Kansas City Chiefs vs San Diego Chargers
The San Diego Chargers have now won five in a row since a season opening loss to the Arizona Cardinals and will look to extend that streak to six when they welcome the Kansas City Chiefs to Qualcomm Stadium Sunday afternoon. Chargers’ quarterback Philip Rivers has look like one of the best quarterbacks in football while Chiefs’ signal-caller Alex Smith has been up and down. While the Chargers are looking to stay atop the AFC, the Chiefs are simply looking to get back to .500.
Date: October 19, 2014
Start Time: 4:05 PM EST
Location: San Diego, California
Stadium: Qualcomm Stadium
TV Info: CBS
Live Stream: NFL Sunday Ticket | NFL Game Rewind (after the game)
Radio: NFL Radio
Ticket information: For Kansas City Chiefs, click here. For San Diego Chargers, click here.
Keys to Victory
The San Diego Chargers have been led by Rivers, who is having a fantastic season and looks like a legitimate MVP candidate (138-of-199, 1,756 yards, 15 touchdowns, two interceptions). He has carried the team as they continue to lose running backs to injury. Obviously, the Chiefs, who have defended the pass well, will want to slow Rivers down. However, Branden Oliver has given the Chargers a running game as of late, going over 100 yards in each of the last two games. That has kept the Chargers from becoming one-dimensional and has made them extremely difficult to defend. The Chiefs are going to have to get the Chargers into bad situation on third down and allow Tamba Hali and the pass rushers to pin their ears back and get to the quarterback.
For the Chiefs, they want to run the ball. They’re averaging 137.6 yards per game on the ground, the fourth-best mark in the NFL. The Chargers’ defense has been solid against the run and excellent against the pass so the Chiefs have to keep the Chargers off-balance. If they can’t run the ball, fall behind and have to throw, the Chiefs are in a lot of trouble.
Betting Odds
Point Spread: San Diego -4
Moneyline: San Diego -205, Kansas City +175
Over/Under: 45
Prediction
Not only have the Chargers looked like the superior team but they are playing at home. The Chiefs are coming off of a bye, which is obviously an advantage, but the Chargers’ defense should be able to get stops against the Chiefs and the Chiefs won’t be able to keep up with Rivers and the Chargers’ offense.
Final Score: San Diego 27, Kansas City 20
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