Hell hath no fury like a Tomlinson scorned

By Clayton Wendler  |   Monday, December 18, 2006  |  Comments( 1 )

Kansas City Chiefs
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Did Kansas City Chiefs defensive end Tamba Hali really call the San Diego Chargers "soft" earlier this year?

LaDainian Tomlinson seemed to think so. The word Hali actually used was "finesse," but in LT's mind, Hali was calling the Chargers a soft football team.

What does Hali think of the Chargers now?

San Diego racked up a season-high 265 yards rushing in a 20-9 win over the Chiefs Sunday night. The Chargers stuffed KC's running game from beginning to end. They mauled the Chiefs' offense and defense.

Soft?

"I don't know if you can draw it better than the way it happened," said Tomlinson. "That was how it was supposed to happen. It was absolutely perfect. Everybody got their block. Lorenzo (Neal) blew through the hole and killed the linebacker."

And Tomlinson pretty much killed everyone else. The Chargers sent a message on the first play of the game. They lined up with two tight ends on Hali's side and ran the ball right at him.

LT cut the play back against the grain for a 13-yard run, but the Chargers were dead set on mauling the Chiefs.

Kansas City has done a decent job of containing Tomlinson in years past. For the future Hall of Famer, 100-yard games were rare. The Chiefs accomplished that by hitting him on every play and making him pay for every inch he gained.

I guess past performance isn't indicative of future events. Tomlinson racked up a season-high 199 yards rushing on just 25 carries Sunday night. We've seen LT put together that kind of effort before, but there was something different this time. No. 21 had a little something extra in the tank.

He powered through linebackers. He put his head down and bulled his way for extra yardage. He refused to go down. On a night that featured Larry Johnson, the poster boy for "angry running," on the other sideline, it was Tomlinson who ended up dishing out most of the rage.

And when that didn't suffice, LT simply skipped his way around the defense as he normally does. His first touchdown came at Hali's expense off right tackle, although it was KC's safeties and corners who gave up the end zone.

But it wasn't just Tomlinson who was angry. The Chargers' defense, scorched for 30 points in Kansas City back in October, looked like a completely different unit.

The unit dared the Chiefs to beat its secondary and blitzed Trent Green right up the middle. Linebackers and defensive linemen hit Johnson from multiple angles on seemingly every play.

If anyone was soft Sunday night, it was the Chiefs' offensive players, who provided pillow-like cushioning for San Diego's defenders as they crashed to the ground.

Heck, if the Chargers were a "finesse" team at any point this year, they sure didn't look it Sunday. The passing game was way out of sync, with Philip Rivers completing just 8 of 23 passes. San Diego resembled one of those old-school Marty Schottenheimer teams in Cleveland and Kansas City, the ones that thought finesse was a bad word.

And the Chiefs? For the eighth time in nine years, it looks like "playoffs" is another bad word around their locker room. Maybe it's time they got a little mad about it.
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