Donald Brown is running like Ronnie Brown… maybe worse

Sep 28, 2014; San Diego, CA, USA; San Diego Chargers running back Donald Brown (34) runs the ball as Jacksonville Jaguars defensive end Andre Branch (90) defends during the fourth quarter at Qualcomm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports

We should be talking about a great win today and I will talk about that in future posts, but this post is going to put the focus on the crap job this team is doing in the running game. Donald Brown is the 3rd running back on the depth chart, but he was brought onto the team in order to take over the starting role WHEN Ryan Mathews went down with an injury. He was expected to be able to take over that spot and he has not been able to do anything with his opportunity.

More from LA Chargers News

• LA Chargers: 3 early takeaways from 2021 minicamp thus far
• LA Chargers: Drue Tranquill takes a jab at Gus Bradley’s defense
• LA Chargers second-year players: Nothing to lose and a lot to gain
• LA Chargers: Why running back could be a big issue for the Bolts
• LA Chargers: Chris Rumph’s upside is Melvin Ingram-like, but better

Against the Buffalo Bills, he showed some flashes in the run game, but was stifled toward the end of the game when the team showed their hand and tried to stuff it up the middle. Against the Jacksonville Jaguars, there are no excuses.

The running game was a mess. Branden Oliver served as a better threat on offense when he was in the game. He was used mostly in the screen game and picked up some nice chunks of yards running behind his blockers. He didn’t do much running the football either though.

We will keep this post, mostly on the inabilities of Donald Brown though. At one point in the game, the announcers said that the Chargers lead the league in the most negative plays. That is embarassing. This is a team that thrives on picking up little pieces of yards at a time and we are going backwards! Brown is part of the issue. The offensive line is going to get some crap for this also and that seems to be another post that we can smack on some people.

The struggles in the run game can be pointed at Brown first though. There are a number of times that he wants to dance and thinks that he is faster than he really is and gets stopped behind the line of scrimmage. I can’t wait to have Ryan Mathews back on the field, but we need him to stay healthy.

The reason why Brown will continue to get reps is for his ability to block for Philip. I haven’t paid a ton of attention on Oliver’s ability to block, but I know that Brown will keep Philip standing up and will allow Philip to hit his guys down the field.

At some point, we are going to need a run game. Brown doesn’t look like he is the guy that will provide it. He is running like the other Brown we had on the roster the last couple of seasons…. RONNIE.