Muy dynamic.  Ever since the last few weeks of last season, we Charger fans have been given a private screening of the talents and athleticism of Darren Sproles.  A player once thought to be in danger of getting cut during camp last year is now on the verge of convincing many Bolts fans, including myself, that we might have a player on our doorstep who is so talented that he could end up splitting time with LT when he's back to 100%,  or something close to a split, for the rest of this season and beyond.  And if we're to continue to conserve the miles of our #21, having Sproles to come in and play significant minutes, and not just in mop up time (if we ever get there this season), could give us a one two punch that we might not never have experimented with had LT not had the injury bug for the last 4 games.

I'm going to be completely honest and say that until last week's game in Denver I was not completely sold on Sproles as a 10-20 touch-per-game back.  There were a couple of factors that figured into my doubt.  The first being the fact that when Sproles does get tackled, he goes down like he's been hit by sniper fire.  Seriously, the guy drops like a sack of potatos, and it's not just on big hits; it happens almost every time he gets tackled.  My other concern with Sproles is related to the first.  It's that every time he gets hit, I flinch because I'm just sure that he's going to cough up the football.  It's gotta be bound to happen, right?  When other players fumble, it's typically, not always, but typically due to a jarring hit.  Well, every hit Sproles takes looks jarring.

To play devil's advocate to my concerns, one could argue that it really makes no difference whether or not a player goes down hard or whether he falls more gracefully like LT.  Sure, his shelf life in the league might not be as long, but it's not about looks.  It's about the end result, which for Sproles is usually a big gain or a game changing touchdown run.  As for fumbling, Darren hasn't done much of that for a while.  I'm not going to be bothered right now to look up statistics (go to espn.com for that), but from watching every minute of every Charger game in recent memory, he hasn't fumbled enough on running plays (I know he's bobbled a kick/punt or two, none of which I can recall being turned over) for me to think of his hands being a weak spot in his skills repotoire.

So it appears my worries are unfounded, for now, and based solely on the fact that Darren is so small that in my mind he can't possibly be a real NFL back.  Then again, he's also filling in for arguably the greatest back in league history, so he's bound to be up against some unfair comparisons.

Enough of the concerns and back to the good stuff.  Since LT's 2006 season, I haven't seen a Charger offensive player show such speed, quickness and vision as Darren Sproles is displaying right now. Much like a healthy LT, it's gotten to the point that every time he touches the ball I find myself on the edge of my seat thinking he's about to take it to the house.  It sure makes for entertaining football when the Bolts have the ball.

Defenses are now certainly having to game plan for Darren Sproles, which feels odd to write, but has become a very real challenge for opposing coordinators.  And the fact that LT almost certainly will return to full health at some point this season, coupled with the stellar play of Philip, Chambers and VJ, and an eventual return to greatness by Gates this season (fingers crossed) means that our Bolts are absolutely loaded on offense. L-O-A-D-E-D.  And good Lord, I haven't even mentioned the fact that Marcus McNeil is going to play some on Monday and Nick Hardwick should be back next weekend in Oakland.  Yep, things are looking good on the offensive side of the ball.

Out of all the offensive weapons we have, though, my excitement keeps leading me back to Darren Sproles.  As our offensive personnel lines up through two weeks, with Gates and LT not at full strength, Sproles is the one that causes opposing defenses the most problems.  LaDainian made a post game comment in Denver noting that when he's in the game defences tend to bring a safety up much closer to the box, effectively adding an extra linebacker, but when Sproles is in the backfield that doesn't happen.  He's absolutely right, too, and I'm not sure they will do that anytime soon because Sproles, almost more so than LT, is such a threat as a receiver.  If a defense brings a safety up into the box to stop the run, the Bolts can run Sproles in motion, hit him in the flat and watch him go.

I'd like to see more packages with LT and Sproles on the field at the same time.  As I've said before, I'm no master of X's and O's, but it just seems that those two create too many match up problems to deal with, and that's just when they're on the field in lieu of the other.  Put one of them in the backfield and another in the slot and it's almost impossible not to have at least one mismatch.  Without getting into more depth here, I'm just going to say that the way Sproles is playing, when LT does return to full health it would almost be unthinkable for Norv to not find more ways to get them on the field at once.

So after two weeks of the 2008 season, it's clear that we should be able to put significant points on the board against any defense.  We've already been scoring almost at will (barring the first half of the Carolina game), and that's without a healthy LT and Gates, and with a patched up o-line.  If we can just wake our defense up and start pressuring the quarterback, we'll be back to winning ways in no time.  So for today I say fear not folks, the Bolt express, destination Tampa, is going to be back on track before we know it.  Then again, I reserve the right to change my mind if something unthinkable happens on Monday night and we end up 0-3.

Cheers,

Sir Bolt