How Melvin Gordon Ran Right Over the Titans Defense

Left for dead by many after a rookie season where he had more microfracture surgeries (1) than touchdowns (0), Melvin Gordon has bounced back. The Chargers, for the first time in years, have been able to run the ball on opponents. And while advanced statistics think that Gordon's season isn't completely impressive—he was 31st of 32 qualifying backs in DVOA coming into this week—he's definitely been a workhorse for San Diego behind a bad offensive line. Gordon had the third-most touches of any running back over the first nine weeks of the season, behind only David Johnson and DeMarco Murray.

And then the Titans came to town. Tennessee's been a popular sleeper this season as national media scribes cast the light on someone, anyone, to please put the boring Texans quarterback storyline to bed. This was a game that the Titans could have used to vault into the AFC South race and signal their arrival.

Instead, Melvin Gordon ran right the hell over the Titans to the tune of 196 yards on 32 carries.

The story of this game wasn't that Melvin Gordon was slipping would-be tacklers and making people look stupid early. The story was that the San Diego offensive line was bullying the Titans. Look at how much push they got on this simple four-yard run. The interior line starts just inside the 5-yard hash, and whips the defense almost all the way to the other side of it. This is a gaping hole in NFL terms and Gordon took advantage of it.

The only way Tennessee was able to slow the San Diego attack was run blitzing. Unfortunately, if you get a little too aggressive on a run blitz, you tend to leave some big holes open. That's what happened on Gordon's first big play, a 43-yard run to open the second quarter:

Watch 55 (Sean Spence) cheat towards the line of scrimmage at the beginning of that play and come right at the center. Avery Williamson (54) then comes barreling into the hole, but Antonio Gates meets him from outside the line and seals him. From there, it's all over until Gordon hits the sideline.

And now I'm about to pick on Williamson again. Here, he freezes behind the blockers and allows Gordon to dictate the pace of the play. All Gordon has to do for big yardage on this one is do the opposite of what Williamson does. At least Gordon finally broke a tackle on this one, even if it was against a defensive back.

Again, I know this isn't a sexy watch. But the San Diego interior line combo blocks well to the next level, and if Gordon hadn't been arm tackled he might've been off to the races.

OK, the highlights. You came for the highlights. This is actually a great run, Gordon has a tighter crease to hit because the Chargers are in a jumbo set. He finds the crease and bowls over a safety, successfully evades another, and that is pretty much that. The Chargers win the game fairly easily.

You, uh, might want to start your fantasy football running backs against the Titans if you get the chance. This isn't exactly a highly-regarded Chargers interior line, and they manhandled the Titans up front.