Injury Report: Updates On Corey Liuget And Ryan Mathews
By Dave Thomas
Anytime the Denver Broncos come to town, expect the San Diego Chargers and their fans to be more than a tad excited.
With three games remaining in the regular season, the Chargers really need to win out in order to control their own playoff destiny. Lose a game or two, and they may not even be playing come January.
With that said, a visit from the rival Denver Broncos should certainly get the juices flowing this Sunday in San Diego's final regular season home game.
After dropping a 35-21 decision to Peyton Manning and the Broncos earlier this season in the Mile High City, San Diego (8-5) looks to even the score, along with not conceding the AFC West crown just quite yet to their long-time AFC rivals.
Meantime, Denver (10-3) can lock up yet another AFC West title with a win on Sunday. With Kansas City (7-6) out of the division title hunt, it is San Diego standing in the way of Denver clinching the crown.
Chargers Need To Up The Offensive Production
If San Diego is to have any chance of upsetting Denver (Broncos enter as a 4-point favorite), it will need to do a much better job of putting points on the board this weekend than it did last, especially in the second half.
After grabbing a 14-3 lead against Tom Brady and the New England Patriots at home last Sunday evening, the Chargers were held scoreless for the entire second half. While New England's defense deserves much of the credit, San Diego could not get out of its own way on a number of occasions.
The inability to successfully run the ball, dropped passes, and an offensive line that was having difficulties protecting quarterback Philip Rivers led to an ugly second half of play on the offensive side of the ball.
Run The Ball
Against the Broncos this Sunday afternoon, the Chargers need to establish the running game early and often.
While it sounds like a broken record this season, San Diego's inability to productively run the ball game after game is one of the major reasons the Chargers are saddled with five losses. Coming into Sunday's tilt, San Diego ranks 28th (out of 32 teams) in running the ball at 84.7 yards per game, while Denver has the second-ranked defense against the run, giving up a mere 72.8 yards a game.
San Diego's defense will also have its hands full with Manning and his offensive weapons. The Chargers will need to put up their fair share of points if they want to stay alive in the division race and move one step closer to securing a playoff spot.
Heading into the contest, the Chargers are dealing with a number of injuries as just about all teams are at this point in the season.
Among the notable injuries this week are defensive tackle Corey Liuget ( left ankle) and running back Ryan Mathews ( right ankle).
Liuget was dinged up in the loss to the Patriots, while Mathews has battled injuries once again this season, most notably, a serious knee injury earlier in the season that left him missing more than a month of action.
Both players did not practice on Thursday, so the Bolts could be missing two of their top players on different sides of the ball at full health come Sunday.
THURSDAY INJURY REPORT:
Ryan Carrethers (nose tackle) - elbow - limited practice
Dwight Freeney (outside linebacker) - non-injury related - full practice
Ladarius Green (tight end) - concussion/ankle - did not practice
Corey Liuget (defensive tackle) - ankle - did not practice
Ryan Mathews (running back) - ankle - did not practice
Philip Rivers (quarterback) - chest - full practice
Mike Scifres (punter) - shoulder - did not practice (out indefinitely)
For more Chargers news and updates, visit Chargers Central.
Dave Thomas has been covering the sports world since his first job as a sports editor for a weekly newspaper in Pennsylvania back in 1989. He has covered a Super Bowl, college bowl games, MLB, NBA and more. His work can be found on Examiner.com.