Denver Broncos at San Diego Chargers: What to watch for

 

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Who: Denver Broncos (4-1) at San Diego Chargers (1-4)

What: NFL Week 6

When: 6:25 p.m. MDT, Thursday, Oct. 13

Where: Qualcomm Stadium, San Diego

TV: CBS, NFL Network

Announcers: Jim Nantz, Phil Simms

Radio: KOA (850 AM), The Fox (103.5 FM)

Odds: Broncos -3, O/U 44

Notable:

• Denver leads the overall series 62-49-1 and has won nine of the last 10 dating back to the 2011 season.
• The Orange & Blue, who will be guided by interim coach Joe DeCamillis tonight in place of the rightfully resting Gary Kubiak, also will be looking to add to their NFL-record 15-game AFC West road win streak, which includes five victories in San Diego.
• Since the start of the 2012 season, the Broncos own a NFL-best 17-5 record in prime-time games, including wins in 10 of their last 11, while the Chargers are 5-10 and have dropped six of their last seven contests under the lights.
• Denver saw its nine-game overall win streak end with Sunday’s 23-16 loss to the Falcons, and in 2015, the Broncos lost back-to-back games twice to account for their only defeats of the year.
• Including the playoffs, Bolts QB Philip Rivers is 10-12 all-time against the Broncos with 35 TD passes and 19 interceptions. Rivers had two scoring tosses, two picks and was sacked seven times in the Broncos’ two wins (17-3 and 27-20) last season.
• Since San Diego’s 8-4 start in 2014, the Chargers have lost 19 of their last 25 games, and coach Mike McCoy’s job looks to be in serious jeopardy.

What to Watch For

• Siemian’s return: Trevor Siemian missed his first start of the season last week, and the Broncos subsequently suffered their first loss. Coincidence? Possibly, but perhaps Siemian’s accomplishments – ranking ninth in the league in passer rating (99.6), QBR (78.89) and completion percentage (67.3) – over the first four games were too much taken for granted. An uneven-at-best-performance by rookie Paxton Lynch (23-of-35, 223 yards, TD, interception) on Sunday brought that to light. So, sore left shoulder and all, Siemian will be welcomed back tonight with open arms, and his teammates – particularly the five playing up front – can go a long way in showing their appreciation by blocking better than they did Sunday, allowing a season-high six sacks against what was the league’s worst pass rush. RT Donald Stephenson also will be back after missing essentially the last four games, and he could see some of Chargers first-round pick Joey Bosa, who bagged a pair of sacks in his pro debut Sunday against the Raiders.
• Ground revival?: Yeah, it’s kinda become a staple here, but the Broncos continue to struggle as they’ve failed to crack 90 yards rushing in each of the last three games. That didn’t matter much when Siemian was shredding Cincy for 312 yards and four aerial TDs or the defense was blowing up the Bucs and holding them to seven points, but Lynch and the ‘D’ could’ve used some ground support last week against the Falcons when the Orange & Blue only managed 84 yards on 24 rushes. It’ll be tough against the Bolts, who rank in the league’s top quarter in allowing 83.6 rushing yards per game and 3.6 yards per carry, but these are the challenges the Broncos must meet head-on if they’re going to establish any kind of consistent offensive identity.
• Double-TE threat: In Week 5, the Falcons bypassed the Broncos’ deep cornerback corps and challenged the coverage skills of the Denver linebackers by isolating them against RBs Tevin Coleman and Devonta Freeman. As you might’ve heard, that didn’t go so well for the home team as Atlanta backs rolled up 180 receiving yards and a TD. The Chargers lost pass-catching back extraordinaire Danny Woodhead to injury earlier this season, but do still have capable threats out of the backfield in Melvin Gordon and Dexter McCluster (if his hammy is cooperating). Still, the more likely plan of action for Ken Whisenhunt’s offense is to throw a two-tight end attack at the Denver D in the form of future Hall-of-Famer Antonio Gates and second-round pick Hunter Henry. In Sunday’s back-and-forth 34-31 loss to the Raiders, Gates and Henry combined to catch seven-of-nine targets for 104 yards and a TD apiece.
• Choking Chargers: Finally, we can’t not mention the Chargers’ hard-to-comprehend run of late-game foibles this season as they’ve held fourth-quarter leads in four of their five games and blew a chance to tie the other this past Sunday in Oakland when rookie punter Drew Kaser flubbed the hold on a late-game field-goal attempt. That’s not a particularly good match against the Broncos, who have been the NFL’s best fourth-quarter team in outscoring the opposition by 65 points.