When looking at the current state of both the San Diego Chargers and Jacksonville Jaguars franchises, it makes you scratch your head and wonder- can it get any worse?
The Jaguars are 3-8, just fired longtime head coach Jack Del Rio on Tuesday, and had their owner sell the franchise the same day. They placed seven starters on Injured Reserve (IR) during the month of November and have failed to score more than 20 points the entire season.
At 4-7, and only three games back in the AFC West, San Diego must feel pretty lucky compared to their Monday night foe. That being said, the Chargers have lost six straight games after a promising start and coach Norv Turner is on the hot seat.
After making the postseason in four of the past five seasons, the Chargers have been one of the NFL’s biggest disappointments this year.
Pro Bowl quarterback Philip Rivers is having the worst season of his career, a complete turnaround from last year when he threw for 30 touchdowns and nearly 5,000 yards. His 17 interceptions thus far are the most he has had in any season, and he has made poor decisions and has lacked the zip and accuracy he normally displays. NFL executives have rumored that Rivers has been playing with a chest injury most of the year, which is a possible explanation for his performance.
Whether there is truth to that rumor or not, San Diego has had a rash of offensive injuries and inconsistency surrounding Rivers.
Two of San Diego’s starting offensive linemen, Marcus McNeil and Kris Dielman, were placed on IR in the past three weeks. Two other starting offensive lineman have missed two games each, while backup Scott Mruczkowski was placed on IR a couple of weeks ago. This has forced the unit to shuffle around a lot, and Rivers has been under constant duress most games.
s far as skill positions, receiver Malcolm Floyd has missed the last four games due to injury and Antonio Gates missed four games in the beginning of the season. Even feature back Ryan Matthews failed to suit up for a game and has had a diminished role since his return.
ll of this has caused the Chargers to score the 17th most points per game. The defense has not helped either as the unit has allowed 25.0 points per game, good for 26th in the league.
The Jaguars have had lots of injuries as well, especially on the defensive side of the ball. The defense has been surprisingly good, however, and ranks in the top-5 in points, yards, and passing yards permitted. The main issue lies in their woeful offense, specifically rookie quarterback Blaine Gabbert. Jacksonville ranks dead last in passing yards per game (131.1), points per game (12.5), and yards per game (250.0) despite Maurice Jones-Drew producing over 1,000 yards on the ground.
Gabbert has thrown six touchdowns and six interceptions in 10 games (9 starts) this season while sporting a miserable 48.5 completion percentage and 5.2 yards-per-attempt. The 10th overall pick in last year’s draft was benched in the fourth quarter of last week’s 20-13 loss to Houston after posting a 44.6 quarterback rating. Jacksonville vows to stick it out this season with Gabbert and is confident that he is the quarterback of the future for the reeling franchise.
Expect a substantial workload for Jones-Drew on Monday. Needless to say, the “human pinball machine” leads the entire league in touches at 253 and is second in rushing yards. Jacksonville will hope Jones-Drew can find some holes in San Diego’s front-seven and its defense can force Rivers to make bad decisions in the pocket.
The Chargers will rely on running back Matthews to carry the load. Matthews is coming off a career-high 137 rushing yards in last week’s 16-13 loss to Denver, and was not on the injury report this week for the first time in months. If San Diego does not turn the ball over and runs the ball effectively, the squad has more than enough talent on both sides of the ball to dismantle the Jaguars.
