Like Mike McCoy likes to say, the San Diego Chargers drafted Melvin Gordon in the first round for a reason.
Give Gordon the football.
“The running game was not good enough for anybody,” McCoy said after Sunday’s loss to the Minnesota Vikings. “When you get beat like that, it is not good enough and we will evaluate the film. When looking at a running back you do not want to just look at the numbers.”
Well, coach, when looking at the numbers through three games, Gordon is No. 10 in the NFL in rushing, running for 190 yards on 44 carries for a respectable 4.32 yards per carry. He has yet to get into the end zone.
Gordon’s three rushes of at least 20 yards ties him for second in the NFL.
According to ESPN Stats & Information, Gordon has 104 yard after contact, which is No. 6 in the NFL.
That’s pretty impressive considering the University of Wisconsin product seems to get hit more times than not before he reaches the line of scrimmage.
He’s carried the ball an average of 15 times a game. Gordon averaged 25 carries a game in college. But the 15 rushes is about what Ryan Mathews received at times before they started giving him upwards of 20 and he got hurt. But the key stat is Gordon has one carry on third down and none in the red zone, so the Chargers remain unwilling to use him in crucial moments in the game, seemingly trusting Danny Woodhead more in that role.
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