Like It Or Not, LT’s Slowing Down…

May 5, 2008 at 11:48 am | Article by Paul Hickey |

We’ve been the first to jump off the LaDainian Tomlinson bandwagon this off-season. Yes - he’s been the most productive player in the NFL for the last three or four seasons. Yes - he hasn’t rushed for less than 1,200 yards and 10 TDs or caught less than 51 balls in a single season. He’s been a statistical freak, okay? Then why is he talking about retirement, and why didn’t he play more in the AFC Championship game?

I’m not questioning his toughness - I’m questioning his injuy, I’m questioning his age, and I’m questioning his focus. It seems to me that a player who had worked his entire career to get to one elite moment, wouldn’t leave the field for good if his knee was just sprained. I mean, even Tomlinson’s own teammate, Philip Rivers, played through a torn ACL - twice - once against Indy, then again against New England in the AFC Championship game.

Tomlinson did not have surgery on the knee this off-season. Was that a good long term decision? He says he’s 100 percent already, and has been seen doing individual drills at Chargers mini-camp. He’s also expected to sit out most of training camp, and the entire preseason, which has been customary for him during the past five or six seasons. 2008 could be the year where all that sitting out finally catches up to him.

There’s no longer a guy like Michael Turner to spell him, and Lorenzo Neal - perhaps the most important reason why LT was so successful, and never got injured - has been released. During LT’s record breaking 2006 season - when I asked Hall Of Famer and former Detroit Lions great Barry Sanders to tell me who he thought was better in their prime - he or LT - he replied. “Well, LT has Neal - the best blocking fullback of all time, who I didn’t have, so…” Sanders was much to modest to actually finish that statement, but what he was implying was very clear. Neal has been a major factor in LT’s production, and his longevity.

Soon-to-be 29 years old, LT is no longer the only weapon in the Chargers’ arsenal. Rivers is developing a personality and a life of his own, and has found comfort in wide receivers Chris Chambers and Vincent Jackson. I’m not saying that Tomlinson is going to fall off the radar quite as quickly as former NFL MVP Shaun Alexander has, but a quick decline in production is definitely a possibility for the superstar.

In a recent interview with ESPN, Tomlinson backed off his earlier statement that he’d play until he’s 34 or 35 years old. You can bet this most recent knee injury is a key reason for him backtracking and rethinking his words. Let’s see what his first year without Lorenzo Neal is like, and those NFL rushing records he so desperately wants to break may seem extremely far fetched. These comments - along with him sitting out of most of the AFC Championship game - made me think - where is his focus?

Lack of focus and desire to play are what made Alexander go in the tank so quickly. Will it happen to LT?