Chiefs vs. Chargers: Defending Jones, Charles And McCluster

The San Diego Chargers know what their toughest test will be on Monday Night Football against the Kansas City Chiefs to kick off the 2010 NFL season: Stopping the run.

Perhaps the Chiefs only true strength on the team (other than the secondary) is the running backs. Thomas Jones, Jamaal Charles and even Dexter McCluster have been popular topics in San Diego this week.

Here's what Chargers LB Stephen Cooper had to say about all three of them, according to the Chargers official site.

"Thomas Jones is definitely a downhill runner. A really stout, really physical, blue-collar kind of guy."

"Charles is a bounce guy. He wants to get outside and make a big play, so we've got to make sure we keep him contained, hit him as much as possible and make him feel it every time he touches the ball."

"You definitely have to key on (McCluster) just because he's so fast. We want to make sure we have a guy in his face, make sure we keep him contained and don't let him outside. As long as we keep him bottled up and hit him as much as possible, I think we'll be alright."

Sounds like they'll be paying quite a bit of attention to McCluster. Something we haven't really talked about is the possibility of McCluster being a decoy. He's clearly drawing some attention so if you know they're going to assign someone to McCluster it could create opportunities elsewhere.