Fuente: © San Diego Chargers
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NFL: CHARGERS: Bolts roll behind a fine line

/noticias.info/ Chargers offensive tackle Marcus McNeill generally has an insightful and/or funny response when asked to break down his play, but following Sunday’s win at Indianapolis, no clever answers were necessary.
“We knew that if we didn’t protect the quarterback we weren’t going to win,” McNeill said. “We gave our guys time to make plays and they did.”

For the second-consecutive week, the Chargers’ offensive line did not allow a sack and in turn allowed the Bolts to make big plays down the field and advance in the playoffs.

“It just starts with them,” Head Coach Norv Turner said. “To come in here with this defensive front and not give up a sack, to manage a game and allow us to run the ball and allow us to run our offense, they were great.”

Like Tennessee did a week earlier, the Colts sent various blitzes and did everything they could to pressure the passer and create a new line of scrimmage against the run. The Bolts were prepared for it all and responded with a 411-yard performance offensively.

“The coaches did a great job of letting us know based on formation exactly what was going to happen,” center Nick Hardwick said. “It stayed true to form. They aren’t going to change the last game of the season. They’re going to stay true to form. They did it, we picked it up and handled it well. Everyone communicated and did a nice job across the board.”

While the big plays came in the passing game, the Chargers rushed for 99 yards on the day and physically set the tone.

“I can’t say enough about the guys up front,” quarterback Philip Rivers said. “(Indy) put eight guys in there. Bob Sanders is the defensive MVP for a reason. I thought we did a heck of a job in the run game. I thought we did enough to keep them concerned about it. The guys up front had a lot to do with our execution down the field.”

And when speaking about execution down the field, you must include the job the offensive linemen did in space. There was a key block by Hardwick that sprung a 20-yard gain by LaDainian Tomlinson on a screen pass, another by Kris Dielman and on Darren Sproles’ 56-yard touchdown that came on a screen play. When Legedu Naanee gained 27 yards on the game-winning drive, he had an escort of linemen out in front of him.

“We’ve got a very athletic offensive line,” McNeill said. “Whenever we get guys out in space we want to make big blocks and finish them.”

Sunday’s performance by McNeill, Dielman, Hardwick, Goff and Jeromey Clary came under conditions that are not the easiest for offensive linemen. Playing in perhaps the loudest venue in the NFL, the Chargers battled through a couple false start penalties early but were poise when it mattered most down the stretch.

“The sign of a good offense line is responding when it’s put on your shoulders,” Goff said. “To go out there and do what you’ve got to do in a hostile environment, that’s what we were able to do.” notas_de_prensa_archivo