Ryan Mathews brings the run game back to life

Ryan Mathews is a difference maker. There are a lot of haters on Ryan Mathews out there, but the haters have to recognize the impact that he has on the game WHEN he is available. He might fumble. He might get hurt. He might do this. He might do that.

You know what he will do? He will carry this run game on his back. He is the best back on this roster and he is the best chance that this team has at winning. If the team wants to move the ball in the ground game, then people better recognize the impact that Ryan has in games.

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Ryan is the fastest back on the roster. He is also that strongest back on the roster. His punishing style gets stronger as the game goes on. He makes the run game better. He makes the blocking better. The more Ryan that we get, the more the defenders hate dealing with his punishing style.

Just look at his production against the St. Louis Ram defense on Sunday afternoon. He had 105 yards on 12 carries for an 8.75 yard average. Just get him the ball and the offense will move the ball down the field. Philip Rivers and the rest of the guys have to love that impact on the field.

He had to leave the game early after tweaking his shoulder, so the haters are going to have some juice to chatter about again. Still, look at what he was able to do and it would have been nice to have him in the game to run out the clock.

Mathews will be a key player on the team down the stretch. The team will need to establish that run game and control the game clock. Mathews will be the best person to do that on the team. He did it for the team last year and will do it again this year. The team runs at a different speed with him on the field.

With Ryan bringing back the run game, the passing game will open up more for Philip Rivers and company. Teams will have to be prepared for the balance that the team can bring and will have to respect the ability of Ryan. You can’t play the pass all day with Ryan taking the ball and picking up big chunks of yards.

Yesterday, Ryan was finally able to make that move in the open field to spring loose for the score. That had been one of his issues in the past. He wasn’t able to break that last tackle to get to the end zone. This time he was able to make it happen. Can he keep producing like that? We sure hope so.

Just get him the ball and the offense will be sitting in a good spot. Happy to have Ryan back on the field.