Chargers aim to keep offense on field more

Quick scores put burden on defense

Philip Rivers has thrown 36 passes in which the ball has traveled 
at least 21 yards in the air, completing 12.
Philip Rivers has thrown 36 passes in which the ball has traveled at least 21 yards in the air, completing 12. — K.C. Alfred / Union-Tribune

After the Chargers scored a comeback victory last Sunday, sprinting down the field in the final two minutes, getting all the yards they needed, making it look so easy, there was the question of why they just don't execute the hurry-up offense more often.

Especially with this team's ability to make the big play, heck, why not do that all the time?

Well, because this is actually an offense trying to slow things down.

“It's hard to imagine winning a game you had the ball 22 minutes,” head coach Norv Turner said, actually shorting his team 13 seconds off its actual time of possession against the Giants.

It's fathomable to win such a game, but just barely.

The Chargers had not won with their offense having the ball that little since 1987.

Of the 2,532 regular and postseason NFL games played since 2000, 23 have been won by teams that had the ball 22:13 or less. That's nine-tenths of one percent.

The Chargers remain committed to trying to run, in part, because they want their offense on the field more.

Whatever the Chargers were able to do last week or are able to do more often under Turner, your defense being on the sideline longer than the playing field is a key ingredient to winning.

Teams that have won time of possession this season have a .692 winning percentage.

The Chargers' average time of possession this season is 27:42, 28th in the 32-team league. The teams below them have a combined record of 8-24. The Philadelphia Eagles, today's opponent at Qualcomm Stadium, are the only other team in the bottom 10 in possession time (28:09, 25th) with a winning record.

Time of possession is not a tenet of the faith under Turner, as it was when the Chargers played Martyball. In fact, Philip Rivers emphatically declared TOP an “overrated” stat.

Perhaps, sometimes.

The Chargers are 5-3 this season. Three of their victories have come in games the other team has had the ball more. In their loss to Baltimore, the Chargers had the ball more than 31 minutes.

In Turner's 45 games as head coach, the Chargers have won time of possession just 17 times as opposed to 31 times in the final 50 games (three seasons) of the Marty Schottenheimer era. That's a perfect inversion, in fact, with the Chargers losing time of possession 62 percent of the time from 2007-09 after winning it 62 percent of the time from '04-'06.

And while the Chargers have won 12 of the 28 games in which they've lost the possession battle, winning the possession battle has meant almost certain victory.

Those 17 games they have had the ball more than their opponents, the Chargers have gone 15-2.

“OK, maybe it isn't overrated,” Rivers said with a laugh.

Actually, Rivers' main point was that as long as a team is getting in the end zone it doesn't matter how long it takes.

Philadelphia coach Andy Reid agrees with him.

“It doesn't matter to me,” Reid said. “We've had years where we've taken our time doing it, had years where we used big strikes to do it, years where we used a combination. I think the important thing is that you're scoring.”


