CB Charles Woodson and S Atari Bigby combine to tackle Chargers RB LaDainian Tomlinson on Sunday.
When it was all said and done Sunday, LaDainian Tomlinson's stat sheet read 22 carries for 62 yards, and three catches for 33 yards and a touchdown.
Surely those numbers are respectable, but they're also far from the all-world performance that the do-everything Tomlinson normally accounts for.
Considering that No. 21 is a threat to score from anywhere on the field, whether it be an explosive run, a well-executed screen pass, or even throwing touchdowns himself, the Chargers possess one of the game's most dangerous weapons.
Though the Packers held him in check numbers-wise, it wouldn't be entirely fair to judge Tomlinson on his lack of explosive plays.
In other words, Tomlinson may not have had his best game statistically, but that doesn't mean his contributions were small. For instance, tight end Antonio Gates had 11 catches for 113 yards and wide receiver Vincent Jackson finished with 6 catches for 98 yards in large part because concentrating on Tomlinson is always at the forefront of opposing defenses.
"He's the type of guy that any play in the game, he can go 100 yards on you," linebacker A.J. Hawk said. "So we knew it was our job to keep him contained. You definitely can't do that with one or two guys, you need all 11 and that's what I think we did a good job with today."
According to Head Coach Mike McCarthy, the most impressive part of the Packers' defensive performance against the run was keeping Tomlinson in check even though the Chargers kept trying to establish a ground attack.
"I thought our run defense was excellent, especially when they came in trying to establish the run from the first series of the game," he said. "So, it wasn't like they tried to run the ball and got away from the run and came back to it and so forth. They really pounded away at it.
"They like to run the power inside. He's (Tomlinson) an excellent runner obviously, with exceptional vision, and he got to the perimeter a few times on us, but I thought they (the defense) did a great job."
Cornerback Charles Woodson said he thought that the defense did its job in preventing Tomlinson from breaking too many huge plays (a 21-yard touchdown was the longest), but admitted that the defense could have fared better in bottling up Gates.
"I think we did a good job," Woodson said. "Gates got some big catches on third down and that sort of the thing. He's one of the best in the league.
"But we have to work on stopping those types of plays."
Perhaps that's just Woodson nitpicking or maybe it's just a great player knowing that a good defense can get even better. At any rate, the Packers defense is a large part of why the team is 3-0 and containing the run is seemingly at the heart their philosophy.
And without question, the guys up front have literally stood up to the challenge.
{sportsad300}"We feel confident in our run defense," Hawk said. "When you have a front four like we do, how much penetration our line gets, it makes a linebacker's job easy. When he (Tomlinson) can't get downhill, it makes our jobs as linebackers easier.
"And our safeties and corners tackle, too. We have 11 guys going to the ball."
It's hard to argue with Hawk's assessment, considering that when the dust settled on another Packers win, the Chargers had only 73 net rushing yards on 28 carries for a 2.6-yard average. The fact that such a performance came against one of the AFC's top offenses made the victory that much sweeter for a fast, instinctive, and swarming defense.
When Hawk, who is now in his second season as a pro, was asked whether stopping Tomlinson and Gates was one of the toughest challenges he's faced in his young career, he acknowledged that it was far from easy.
"It's definitely up there," he said. "Both those guys are unbelievable talents and faces of this league. They make plays all over the field. We knew it was going to be a big test for us and that they would make plays.
"We just had to get off the field when we needed to."
Exiting with a 31-24 win certainly accomplished that.
