The Denver Broncos (6-3) will look for their first season sweep of the San Diego Chargers (4-5) since 2005 when they host their AFC West counterpart at Sports Authority Field at Mile High on Sunday. The Broncos lead the AFC West by two games but the Chargers will look to cut that lead in half on Sunday afternoon. Kickoff for the game is scheduled for 2:25 p.m. MST.
BROADCAST: on KCNC-TV (CBS 4): Kevin Harlan will be the play-by-play man and Solomon Wilcots will do the color commentary. Check the Broadcast Map to see if the game is offered in your area.
WEATHER: The forecast is for Mostly Sunny skies with a high of 60 and a low of 30f.
ODDS: The Broncos are 7.5 point favorites.
San Diego Quarterback Philip Rivers is 5-1 in his career at Denver with a 102.5 passer rating and the Chargers are seeking their fourth consecutive win at Sports Authority Field at Mile High. Despite a 34-24 loss at Tampa Bay last week, the Chargers know they can climb right back into the division race on Sunday by beating the Broncos.
"We know next week is as close to a must-win as it gets," says San Diego safety Eric Weddle. "We’ll turn around and regroup."
The Broncos are streaking as the team has won four in a row. Last week, quarterback Peyton Manning threw for 301 yards and a touchdown in Denver’s 36-14 win at Carolina. Manning’s touchdown was the 420th of his career, tying Pro Football Hall of Famer Dan Marino for the second-most in NFL history. The victory was Manning’s 147th, tying Marino for third all-time.
"This team has improved and we’re developing some type of chemistry," says Manning. "We still have some things that we can do better. Any time you can learn a little bit about each other, make some progress and win some games, that’s a good thing. But we still need to get better, especially down this homestretch."
SERIES: Denver leads the series 56-48-1 (35-16-1 at Home). The Broncos have won the last two, but the Chargers have taken 4 of past 6 contests. Chargers head coach Norv Turner is 8-9 against Denver, while Broncos head coach John Fox has a 3-2 record over San Diego.
STATS
DEN SD
Record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-3 . . . . . . . . . . . 4-5
Division Standing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1st (AFCW) . . . . . 2nd (AFCW)
Turnover Margin (NFL Rank) . . . . . .-4 (T-23rd) . . . . .-2 (T-16th)
OFFENSE
Net Yards Per Game (NFL Rank) . . . . 395.1 (3rd) . . . . 334.6 (22nd)
Yards Per Play (NFL Rank) . . . . . . . . . 6.1 (2nd) . . . . . . 5.3 (20th)
Points Per Game (NFL Rank) . . . . . . . . 30.1 (2nd) . . . . 23.2 (17th)
Possession Average . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29:13 . . . . . . . . . 32:27
Net Rushing Yards Per Game . . . . . . . 102.2 . . . . . . . . . 105.6
Net Passing Yards Per Game . . . . . . . . 292.9 . . . . . . . . . 229.0
Had Intercepted/Yards . . . . . . . . . . . . 6/160 . . . . . . . . . 12/195
Sacks Allowed/Yards . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11/69 . . . . . . . . . . 22/142
Fumbles/Lost . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14/12 . . . . . . . . . . 15/7
Third Down Pct. (NFL Rank) . . . . . . .44.3% (4th) . . . . . 44.2% (5th)
Red Zone TD Pct. (NFL Rank) . . . . . . 68.8% (2nd) . . . . .51.5% (T-17th)
Giveaways (NFL Rank) . . . . . . . . . . . .18 (27th) . . . . . . . . 19 (T-28th)
DEFENSE
Net Yards Per Game (NFL Rank) . . . 316.8 (6th) . . . . . . 317.0 (7th)
Yards Per Play (NFL Rank) . . . . . . . . 4.7 (1st) . . . . . . . . 5.4 (17th)
Points Per Game (NFL Rank) . . . . . . 21 (10th) . . . . . . . . 21.2 (11th)
Net Rushing Yards Per Game . . . . . . 98.3 . . . . . . . . . . . . 82.9
Net Passing Yards Per Game . . . . . . . 218.4 . . . . . . . . . . 234.1
Intercepted By/Yards . . . . . . . . . . . . 10/182 . . . . . . . . . . 8/232
Sacks For/Yards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31/207 . . . . . . . . . 14/89
Opponent Fumbles/Lost . . . . . . . . . . 13/4 . . . . . . . . . . . 17/9
Third Down Pct. (NFL Rank) . . . . . . 36.7% (10th) . . . . . 40.2% (20th)
Red Zone TD Pct. (NFL Rank) . . . . . 64.3% (30th) . . . . 77.8% (32nd)
Takeaways (NFL Rank) . . . . . . . . . . . 14 (T-15th) . . . . . .17 (8th)
SPECIAL TEAMS
Punts-Average Yards (Gross) . . . . . . 47.0 . . . . . . . . . . . . 48.7
Punts-Average Yards (Net) . . . . . . . . 43.6 . . . . . . . . . . . . 41.5
Punt Returns-Average Per . . . . . . . . 9.5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.3
Punt Returns-Average Per Allowed . 3.5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.5
Kickoff Returns-Average Per . . . . . . 21.5 . . . . . . . . . . . . 24.8
Kick Returns-Average Per Allowed. . 21.8 . . . . . . . . . . . 22.0
Field Goals Made/Attempted . . . . . . 12/13 . . . . . . . . . . . 16/17
PENALTIES
Penalties Against/Yards . . . . . . . . . . . 58/475 . . . . . . . . . 52/405
Opponent Penalties Against/Yards . . 63/500 . . . . . . . . . 55/446
NOTES
CHARGERS: Seek their 4th consecutive win at Denver.
For career, QB Philip Rivers is 5-1 at Denver, with 9 TDs & 102.5 passer rating. Rivers posted his 28th career 300-yard passing game last week and is aiming for a 3rd straight game with 100+ passer rating.
RB Ryan Mathews has rushed for 100+ yards in 3 of 4 career games vs. Broncos (120, 125, 137).
RB Ronnie Brown is tied for 2nd among NFL RBs with 35 catches in 1012.
TE Antonio Gates (80) trails only Hall Of Famer Lance Alworth (81) for most receiving TDs in team history. He aims for his 3rd straight game with Touchdown reception. Gates had 2 TD catches in his last game vs. Denver.
In the past 2 games at Denver, WR Malcom Floyd has 5 receptions for 157 yards (31.4 avg.) with TD.
WR Danario Alexander had a career-best 134 receiving yards last week, including an 80-yard Touchdown catch.
LB Shaun Phillips (65) has the 3rd-most Sacks by a Charger (Leslie O’Neal, 105.5; Lee Williams, 65.5).
CB Quentin Jammer had an 80-yard Interception return for a Touchdown in the last meeting vs. Denver.
Since 2011, S Eric Weddle has 9 Interceptions, an AFC best.
BRONCOS: Aim for their 5th consecutive win. They overcame a 24-0 deficit and became the 1st team in NFL history to win by 10+ points after trailing by at least 24 in their last meeting with San Diego. Totaled 115 points in 4th quarter of games in 2012, 2nd-most in NFL.
In 4 home games in 2012, QB Peyton Manning has 1,226 passing yards with 10 TDs vs. 0 INTs and a 115.3 passer rating. Manning registered his 69th career game with 300+ passing yards last week, most in NFL history.
RB Willis McGahee has 100+ rush yards in 2 of the past 3 games vs. San Diego (125, 117).
WR Demaryius Thomas has 100+ receiving yards in 3 of 4 home games in 2012 (110,
103, 137).
WR Eric Decker has 7 TD receptions in the past 6 games.
WR Brandon Stokley posted his 4th TD catch of the season last week.
Since entering the NFL in 2011, LB Von Miller has 21.5 Sacks, most in AFC. He has 4 Sacks in the past 2 games.
CB Chris Harris had 2 Interceptions, including a 46-yard INT-return Touchdown in the last game vs. San Diego.
CB Tony Carter had a 40-yard Interception-return Touchdown last week. He had an Interception and Fumble Recovery in the last meeting against Chargers.
KR Trindon Holliday had a 76-yard Punt Return Touchdown last week.
Go Broncos!
Follow Me on Twitter!
Get your MHR T-shirt here
Like Me on FaceBook!