San Diego Favored Over Chiefs

NFL News - October 20th, 2009 - Written by John

With divisional aspirations fading quicker by the day, the San Diego Chargers try to get back on track this week against the Kansas City Chiefs.

The San Diego Chargers lost a lot of ground last week when they lost to the Denver Broncos and are 3 1/2 games out of first place in the AFC West. They will need a monumental comeback, similar to last year's, and can ill-afford to lose a game which was penciled in as a win months ago. They are favored this week by 4 1/2 points over the Kansas City Chiefs, who are just now celebrating their first win of the season. But the Chargers have struggled recently against the spread. In their last 11 games as the favorite, San Diego is a mere 3-8 ATS.

According to BetUS, the over/under is 44, which brings in another notable stat. The Chiefs have hit the under six times in their past eight games before a bye. Next week? You guessed it. Kansas City's off week.

If last week was any indication, the best way to put the Chargers on their heels is through special teams play. Denver's Eddie Royal had two monster returns for touchdowns that frustrated San Diego and forced them to play from behind for the majority of the game.

The division title has been an afterthought in Kansas City since the second week of the season when they lost to Oakland. It only got worse, going 0-for-the-NFC-East in weeks three-through-five, losing to the New York Giants, Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles by an average of 12 1/2 points. But head coach Todd Haley finally got a Gatorade bath when his team found asylum in Washington, winning 14-6, and a second win this week would be a vast improvement over last year's 1-10 start.

Matt Cassel has steadily improved at quarterback with a good, not glamorous 897 yards and an 82.3 rating. He has avoided an interception in each of his last four games and has seven touchdowns in five starts. It's even more impressive considering the Chiefs lack a real playmaker outside of Dwayne Bowe, although the team has brought in newly available Joey Galloway for a workout this week. Bowe leads the team with 290 yards and has stepped up his play recently after learning the team was shopping him before the trade deadline. ProFootballTalk reported Monday that Haley threatened Bowe with the possibility of a trade if he didn't improve.

Well, he did.

Bowe had his first 100-yard day this season, and his second in 13 games overall. The fact that San Diego is ninth in the league against the pass suggests that Bowe will need to be even better. For more on the games going on during week 7 of this NFL season be sure to check out our Week 7 Game Previews.

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