Film Room: At 34, Antonio Gates is still scoring touchdowns
Here is an incredible statistic: Antonio Gates has scored more touchdowns (97) than the number of players (87) the San Diego Chargers have drafted since 2003.
That was Gates’ first year in the NFL as an undrafted, basketball-to-football convert out of Kent State when he caught a career-low two touchdowns. He didn’t know much about football, other than that he had to develop his route-running. He needed to polish the tops of his routes and find consistent technique to fool defenders, but that still didn’t stop the tight end from scoring.
Nothing has stopped Gates from scoring since. He's broken records after some thought he was a broken record, after his leg injuries mounted and after his 34th birthday. The Chargers also thought he was gassed. Three years ago, they drafted his replacement - Ladarius Green - who's still standing on the sidelines. Meanwhile, Gates keeps scoring.
***
Gates' first three touchdowns in 2014 came in Week 2 against the Seattle Seahawks. The Seahawks had young linebackers that could run with tight ends across the middle, that could punish tight ends that were lacking physicality, that could shut down even the best tight end. But not Gates.
On one of his scores, Gates was flexed on the back-side of a Trips Right formation when an outside linebacker crouched in front of him. Gates released inside and circled outside the linebacker. Gates then leaned his shoulder left into the linebacker to push him further outside.
By pushing the linebacker outside, Gates created more room for himself downfield. The strong safety was the only one deep that could help. All the quarterback had to do was hold him long enough for Gates to get downfield. The linebacker was then virtually isolated in man coverage, which is always an advantage for Gates.
After he leaned into the linebacker, Gates squared his shoulders and pushed downfield. He drifted outside again to stack the linebacker behind him and run away from the safety. The throw flew over Gates' head and fell into his left palm for his third touchdown of the game.
***
His fourth touchdown came three weeks later in Week 5 against the New York Jets. Gates was, again, on the back-side of a Trips Right formation. This time a safety was a couple of yards in front of him playing man coverage.
Gates stemmed three steps straight forward, the third a hard cut inside. Then he sank his hips and the safety went flat-footed. Then the safety leaned over his waist and threw his hands up to jam Gates, who punched back with his left hand like a boxer and knocked the safety to the inside.
The safety struggled to stay balanced as he fell back. Gates jump-cut outside on a quick-out route and jogged into the end zone, catching the first of his two touchdowns of the game.
***
His seventh touchdown came two weeks later in Week 7 against the despised Kansas City Chiefs. Like the Seahawks and Jets, the Chiefs thought they could defend the old man on an island. But to be safe, they aligned their strong safety with a cushion. Deep down they knew that they couldn’t trust him to stop Gates.
Gates ran diagonally off the line from his usual flex alignment. He hustled downfield, toward the numbers, to widen the safety enough so he could fit into the channel between the numbers and the left hash. He kept his shoulders square to not tip off his route.
Gates then kicked out his left foot to make the safety second-guess what he was seeing. Was it a post route? A dig route? A bend route?
The safety hesitated, unsure, and turned his back to the sideline. At the same time, Gates straightened his route downfield. As he ran by the single-high safety, the safety covering him undercut his route, tipped the ball back and straight into the Gates’ hands near the end line.
***
His 10th touchdown came in Week 15 against division-rival Denver Broncos. In his career, Gates had scored eight touchdowns against the Broncos, though none were as personal as this one.
He lined up outside the numbers on the back-side of a Trips Right formation in a plus-split. This was the formation that the Chargers preferred because Gates was then one-on-one with defensive backs or linebackers, either of whom he could beat because of his route-running. Across from him was a strong safety who was pressing against the line of scrimmage like waves crashing along San Diego’s beaches.
At the snap, Gates took his first step outside to freeze the safety, who panicked and bucketed back with his right foot.
The false step gave Gates an opening to the inside, where he took his second step and leaned forward. He burst diagonally on a slant route before he was hit on the back shoulder with the ball, catching it for a touchdown.
***
Yet another incredible statistic: Gates’ touchdown against the Broncos tied the New England Patriots’ Rob Gronkowski as one of two tight ends in NFL history with at least 10 touchdowns in four seasons.
This season, Gates has 58 receptions for 662 yards to go with all his touchdowns. He’s still getting open like he always has, with smooth route-running that lulls defensive backs and linebackers to sleep before jolting them one step at a time.
One day, when Gates calls it quits, when he can no longer run routes to perfection, when his replacement does more than watch from the sideline, Gates will go down as one of the greatest tight ends ever.