Huge Game For AFC West Lead As The Chargers Head To Denver

Last week was a huge momentum shift for both the San Diego Chargers and the Denver Broncos. The Chargers finally ran the ball well and took out Philly 31-23 while the Broncos lost Kyle Orton and lost to the Redskins 27-17. Now they are tied at 6-3 each in the AFC West and San Diego is looking for revenge.

Now, the thing I see is that if the Chargers win this game, their next two games are against the Chiefs and Browns, while the Broncos take on the Giants, the Chiefs, and the Colts, so SD has the advantage with the next few games.

While the pass defense has been pretty good most of the season, the Chargers let up 450 yards to McNabb last week, so if that happens again they can probably kiss this win goodbye. Luckily for them, they will either play an injured Kyle Orton, or Chris Simms. Both of these quarterbacks are less talented then McNabb. Besides that everything went well for SD, they ran the ball well, Rivers was effecient completing 20 of 25, and the Run Defense held the Eagles to about 30 yards.

On the other side the Broncos looked great at first, starting the game with 2 huge TD passes to Brandon Marshall, but produced only 36 yards of offense in the 2nd half. Also, they let a Punter score on a 32 yard TD pass, that is kind of embarresing. I mean, when a kicker maybe scores on a short 5 yard td pass, thats acceptable, but 32 yards? Anyway that was the 3rd straight loss for Denver.

San Diego pretty much needs to play like they did last week, expect lower the yards allowed through the air. Even if they need to let up a few more rushing yards, don't let Denver put up more than 300. If SD can establish a decent running game, then Rivers can torch the Denver Defense and the Chargers will easily win this one. But, Denver can win this game. If they can wreck SD on sprecial teams like they did last time, it could be a long day for the Chargers. Also, the Pass Rush killed them last time, but Rivers has adjusted, facing two great pass rushes the last two weeks.

Projected Stats

Score- 24-10 Chargers

QBs
Chargers
Philip Rivers- 242 Yard 2 TDs
Broncos
Chris Simms (He is the probable starter)- 173 Yards TD Int

RBs
Chargers
LaDainian Tomlinson- 84 Yards TD
Darren Sproles- 34 Yards
Broncos
Knowshon Moreno- 63 Yards
Correll Buckalter- 42 Yards

WRs
Chargers
Vincent Jackson- 61 Yards TD
Malcom Floyd- 44 Yards
Broncos
Brandon Marshall- 72 Yards TD
Eddie Royal- 38 Yards

TEs
Chargers
Antonio Gates-88 Yards TD
Broncos
Tony Scheffler- 77 Yards

Defenses
Chargers- 3 Sacks INT
Broncos- 4 Sacks