This AFC West/NFC North matchup finds both teams who still have hopes for the postseason. However, those dreams are much more realistic for the 9-5 Detroit Lions, who control their own fate in terms of earning a wildcard spot. The 7-7 San Diego Chargers have looked good the last two weeks, especially last week against the Baltimore Ravens, considered by many to be one of the best teams at least in the AFC, if not the NFL. It may be too late for their usual late-season rally, however, since their division has grown more competitive recently.
The Lions have also been inconsistent, looking dominating at times (their 45-10 beat down of Tim Tebow and the Broncos in Denver comes to mind), while amateurish at other moments, plagued with self-inflicted penalties (like the infamous Ndamukong Suh stomp or Nate Burleson’s three PI-flag performance against the Saints). They’ve also had a couple of close comeback wins, like their 28-27 win over the Raiders in Oakland last week. Regardless of which versions of these two squads shows up on Christmas Eve, it should be an entertaining contest.
Philip Rivers vs. Matthew Stafford
This should be a high-scoring affair; San Diego Chargers’ QB Philip Rivers has thrown 4,015 yards and 23 TDs, while Detroit Loins’ QB Matthew Stafford has thrown for 4,162 yards and 33 TDs, making them two of the six QBs to throw for over 4,000 yards. Stafford has proven to be clutch in certain games, including last week’s comeback victory, part of a 391 yard, 4 TD pass performance. He’s also proven to be turnover prone, and if he hadn’t fumbled in front of his goal line last week (which Aaron Curry returned six yards for a TD), giving the Raiders a 27-14 lead, late game heroics might not have been necessary.
Rivers at one point led the league with 17 interceptions, but has since been surpassed in that area by Ryan Fitzpatrick, Rex Grossman, and Josh Freeman. Rivers hasn't thrown an interception in the last four games, throwing 8 TDs in that span. Since Rivers keeps denying the injury rumors surrounding him, better pass protection – in particular, journeyman Jared Gaither replacing the horrific backup Brandon Dombrowski at LT – seems to have allowed Rivers to play at the high level so many expected from him earlier in the year. Which QB has the better day may be the deciding factor of what looks like a shoot out.
Chargers’ O-Line vs. Detroit’s Pass Rush
Like seemingly every other team, the Chargers have injury concerns, most notably affecting their pass protection – this was no more evident than in the primetime loss to the Oakland Raiders (-24.7 combined pass blocking grade as a unit). Yet last week, also a primetime game, the Ravens rarely got anywhere near Philip Rivers, hitting him only once (albeit a nasty hit from an angry Terrell Sugg in his worst performance of the year) and hurrying him three times, by far Baltimore’s worst pass-rushing effort all season. Part of that is the above-mentioned free agent pick-up Gaither who, in three games filling in at LT for the injured Marcus McNiel (and Dombrowski), has been perfect in pass protection. Can this group hold up against a good pass-rushing team on the road in the hostile Detroit environment? They will need a performance similar to last week’s, with Cliff Avril (11 sacks), Kyle Vanden Bosch (eight sacks), Ndamukong Suh (three sacks, 25 QB hurries) and others playing for their team’s first playoff shot in a long time.
Megatron vs. Chargers’ Secondary
Calvin Johnson is still our overall best-rated wide receiver this season and leads all wide outs with 14 TDs (only Rob Gronkowski has more). He’s also coming off his best performance of the season, with a season-high 214 yards and two TDs, including the game-winner. This was a relief for Lions fans (not to mention fantasy football owners), as prior to last week Johnson was coming off a five-week stretch where he never reached 90 receiving yards and only had one scoring catch, which was in the Green Bay game in garbage time when the game was well out of reach.
Despite Joe Flacco’s struggles last week, the Chargers secondary has proved to consistently be their weakest link, especially their starting CBs Antoine Cason and Quentin Jammer, who have given up a combined 11 TDs this season. SS Steve Gregory (-4.0) and FS Eric Weddle, who is our second highest overall rated safety and leads all safeties with seven interceptions, will no doubt be asked to help out the struggling corners, but even that may not be enough. Johnson seems poised to have another big day at home in this matchup. You would have to think the Chargers would do everything to avoid having a linebacker in coverage on Megatron, unlike the Raiders, who got caught with Rolando McClain trying an impossible task.
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