Rumors of LaDainian Tomlinson's demise not only are greatly exaggerated, they're asinine. But the doubting villagers are out there all right, in force, waving torches, ready to storm the once-impregnable Castle LT.
You don't get my e-mails. You send them. LT is finished. Done. Toast. I'm told the Chargers' tailback can't run anymore. He was football's Napoleon, but what remains of his skills are Waterloo. He's Elba toast.
Now there is one big pile of manure.
I'll be the last one to sit here and tell you LT, at 29, is everything he was five years ago, or even two years ago. Not many people are. But to say he's finished is beyond ridiculous. He's not, and it's obvious he's not.
Just because Wall Street can't block right now doesn't signal the end of capitalism as we knew it. Even a great car has to have somewhere to go. Try driving your Porsche into a wall. It probably will stop.
Tomlinson led the NFL in rushing last year. Did all that skill erode during the offseason? Pretty darn doubtful, especially when you consider the athlete, a man who lives right and keeps himself in extraordinary condition.
And, if you've watched him over the years, then you know he's not the type of runner – an Earl Campbell or Terrell Davis – who's taken decades of punishment in a short time.
“I'm as healthy as I've ever been,” he says. “That's not a problem. Hopefully, we'll figure this thing out. . . . We've yet to figure it out.”
If LT knows a way, he isn't saying. “I honestly believe certain things stay in-house,” he said. “There are reasons I'm not willing to talk about it to the media.”
It's not the Manhattan Project. He needs room to run and hasn't been finding it.
No doubt, when LT hurt his big toe in the season opener, it affected him for weeks. He's not a straight-ahead runner. His game is all about cutting, changing direction and making people miss.
But he still went out there and played. I've heard enough about toe injuries to know they can be worse than a broken leg.
“I never look back and say I should have rested it,” he was saying yesterday following his team's 20-19 struggle with Kansas City, a game in which he rushed for 78 yards and caught four passes for 39 more. “I felt I made the right decision.”
Why, do you suppose, did the Chiefs defense use so many eight-man fronts Sunday? They did so because they didn't want LT to beat them. If Herman Edwards and his staff thought Tomlinson was finished, they didn't show it.
Edwards watched the film. On the Chargers' first play in London against New Orleans it was obvious LT was close to being all the way back, when he cut left on that awful turf and gained 26 yards. That was not an ordinary back.
“Physically, I'm fine,” he said. “That's where I am. Mentally, I'm good. We're having our ups and downs this season. Obviously, it can drain you mentally. Mentally, it's hard to act like we're in great shape. I'm worried, to be honest with you.”
He should be. I'm sure he can be counted among those who thought this 4-5 team was going to be better, and his injury – not to mention those to some fellow Pro Bowlers – hasn't helped matters.
But those around LT every day, players and coaches, know he's all right. He can do things now he couldn't do in September. But he needs his space. There never has been a great runner capable of making the Hall of Fame entirely on his own.
“He's back to where he needs to be,” safety Clinton Hart said. “My hat's off to him, playing with the injury he's had. He's getting there.”
If anything, LT is to be admired for playing through the pain.
“Yeah, no question about it,” quarterback Philip Rivers was saying. “There's no denying what he went through early in the year. He's battled through it. What we see every day is the same guy we've seen the five years I've been here.”
The Chargers' offensive problems are two-fold, and one isn't really a problem. Rivers has matured into one of The League's better quarterbacks, so he rightfully has been given more to do than when he first got the job. But the offensive line has not been able to block for the run on a consistent basis, and this isn't the first time it's seen eight-man fronts.
LT? Finished? Let me give you the name of my optometrist.
“If people saw him the last two games, they couldn't be more wrong,” General Manager A.J. Smith said. “He needs help. He needs a crack. It's going to come.”
Tomlinson can use the space.
“Football to me is a simple game,” LT said. “To be successful, you have to be able to run the football. Football is a running game. Of course, I'm a little biased, but the proof is in the pudding.”
I've never understood what that means. Must have something to do with blocking.
Nick Canepa: (619) 293-1397; nick.canepa@uniontrib.com
