversion early in the second quarter, and a touchdown run late in the first half that put the Dolphins up 17-3. The touchdown came on the aforementioned Wildcat formation, in which Brown took the direct snap from center with QB Chad Pennington split out wide. Brown consistently showed good vision in and out of the hole, and putting up 125 yards on the ground with a long run of just 13 shows that he was consistently gaining yardage -- not just that he was fortunate to break a long one or two.
| RB Ricky Williams, Rush: 13 - 39 - 0, Rec: 1 - 0 - 0 (2 targets) |
Williams is clearly the second option in the running game to Ronnie Brown, but he still received fourteen touches on the afternoon. The Dolphins certainly make an effort to ensure Williams gets enough action, perhaps in an effort to maintain his focus and interest. In this game, Williams saw action as a runner and receiver, and there was a play called that was designed for Williams to throw the ball. However, his intended target was covered downfield and he wisely pulled it down. On the Brown touchdown, Williams made an excellent block to seal CB Quentin Jammer off the corner and allow Brown to waltz into the end zone untouched.
| WR Ted Ginn, Rec: 7 - 55 - 0 (9 targets) |
The announcers in the game (Gus Johnson and Steve Tasker of CBS) both commented on Ginn's improved route running in this game. His performance doesn't translate statistically, but he caught just about everything thrown his way. On the last drive of the game, with Miami trying to run out the clock, the team faced a third down and four from their own 40 yard line. Ginn managed to shake free of the defender, make a tough leaping grab on the sideline, and do a terrific job of keeping both feet inbounds to make a 14 yard catch and pick up a much-needed first down.
| WR Greg Camarillo, Rec: 6 - 68 - 1 (8 targets) |
Camarillo hauled in a game high six balls for 68 yards, and is showing more and more each week that he is a legitimate NFL pass catcher. He consistently gets open and is very adept at finding the soft spots in the defense, and showed tremendous athleticism on his touchdown reception. With CB Quentin Jammer all over him, Camarillo went up high to snag the ball out of the air and maintain possession despite the tight coverage.
| WR Davone Bess, Rec: 3 - 25 - 0 (4 targets) |
Bess played the role of third receiver for Miami, and made a couple of catches in the first half on just two targets. In the second half, however, he had a costly fumble on a kick return and wasn't thrown to on the final three possessions.
| TE Anthony Fasano, Rec: 3 - 47 - 0 (4 targets) |
Facing the league's most generous defense at allowing fantasy points to tight ends, most figured Fasano would be in for a rather big game. He was productive, but didn't put up eye-popping statistics. His long catch of the game went for 20 yards and it came late in the fourth quarter. He had a dropped pass also in the fourth quarter that nearly proved very costly. It came with Miami up by seven and facing a third down. Fasano dropped the ball, giving possession back to the Chargers. Fortunately for him, they could do nothing with it once they got it.
| TE David Martin, Rec: 1 - 25 - 0 (3 targets) |
Martin made a nice downfield grab of a pass in the second quarter, but as he was going to the ground his head and neck were jarred by CB Antonio Cromartie making the tackle. Martin came off the field, but would eventually return. He drew a crucial pass interference penalty late in the fourth quarter that got Miami out of the shadow of their own end zone.
| PK Dan Carpenter 1 - 2 FG, 2 - 2 XP, 5 points |
Carpenter's first attempt, from 47 yards out, was true. His second kick was from 42 yards away but he hooked it wide to the left.
| MIA Rush Defense |
The Dolphins held one of the league's most explosive rushing duos to just 59 yards on a day where the game remained close throughout. They just never allowed the Chargers to get a good push up front, and the long run of the game for San Diego went for just eleven yards. The Miami run defense also made probably the single most important play of the entire afternoon early in the fourth quarter. After San Diego scored to cut the gap to 17-10, KR Davone Bess fumbled the ensuing kickoff back to San Diego. The Chargers drove to the goal line and were faced with a fourth and goal from the one yard line. A touchdown would tie the game and solidify all of the momentum for San Diego. But RB LaDainian Tomlinson was stuffed on his fourth down attempt, the Dolphins took over possession, and the Chargers never came close to scoring again.
| MIA Pass Defense |
Philip Rivers was only sacked twice and wasn't intercepted at all. But that's more a testament to Rivers' ability to avoid the sack than it is a negative against Miami. They were in his face all game long, getting tons of pressure on him and forcing a number of poor passes. The Chargers offense was completely out of synch for the entire afternoon, and a lot of it had to do with the pressure being applied up front. Rivers ended up throwing 28 passes for 159 yards, with 42 of those yards coming on a downfield jump-ball that Vincent Jackson simply made a terrific play on. Later, Jackson beat his defender deep downfield for what would have been a 75 yard touchdown, but Rivers overthrew him by about five yards.
