Bolts promise more pressure

Monday, Nov 13, 2006
By Tom Shanahan, Chargers.com

A day after the Chargers rallied from a 21-0 deficit Sunday to beat the Cincinnati Bengals, 49-41, head coach Marty Schottenheimer sounded more like Sid Gillman -- crediting offensive execution -- than Vince Lombardi -- ranting about poor defense.

Schottenheimer’s football reputation is rooted in defense, so maybe his playing days in the old American Football League filtered his frustration with watching Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer throw for 440 yards and three touchdowns.

“We did some good things on defense,” Schottenheimer said Monday afternoon. “They were 0-for-6 on third downs in the second half -- plus a fourth down -- so for all intents and purposes, they were 0-for-7. Palmer was right on target and made terrific throws. We had a couple of opportunities to make plays on balls, but they caught them. It was one of those old-fashioned shootouts.”

But that doesn’t mean Schottenheimer, a linebacker as a player and a defensive coordinator before his first head coaching job with the Cleveland Browns in 1984, didn’t find enough things that displeased him. The yards yielded were reflected in a dramatic drop in the Chargers' defensive ranking.

The Chargers entered Week 10 ranked second in the NFL in total defense and eighth against the pass. Following the Bengals' 545 yards, the Bolts are now eighth in total defense and 15th against the pass.

“I think most of it is correctable,” Schottenheimer said. “We had a couple of situations where we didn’t get matched up the way we wanted to. They ran combination routes that we didn’t get sorted out the way we’d like to.”

Chargers safety Marlon McCree has been credited with getting the secondary to play together better as a unit since his acquisition this year as a free agent. But McCree admitted the secondary was in disarray in the first half.

“We were out of position,” McCree said. “We had breakdowns in communication. We’re not that bad as it showed on paper.”

In addition to Palmer throwing for 440 yards, Pro Bowl wide receiver Chad Johnson was wide open at times and caught 11 passes for 264 yards and two touchdowns.

“A lot of plays that they made weren’t them just manhandling us and just beating us,” McCree said. “It was mental errors and guys being out of position, things that are uncharacteristic of us as a secondary, as a defense and as a team. We look at it and we say, ‘They got a lot of passing yards on us, but it wasn’t anything that they did to us as much as it was what we did to ourselves.’ ”

McCree pointed out the Chargers made adjustments at halftime that slowed down the Bengals. Cincinnati had 15 passing first downs in the first half, but only five in the second half.

Another reason for Cincinnati’s offensive explosion was the Chargers didn’t have their usual pass rush. Outside linebacker Shawne Merriman sat out his second game of a four-game suspension and defensive end Luis Castillo missed the game with an ankle injury.

But in their absence defensive end Igor Olshansky and outside linebacker Shaun Phillips came up with key sacks. Phillips’ sack resulted in a fumble he recovered to set up a Chargers touchdown.

“For us the key is always going to be the combination of coverage and pressure,” Schottenheimer said. “We needed to put more pressure on the quarterback, but part of the reason we didn’t get it is he was using a five-step drop and getting the ball out quickly. Those passes were right on.”

But Schottenheimer didn’t marvel at Palmer’s performance or revel in the win for long. The Chargers began preparing for Sunday’s game at the Denver Broncos with both teams tied for the AFC West lead with 7-2 records.
“We’re done with it; we’re moving on,” Schottenheimer said. “We’ve got a big contest this week with Denver.”