No. 5 – Philip Rivers & Antonio Gates
Philip Rivers and the Chargers finally hit the three-win plateau on Sunday with a 31-25 road win over Jacksonville (4-7).
2015 has been a forgettable year for Rivers, who has had passing totals as low as 178 and as high as 503 yards – both in losses. Rivers has been without his primary wide receiver target, Keenan Allen, who suffered a lacerated kidney against Baltimore in Week 8.
Despite the injury, Allen still leads San Diego in receiving yards on the year with 725. Three games and a bye later and the next closest Charger in receiving yards is actually a running back, Danny Woodhead, with 569. It’s lean times for pass-catchers in San Diego.
Steve Johnson was Rivers’ main target in the Week 12 win at Jacksonville, pulling in seven catches for 92 yards and a touchdown, but Antonio Gates was the primary target in the red zone. Despite a hip injury, Gates pulled down two touchdowns on six targets.
Rivers and Gates have been efficient this year, and even though San Diego is without Allen, they can still spread the field with Johnson, Malcolm Floyd and tight end Ladarius Green, not to mention Woodhead out of the backfield. New England showed last week that Denver can be vulnerable with linebackers in coverage, as Von Miller and Danny Trevathan both allowed touchdowns.
A hobbled Gates should be much easier to contain than Gronkowski, so if Denver can keep San Diego out of the red zone, they should have no problem holding the Chargers below 20 points in both meetings, Week 13 at San Diego and Week 17 in Denver.
