Ryan Mathews will be the Chargers’ starting tailback soon, perhaps as soon as this week in St. Louis. He just needs to get through a week of practice healthy, able to absorb and implement the game plan and work on what will be required of him.
“I think Ryan will be our lead guy,” Turner said. “That’s why he’s here. I look forward to being our lead guy. (But) when you can’t do everything you need to in practice and you’re a month into your first year, there are lot of thing going on out there. We’re working for him to be the full-time guy, and I want him to be that guy.”
Mathews was limited in Friday’s practice due to residual soreness in his ankle, which he sprained in the season’s second game and which kept him out of the third game.
On Sunday, Mike Tolbert started and had more carries than Mathews for the second straight week. Mathews, while still leaving some yards on the field in part due to his trying to cut back, led the Chargers this with 59 yards on his nine carries. It was the second week in a row he averaged better than six yards a carry.
