It's bad enough that Penn State running backs have had a
hard time succeeding in the NFL, but Larry Johnson is taking it to new
heights.
The former Nittany Lion star and current Kansas City Chief hasn't made
positive headlines on the gridiron since 2006, and added another controversial
incident to his already lengthy rap sheet this week, when he threw head coach
Todd Haley under the bus and allegedly made defamatory comments about
homosexuals on the popular social networking website Twitter.
Johnson expressed his displeasure of Haley by comparing his father's football
background to his current coach's golf roots. Larry Johnson, Sr. is a longtime
assistant coach at Penn State.
The younger Johnson said before the 2009 season started that he wanted to
distance himself from his old ways. Losing certainly has a way of affecting
someone's feelings, though, and Johnson opted to be open with his frustrations
by taking a shot at Haley's lack of football experience, while apparently
adding a few so-called words of wisdom about sexual orientation.
"How our players conduct themselves with the media and to the media is very
important to myself as a head coach and to the Chiefs as an organization,"
Haley said. "I'm very proud of what I've done to get to where I am. I'm very
proud of my results as a position coach and as a coordinator. Right now, am I
proud of my head coaching record? No. But I intend to do everything that I can
to change that."
Haley also stated that team is "looking into a couple of situations" regarding
Johnson's comments, but professionally swung the debate back to the football
field, where the Chiefs suffered an embarrassing 37-7 loss to the AFC West-
rival San Diego Chargers at Arrowhead Stadium this past Sunday. Johnson ran
for just 49 yards on 16 carries in the setback and is still without a
touchdown this season.
It's not as if the pass-happy Haley has been alienating Johnson, who is
averaging about 19 carries a game for 1-6 Kansas City. There are a lot of
problems right now with the Chiefs besides the current news with Johnson,
including an ineffective offensive line and a defense rated near the bottom in
most major categories. But an average of 2.7 yards a carry will hurt any team.
Whether those problems will be fixed during this upcoming bye week remains to
be seen. Johnson, who reportedly issued an apology Tuesday for his poor choice
of words, could possibly face a suspension by the team or league as well as
reduced time on the playing field in favor of backup Jamaal Charles. Charles
has said all the right things in regards to the latest L.J. saga, and probably
deserves a few more carries for his positive outlook.
"I'm just going out there and playing football," Charles said. "I don't care
if Coach Haley didn't play football or if he does or doesn't know anything
about football. I do, so when I step on the field, I'm going to go out there
and perform. If he doesn't or if he does, I'm still going to go out there and
play. That doesn't have any effect on how I play."
Charles and company will visit Jacksonville on November 8 after the break.
CHARGERS: The San Diego Chargers should have never altered their powder blue
uniforms a few years ago. They wore the best version of the digs in Sunday's
throttling of the Kansas City Chiefs, bringing back memories of the "Air
Coryell" era.
Those historic uniforms and quarterback Philip Rivers helped resuscitate the
days of old, when Dan Fouts hooked up often with Charlie Joiner and Kellen
Winslow. The Chargers led the league in passing yards an NFL record six
consecutive years from 1978-1983, and the current squad is fourth in the NFL
with an average of 281.3 passing yards a game. San Diego threw for 268 yards
against the Chiefs, and the aerial assault was a breath of fresh air for a
Chargers team that was mired in a two-game losing streak and is now one
victory from climbing over the .500 mark for the first time since Week 3.
"I liked the way our guys came out and played," head coach Norv Turner said.
"We've been getting better all along and it was nice to have it show up in the
football game."
Rivers had his best game of the season and recorded a 122.6 passer rating
after putting up 268 yards and three touchdowns on 18-of-30 passing. Rivers
has been able to protect the football, having thrown no interceptions in the
last four games, and kept the Chargers a few steps behind the unbeaten Denver
Broncos in the AFC West standings.
The win at Kansas City's Arrowhead Stadium came after on a short week of
preparation and heavy criticism that came after a costly 34-23 home loss to
the Broncos in Week 6.
There are still some points Turner needs to address this week as San Diego
prepares for a showdown with the lowly Oakland Raiders this Sunday at Qualcomm
Stadium. San Diego is 31st in the NFL with only 70.5 rushing yards a game,
thanks to a struggling offensive line and a streaky LaDainian Tomlinson.
However, Tomlinson contributed to the Chargers' well-balanced offensive scheme
versus Kansas City by rushing for 71 yards on a season-high 23 carries. He has
been regaining his old form at a slow rate, something opposing teams must
start being aware of.
"I like the way our guys played in terms of the running game," Turner quipped
on the team's site. "We were able to get a little better rhythm going today.
We've just got to keep working to get "L.T." space to run, because he ran well
last week and he ran well [Sunday]."
As for the oft-criticized offensive line, Rivers was not sacked in Kansas City
after going down five times in the primetime loss against Denver. Balance is
key for any team striving for success, and the Chargers had a healthy dose of
it this past weekend. San Diego's defense held the Chiefs to 203 yards of
offense, sacked quarterback Matt Cassel four times and recorded three
interceptions. Granted it was only Kansas City, but holding any team to a 3-
for-15 clip on third down is a key to victory.
San Diego must continue to build on the latest win and not ruin its bounce-
back performance when the team takes on an unpredictable Raiders squad that
was trounced by the New York Jets on Sunday, one week after upsetting a
heavily-favored Philadelphia team. The Chargers, though, have history on their
side, having produced 12 straight wins in the series since the Raiders last
posted a victory during the 2003 season.
San Diego is preparing for its third-straight AFC West tilt and is aiming for
its sixth consecutive home-and-home sweep of Oakland. The Chargers defeated
the Raiders by a 24-20 score in Week 1.
RAIDERS: It's looking more and more like the Oakland Raiders' big win over
Philadelphia a few weeks ago was a complete aberration.
There are several answers as to why the Raiders played so poorly in a 38-0
debacle versus the New York Jets on Sunday after shutting down the Eagles the
previous week. It's obvious the Jets and Eagles have different styles, but why
didn't Oakland head coach Tom Cable roll out a similar game plan that had the
team sky-high following a 60-minute effort versus Philadelphia in the Jets
game?
Did the team get too confident? Maybe. Or was the Raiders' second win of the
year smoke and mirrors? Perhaps.
The game was so far out of hand that Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez enjoyed
a quick snack on the sidelines, as he was seen munching on a hot dog. The
Raiders played like wieners on Sunday, surrendering 447 yards to New York and
committing two interceptions and a pair of fumbles.
Cable finally realized that struggling quarterback JaMarcus Russell needed
some time to reflect on his performance, and benched the former No. 1 overall
pick in favor of backup Bruce Gradkowski during the second half of Sunday's
loss. Russell ended just 6-of-11 passing for 61 yards with three turnovers
before taking a seat on the bench.
"I did not feel like he gave us the chance to have the success we needed to
have offensively," Cable said of Russell after the game. "JaMarcus will
continue to be our starter. There's no issue there. If we come to this
situation again we'll deal with it."
Hopefully Russell can learn from this experience and not get caught up in an
ego issue after he was benched on Sunday. Nobody wants to be benched at this
level, especially the quarterback. Most signal-callers can't take getting
benched in stride, but if Russell wants to be the leader he believes he can
be, he'll have to prove it on the football field this week at San Diego.
Russell, who has committed 13 turnovers and completed just 46 percent of his
passes this season, wasn't at fault for most of Oakland's abashment on Sunday.
The Raiders seemed to have forgotten how to tackle, resulting in 316 rushing
yards for New York.
Defensive line coach Dwaine Board has to do something with his group, since
its one of the main reasons for Oakland's 30th-ranked run defense. The Raiders
lost by at least 20 points for the fourth time in five weeks and are giving up
169.7 rushing yards per game. They sit 28th in total defense (377.1 ypg) and
will now face a San Diego unit that is literally running on all cylinders.
Chargers running back LaDainian Tomlinson seems to have regained his edge and
will put that to the test against the Raiders this Sunday.
BRONCOS: Quarterback Kyle Orton squeezed his Denver Broncos team past Dallas,
New England and San Diego to head into their bye week with a 6-0 mark.
Hopefully Orton got enough rest, because this week Denver's unbeaten ledger
could be no more with a trip to Baltimore on the horizon.
Ray Lewis, Terrell Suggs, Haloti Ngata and Ed Reed are not the players you
want to face with a perfect record on the line, but the Broncos have proven
all naysayers wrong under first-year head coach Josh McDaniels. Orton must
protect the football in this week's game against the Ravens like he has all
year, as his one interception in 2009 came on a desperation heave at the end
of the first half versus the Patriots in Week 5. He is 9-1 in his last 10
starts dating back to 2008 and third among active quarterbacks in career
winning percentage (.692).
McDaniels knows those stats won't matter against a defense like Baltimore's,
however.
"Defensively, (they are) physical," he said. "I think everything starts with
Suggs, Reed and Lewis. Those three guys are involved in a lot of negative
plays, turnovers. They led the league in turnovers last year."
Much like the Ravens' heralded defense, McDaniels has constructed a strong
stop unit under the tutelage of Mike Nolan. The Broncos' defense is first in
the league in points allowed, second in total yards, third against the rush
and eighth in pass defense.
Denver, which is one of three unbeaten teams in the NFL, leads the second-
place San Diego Chargers by three games in the AFC West standings and hopes to
keep the momentum going this week in Maryland.
McDaniels is the fourth rookie coach in the Super Bowl era (since 1966) to
begin his coaching career with a 6-0 record, joining Red Miller (1977) as one
of two Broncos coaches with that discernment. McDaniels hopes the Broncos
continue their success following the bye week, as the team is 5-1 in its last
six games after the breather. This week that run will be put to the biggest
test, though.
"We actually did a lot of work before we left (for the bye week)," McDaniels
said Monday on the team's site. "We got most of that stuff done by Thursday
and came back and had a full day (Sunday). We started on (the Ravens) with the
players this morning."
The Broncos are giving up just 11 points a game, and a lot of that has to do
with the offseason addition of intense safety Brian Dawkins and Elvis
Dumervil's switch to outside linebacker. Dumervil leads the NFL with 10 sacks
and obviously enjoys playing under Nolan's new scheme.
The fiery and emotional Dawkins suffered a hamstring injury in the win over
the Chargers before the bye week, but is expected to bring his leadership to
the field again in Baltimore.
Dawkins and company have had more than a week to prepare for Ravens running
back Ray Rice, second-year quarterback Joe Flacco and the rest of the
Baltimore offense. Hopefully, the cram session pays off for the Broncos in
their quest for perfection.
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