Please Stop The L.T. Train

If you are like me, you are going to get physically ill if you see LaDainian Tomlinson run over the Raiders tonight.

Much is being made about Tomlinson salivating over the matchup, because his numbers in nine career games against the Raiders are indeed extraordinary. However, I don’t really care at this point what Tomlinson did against Gruden’s or Callahan’s teams. I care about what he’s done to this team.

During last year’s first divisional matchup, Tomlinson was slowed by a groin injury. Over the last two matchups against the Raiders, however, he has rushed for 304 yards and scored four touchdowns. He got wide open in the first quarter this year for a 35-yard touchdown reception. He even threw the ball for a score. Do you see a pattern emerging?

Job number one tonight is to win. But I submit that there is a second job tonight: don’t let L.T. beat us. I don’t mean that as the typical cliché. I mean it as a crusade, as a non-negotiable requirement. Let Brees, Gates or McCardell try to beat us. But pour any and all available resources into tracking and stuffing L.T. No more losing track of him. No more half-assed tackling. We need this moral victory in addition to true victory. We need to give this division rival something to think about for next year. We need to sow some seeds of doubt by downshifting their favorite weapon from automatic to neutral. We need to set the table for 2006, to show we can adjust, perform and at least execute a game plan that, win or lose, will spare us the embarrassment of another LaDainian Tomlinson spectacle.