Jake Roth-US PRESSWIRE

In truly clichéd fashion LaDainian Tomlinson signed a one-day contract with the San Diego Chargers so he could carry on the time honored tradition of all Charger greats by leaving the game without a championship ring. I guess this should be the point in time when I set aside my grievances with all things San Diego to show proper respect for one of the best running backs to enter the game in the last 20 years. But I just can’t.

I can’t strip from my mind the many images of Tomlinson running through, around and over silver and black jerseys like Warren Sapp does a group of children when oven-fresh pizza is served at Chuck E. Cheese’s.

I’ll never forget 2006 when my girlfriend at the time made a noble effort to snap me out of a funk I was in by buying Raiders-Chargers tickets. We made the trek from L.A. to the Bay just to see Randy Moss suffer a rib injury in the first quarter and to watch in horror as LT ran, caught and threw for a TD.

Many moments like that are frozen in my mind. I would have reoccurring nightmares of that visor running by me in a blur so fast you weren’t sure if it was a Hall of Fame running back or Snake Eyes from G.I. Joe that just sped past.

Now let me make something clear. I’m not a complete hater. I had nothing but respect for Junior Seau. I always admired the way Derrick Thomas went about his business. To this day I’ll even argue that John Elway was the best quarterback I’ve ever seen. I even grew to like Steve Largent at one point in time. Every one of them an AFC West rival and every one of them I’d have gladly welcomed to the silver and black.

With LT it’s just something different. I know how nice the dude was. He killed my favorite team plenty of times and did the same to a few of my fantasy teams for good measure. However I’m not even going to debate his place in history. He’s not even in the convo for best running back ever in my mind. But I will say this much. He had a stretch of years that were as dominant as any we’ve ever seen from a running back.

That’s about as close as I’ll come to complimenting Tomlinson. Otherwise to me he’s just another Charger that teased his bandwagon fans with false Super Bowl aspirations. Say whatever you will of his absolute ownership of Oakland – it never amounted to anything more than bragging rights. You Dolt fans can have those. Bragging rights don’t come with a Lombardi trophy, at least not in San Diego.

IF Darren McFadden stays healthy for all of 2012 then the Oakland Raiders will win the AFC West.

Yeah, not exactly a bold statement when it begins with the dirty if word. But it’s not a reach when you consider how close the Raiders have been the last two years with only a side serving of Run DMC. Imagine what they’d look like with a full helping. He’d be the league’s leading rusher and possibly biggest producer of total yards from scrimmage with a full 16 games.

Carson Palmer doesn’t have to be great. With Jason Campbell being average the Raiders went from hopeless to in contention almost every Sunday. Anything was an upgrade over #2, we know this. But you can’t ignore McFadden’s breakout coming at the same time things improved in Oakland.

Keep in mind the Raiders haven’t had a good defense either. Funny thing is when McFadden is playing the defense is good enough to keep them in the game. Without McFadden the D becomes softer than Clay Aiken at an album cover shoot.

Not saying a homerun threat like McFadden can erase a bad defense. I’m still trying to forget what happened in Jacksonville. But I’ll take my chances in any contest with a weapon that can turn the tide with one touch.

Beyond his talent, he’s also a valued asset for all the other things he does. As a receiver, blocker, decoy and let’s not forget hard worker, McFadden is in that Walter Payton type mold. Not saying he is Payton, just that there is that all-around feel to his game that reminds you of Sweetness.

Darren McFadden is that type of player. MVP level talent with an old school approach.

Despite all of his injury issues, McFadden has avoided any major surgeries too. Keep that in mind. A lot of what he’s suffered has been of the freakish variety. Things that just can happen when you play a brutal sport.

But…here comes the but…

He does have a history of foot problems. That’s a warning sign too big to ignore for a running back. His latest was a condition that caused Matt Schaub to get surgery. McFadden and the Raiders didn’t choose the knife instead opting for rest and rehab. Kelly Skipper has coached him up for years now and he’s already saying McFadden is making cuts at full speed in May. So perhaps the no-surgery approach was best.

We’ll have to wait and see.

Getting back my not-so-bold proclamation of Oakland taking the AFC West back. Let’s be honest about this division. It’s just one big collection of good talent, good coaching and overall average teams.

The San Diego Chargers are Super Bowl champs in July and at home watching the playoffs in January. Get ready for the next round of hype when the football news dies down in the coming months.

Kansas City has teased its fans with some flashes of brilliance then followed that up with worse showings than the 0-16 Lions. They’re trendy right now too but don’t overlook the fact that they’re starting all over again with a new head coach, same as Oakland.

Change is constant in the AFC West so the deck keeps getting shuffled.

Denver is the no-brainer to most. As in you’ve got no brain if you’re picking them just because of Peyton Manning. He hasn’t played in a year and last time he did it’s not like the Colts ran through the league with ease. Plus, let’s be honest, nobody knows how this dude will respond when he takes a hit at game-speed. Don’t act as if this isn’t a gamble by the Broncos cause it is.

That brings me back to McFadden. He’s in his prime much like LaDainian Tomlinson who pushed the Chargers to the top of the AFC West in past years. Forget all that copy-cat talk of the NFL being a passing league. A dominant running back is the greatest luxury there is in football. They’re just few and far between with a short shelf life so when you get one you’ve got to take advantage.

Which brings me back to that dirty if word.

All running backs take punishment so injury is expected. Being able to manage pain versus injury is as old as the game itself. Nobody doubts McFadden’s toughness which means his injuries are serious enough that he just can’t play even if he wanted to. That is concerning cause we know he routinely plays through pain like all true professionals do.

So…if McFadden can stay healthy for 16 games I’m calling the AFC West crown right here, right now for the Oakland Raiders.

That very injury is what took Bush off the board in the 4^th round of the NFL Draft instead of the 1^st. That same injury is also what cost him a year of service in the NFL. Scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent, the league ruled Bush’s first season did not count towards his contract status. Therefore the Raiders got Bush’s services at a discount for another year as all they had to do was place the highest contract tender possible on the stud backup ensuring no other team would match the offer.

Now the Raiders could have done themselves a favor and opened contract talks with Bush prior to the start of the season. That would have at least allowed them to get ahead of the sure-to-be Bush sweepstakes this coming offseason.

Safe to say the price tag on Bush was a little less until he took over again for McFadden and pushed Bo Jackson out of the Raider record book.

ESPN’s AFC West blogger Bill Williamson had an interesting take on what will happen between Bush and the Raiders once the season is over. In his weekly chat session Williamson was asked what Bush’s future in Oakland will be. Williamson responded with the following.

I think he could get paid starter’s money and he may want a chance to be the lead back. This could be a Michael Turner situation from a few years back in San Diego.

Now teams have been calling the Raiders about Bush for years. Once he proved his leg injury was a thing of the past not a season has gone by in which there wasn’t some trade rumor involving Michael Bush.

But this is a much different beast.
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