Control issue with Tomlinson

FOXBOROUGH -- LaDainian Tomlinson is not Superman. Despite his remarkable production, there is no "S" on his chest. But on Sunday, there will be a bull's-eye on it, and the New England front seven had best hit it squarely and often if they plan to defeat the San Diego Chargers and move on to the AFC Championship game. Anything less, according to an assortment of coaches and scouts who faced him this season, and it will be a long afternoon for New England.

"He may be the greatest football player I have ever seen," said recently deposed Raiders coach Art Shell, whose team held Tomlinson to 109 yards in their second meeting, a 21-14 Chargers win in which Tomlinson scored twice.

Tomlinson's accomplishments are well-documented. He led the league in rushing with 1,815 yards. He led the league in scoring with 186 points. He led the league in rushing touchdowns with 28 and total touchdowns with 31, setting league marks in both categories. He was selected the league's Most Valuable Player and its Offensive Player of the Year. If there is something he didn't do during the Chargers' 14-2 season, it would be difficult to identify.

Yet some teams had relative success against him, one of which was the Tennessee Titans, who limited Tomlinson to 71 yards and a 3.7-yard average. Of course, he also caught seven passes and scored twice in a 40-7 Chargers rout, the kind of all-around production that Titans linebackers coach Dave McGinnis says is what makes Tomlinson so difficult to keep in check.

"He's the closest thing to Marshall Faulk I've ever seen," McGinnis said. "Marshall Faulk with the Rams when Mike Martz had him was near-unstoppable. So is LT. San Diego runs a more power-oriented game than the Rams used to, and LaDainian is perfect for that, but he's as versatile as Faulk was in the receiving game and he's a more powerful runner.

"When he can hit a crack, he's fast enough to get through to the second level [of the defense] and he's strong enough to get through it. You're not going to just get a hand on him and take him down. He's got that extra jet pack to where he can go to the house so much faster than people think. He's got great balance, great vision, and great acceleration."

What complicates matters is that as much as you'll hear talk all week of playing eight men in the box to stop the run, that's not necessarily advisable against San Diego because of the presence of explosive tight end Antonio Gates running free in the middle of the field.

"That's a big part of the problem playing San Diego," McGinnis said. "You've got Gates to mess with, too. If you've got that kind of guy who can work the middle of the field, he negates that eighth guy in the box. How far do you commit that guy to the box with Gates there? He's a great complement to LT.

"New England is strong enough up front to defend him without that extra guy in the box. They've got great two-gap players. Those three up front are about as good two-gap players as there is in the NFL. If you're not that strong up front, you've got to gap-fit, but they're strong enough to hold those gaps. They can sit there and butt heads with them on the line of scrimmage.

"The other problem is LT is dangerous to you every time they hand him the ball. He's a huge mismatch for any linebacker one-on-one whether he's running with it or on a pass route. He can shake you off, and if he does, he's gone before anyone else can get there."

Not enough people have gotten there for the Patriots in the three games in which they've faced Tomlinson. He's averaged 142 rushing yards a game, 5.6 yards a carry, and has scored five touchdowns. In the last two games, he ran for 351 yards and averaged 6.7 yards a carry. So whatever the Patriots have tried against Tomlinson thus far has not worked.

"I think he's a back who can do it all," said Patriots defensive end Richard Seymour. "He can make all the runs, all the cuts, he's an inside-outside runner.

"We have another opportunity this week [to stop him]. I think we've been doing a real good job against the run this year, mixing in some different fronts, but we're definitely going to throw the house at him and be ready to go."

They had best be ready, and they had best be under control, in the opinion of San Francisco 49ers coach Mike Nolan, whose defense had a frustrating day with Tomlinson, limiting him to 71 yards rushing but watching him score four times.

"The biggest thing is, when he makes his break, he comes out of it real fast -- real fast," Nolan said. "There's no lull when he makes his cut. That's why you need gap discipline. You have no time to recover once he cuts if you're not in the right place. You have to stay in those gaps, because if you give him any kind of opening, he'll see it and he'll be through it.

"Scheme has nothing to do with it. Schemes sound good, but you don't stop LaDainian Tomlinson with schemes. You've got to have better players on the field."

When former Rams general manager Charley Armey watched Tomlinson this season, he saw the mirror image of Faulk, but a more powerful version.

"It's hard to get a straight shot at him," said Armey, who is now the Rams' advance scout and watched both New England and San Diego this season. "He sees things at a wide angle. He runs with his eyes as much as he does with his legs. That's how he can make those cuts so quickly. His vision. The only back I've seen who could make those lateral cuts better than Tomlinson was Barry Sanders."

What Armey told the Rams, against whom Tomlinson rushed for 183 yards and scored three times, was the same thing he'd tell the Patriots: Keep him between the tackles.

"You can't let him get outside," Armey said. "You have to pressure from the outside in to contain him. You can't stop him, you have to just try to control him, and the way to do it is don't let him get to the edge of your defense.

"Most people can't play eight in the box against him because of Gates so you have to play disciplined and force everything back to the middle of the field. You can't blitz them except on running downs because if they call a screen to LaDainian and you're in a blitz, it's a touchdown.

"I'd stay in that seven-man front with my ends out wide. I don't care too much if he gets 150 yards as long as it's between the tackles. I'd back the defensive linemen off the line a yard and tell my nose tackle to play the contain game. If I saw him cross the line of scrimmage, I'd haul his butt out of the game.

"You put your two defensive ends on the outside shoulder of their tackles and have the nose man just shiver the center and set. I wouldn't want him to penetrate. I'd want him to read the back and hold steady, and they've got a guy who can do that with [Vince] Wilfork. He's got to fill up those gaps so the center and guard can't get over him to block a linebacker, because if that happens and Tomlinson hits that crack, he's gone.

"You're not going to stop the guy from gaining some yards. You're not going to stop him from affecting the game. You have to play under control and just make sure he doesn't overwhelm the game."