Eric D. Williams 9y

Ryan Mathews eager to get back on field

SAN DIEGO – After two games without the team’s every-down running back, something became very evident for the San Diego Chargers.

They need a healthy Ryan Mathews.

The Chargers average 2.4 rushing yards per carry, worst in the NFL. Mathews has not played since suffering an MCL knee sprain against Seattle on Sept. 14. The injury could keep Mathews out a total of four to five weeks, depending on the severity of the sprain.

“I’m feeling good,” Mathews said. “I’m taking it one day at a time, doing my best to get my full workouts in and do the best that I can to get my knee right.”

Mathews has been a spectator while his team has taken care of business in earning wins against Buffalo and Jacksonville, pushing San Diego’s record to 3-1.

Still, there’s a reason Mathews entered the regular season as the team’s lead running back, even with Chargers general manager Tom Telesco signing backup Donald Brown to a three-year, $10.4 million deal.

Mathews rushed for a career-high 1,255 yards and seven total touchdowns last season in the same run scheme. Further, four of his six 100-yard rushing games occurred during the final eight games of the regular season, when Mathews developed a better feel and patience for San Diego’s run game.

The Chargers also had the same starting five up front for five of the last eight games, so continuity with the offensive line played a role in Mathews’ success. San Diego has started three different players at center in the first four games this season.

Through four games this season, Brown has rushed for 100 yards on 50 carries, averaging a woeful 2 yards a carry. Mathews has San Diego’s only rushing touchdown this season and the team’s longest run, a 20-yard scamper for a score against Arizona.

“The reality is we’re a good team without Ryan, but we’re a better team with him,” Chargers tight end Antonio Gates said about Mathews. “I think that says it all. Everyone knows what he brings to the table, the explosiveness.

“We’re still a good team. We’ve still got good backs, and we can do what we need to do. But obviously he was the cornerstone of what we tried to do in the running game.”

Although eager to return, Mathews said he doesn’t have a timetable for when he’ll be ready to take the field. After playing with a nagging ankle injury that limited his effectiveness in the playoffs last season, Mathews wants to make sure he’s healthy.

Mathews, 26, is in the final year of his rookie contract, and might have proved his value to the franchise while watching the team’s running game sputter while he works to get healthy.

“As a running back, you want to make sure that you’re fully healthy,” Mathews said. “You don’t want to go in there when you’re first getting back and you have something happen to it again because it’s not fully healed, with people going at your legs and everything. So you want to make sure that you’re healed.

“I love to play this game. I’ve watched my teammates out there having fun and winning. But my time will come when I get better and everything.”

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