The Chargers enter Week 15 on a excessive be aware after defeating the Dolphins on Sunday night time however proceed their run towards AFC playoff groups with a matchup towards the Titans this weekend.
Listed here are 4 causes to be optimistic about Los Angeles’ possibilities to fortify their place within the playoffs.
Damage trajectories
As of Thursday, the Chargers proceed to attend on the damage standing of Derwin James, Bryce Callahan, Sebastian Joseph-Day, and Trey Pipkins. That looks as if a considerable record, however Los Angeles ought to get Donald Parham Jr. again on Sunday, in addition to Mike Williams, Zion Johnson, and Jamaree Salyer training in full. Tennessee, in the meantime, has six starters on this week’s damage report whose sport standing appears to be in query. An important of those are defensive linemen Denico Autry and Jeffery Simmons and cornerback Kristian Fulton, key members of the Titans’ protection. We’ve seen what this Chargers offense regarded like final week with near all of its items again, and including Parham towards a bruised Tennessee crew ought to solely convey the offense to new heights.
Lackluster move protection
Even with everybody wholesome, Tennessee is twenty eighth in move protection DVOA. The Chargers are additionally first in neutral pass rate, whereas the Titans permit the best impartial move charge within the NFL. (Impartial move charge is the speed at which groups move on 1st and 2nd down exterior of two-minute drills when a workforce’s profitable likelihood is between 20-80%, per Hayden Winks of Underdog Fantasy.) The Chargers throw the ball rather a lot, and groups that play the Titans throw the ball rather a lot. Tennessee additionally struggles to defend stated passes, whereas Los Angeles has gotten higher and higher at passing the ball as Justin Herbert, Keenan Allen, and Mike Williams have gotten wholesome. With the Titans probably additionally lacking Fulton and the Chargers gaining steam, the statistical developments ought to solely proceed.
Brandon Staley, the sport planner
We caught a glimpse final week of what made Staley such a coveted head teaching candidate when the Chargers employed him earlier than the 2020 season – the flexibility to erase an opposing offense. Lacking six defensive starters, LA may counter something and every little thing Miami tried, holding Tua Tagovailoa to a 35.7% completion proportion and the operating sport to 4.2 yards per carry, over a complete yard shorter than LA’s season common. Tennessee prevents a wholly completely different problem with Derrick Henry and a run-heavy offense. Nonetheless, Staley and Renaldo Hill’s means to do extra with much less needs to be trusted. Ryan Tannehill hasn’t precisely set the world on fireplace this season both and can possible be lacking rookie Treylon Burks (concussion) for a second straight week.
California blues
The Titans haven’t overwhelmed the Chargers in Southern California since earlier than they had been in Tennessee and referred to as the Titans: a 17-7 Houston Oilers win over San Diego in 1990 is the final time this franchise gained a street sport towards the Chargers. Since that sport, Tennessee is 3-11 total towards the Bolts, together with a 20-19 LA victory in London during which they held Derrick Henry to only 33 yards speeding. Relationship again to 1960, the Chargers lead the collection 28-18-1. Justin Herbert is the newest in an extended line of Chargers franchise quarterbacks, and up to now, they’ve all had not less than one factor in frequent: beating the Houston/Tennessee franchise.
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