Film Room: Chargers' Ladarius Green a simply explosive tight end
On the first play of the fourth quarter, the San Diego Chargers came out with two tight ends against the Indianapolis Colts. They were both at the left end of the trenches, with one, Ladarius Green, a yard off the line of scrimmage in a three-point stance. He was the Wing.
Before the play began, the quarterback called an audible, prompting Green to shift across the formation to a Flex alignment and leaving him man-to-man with a linebacker.
This was the matchup the Chargers wanted.
A six-yard cushion gave Green a free release straight ahead and let him set up the linebacker as if he was running straight downfield. The linebacker shuffled his feet by Green's inside hip, protecting the middle of the field to prevent an easy touchdown. But 11 yards downfield, Green jabbed his left foot and burst outside and diagonally across the 50-yard line, running away from the linebacker and trapping the high-arching throw for 25 yards.
This is what Green does. This is who Green is. He's a vertical tight end who runs longer and simpler routes than other tight ends, like teammate Antonio Gates.
“One glaring thing about him is that he’s super talented,” Gates told Sports Out West. “He brings something different to the table than what I bring. What he’s able to do in the passing game, how he’s able to spread the field out and go down ... it’s just something totally different than what I bring.”
Turn on the 2013 coaches film and you'll see dozens of crossing and corner and spot and out and flat and wheel and bend routes. Green's athleticism and speed shine on all of them. He’s fluid, long and acrobatic. Smooth. A complicated threat despite the simplicity of his routes.
It's not that he's incapable of running more complex routes; he’s not often asked to run them, and hasn't yet learned how. When he does run them, he doesn't sink his hips far enough - giving cornerbacks more time to close on his dig routes - or doesn't use his hands well enough at the line of scrimmage, leaving him easily jammed.
But he's slowly learning. He showed improvement last season and figures to be a bigger part of the Chargers' offense in 2014, with the offense likely using more two tight end sets than the 38 percent (according to Football Outsiders) it did last season.
The question is whether Green will be used differently this season than last. Odds are he won't.
Gates is still the No. 1 tight end and dominates underneath. Last season, Gates was targeted 58 times in the first nine yards from the line of scrimmage, the most of anywhere on the field, and caught 44 of his 77 receptions in the same area, according to Pro Football Focus.
Conversely, Green was targeted eight times in between the 10 and 19 yards in the middle of the field, the most of anywhere on the field.
In the first preseason game against the Dallas Cowboys this year, Green ran similar routes to last season, including a 20-yard reception on a shallow crossing route. This is likely to continue into the 2014 regular season, meaning he’ll have less volume in receptions but more big plays similar to the preseason catch and the 30-yard touchdown against the Cincinnati Bengals he had in Week 13 last year.
With more than 11 minutes to go in the second quarter, Green lined up in-line on the formation's left. Across from him was a defensive end lined up as an outside linebacker, creating a 3-4 front that was really a 4-3. Typical window dressing. The nearest linebacker was a weak-side linebacker five yards in front of him. Behind him were two deep safeties. It was Cover 2 zone.
At the snap the outside linebacker rushed downhill and Green weaved around him and then ran straight downfield. The weak-side linebacker took one false step forward when reading the play action and hopped back, but not quickly enough. Green looped around him and turned toward the middle to catch a bullet in between the weak-side linebacker and the middle linebacker's outstretched arms. Fifteen yards later, Green dunked the football through the yellow uprights.