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Run the ball and stop the run. Two keys that most great football teams are proficient at.

But those are exactly the things the Chargers couldn't do Sunday in their 31-26 home loss to the Ravens. Without RB LaDainian Tomlinson, who missed the game with a sprained ankle, and missing two starting offensive linemen, San Diego could only muster 53 rushing yards on 21 attempts, a 2.5-yard average. The Chargers rank 30th in the league in rushing.

Defensively, the Chargers were missing run-stuffing NT Jamal Williams, who was placed on injured reserve last week with a triceps injury and is out for the remainder of the season. And it showed, as Baltimore was able to exploit the middle of the defense to the tune of 130 yards and two touchdowns on the ground. The Chargers rank 25th in the league in rushing defense.

Not having an effective rushing attack hurt the Bolts most in the red zone, where passing the ball becomes more difficult. They had to settle for four field goals in five trips there Sunday.

"The biggest thing I think in the red zone were some of the problems up front," head coach Norv Turner said. "We gave up a sack on a play-action pass right away. We had the delay of game that you should never have. When you do those things it makes it real tough."

The absence of L.T. didn't prove to be a major hindrance for most of Sunday's contest — the Chargers racked up 474 yards of offense, thanks mainly to the 436 yards piled up by QB Philip Rivers — but it became a killer around the goal line. While the diminutive RB Darren Sproles is a very dangerous player in space, as evidenced by his 7-124-1 receiving numbers against Baltimore, he gets bottled up quickly when trying to run up the middle. That's exactly what happened, as the Ravens held him to 10-26-0 rushing and consistently stuffed him in the red zone, including on a 4th-and-1 play in the final minutes that sealed the victory.

Rivers might have had a career day in this one, but the lack of a force to stuff it in from close range — Tomlinson's specialty — turned out to be the difference in the game. While this strictly aerial strategy might work against lesser opponents, it won't bring San Diego much success when it faces upper-echelon competition. The team hopes to get Tomlinson back for Week Three's meeting with the Dolphins, but his status likely won't be known until later in the week. The same is true for C Nick Hardwick (ankle) and ORG Louis Vasquez (knee), two starters who sat out Sunday's contest.

One guy the Bolts won't be getting back is Williams, which puts a major crimp in their plans of reaching the Super Bowl. The 348-pound, three-time Pro Bowler was the linchpin of the defense, the man who regularly clogged running holes and took on multiple blockers to free up linebackers to make plays. Without him in the lineup Sunday, the Ravens were able to run up the gut, forcing the Chargers to alter their game plan in order to stop it. Ogemdi Nwagbuo, a first-year player from Michigan State, is the man immediately responsible for filling Williams' void in the middle, and either he or another D-lineman will need to get greater penetration going forward for this run defense to improve.

Looking at the big picture, it has been Déjà vu thus far for San Diego, which is off to yet another slow start and easily could be sitting at 0-2. It's still early enough for the club to get things turned around, but it will need to get healthy rather quickly, as games with 2008 playoff teams Miami and Pittsburgh are next up on the schedule.