LA CHARGERS (at Detroit)
This looks like an average situation for the Chargers. They're on the road and playing without their starting left tackle, but they're facing a middle-of-the-pack Detroit defense. The Lions played well ...
... for a while in their opener, before falling apart late, letting Arizona come back with 18 points in the fourth quarter. Los Angeles didn't miss Russell Okung or Melvin Gordon too much in its opener, putting up 435 yards and 30 points in an overtime win over the Colts. ... Only eight defenses allowed fewer passing yards than the Lions last year, who also shut down Kyler Murray for three quarters last week, but it's not a suffocating defense. Philip Rivers should get his stats. Six other quarterbacks of his ilk played in this stadium last year, and two thirds of them did just fine.
| Elite QBs at Detroit | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Yards | TD | Int | |
| Brady, N.E. | 133 | 1 | 1 | |
| Rodgers, G.B. | 442 | 3 | 0 | |
| Wilson, Sea. | 248 | 3 | 0 | |
| Newton, Car. | 357 | 3 | 1 | |
| Goff, LAR | 207 | 1 | 1 | |
| Cousins, Min. | 253 | 3 | 0 | |
In a rough sense, the Lions got the better of Brady and Goff. The other four all threw for at least 248 yards and 3 TDs. Matt Patricia has not been able to transplant Patriot magic to this defense. Rivers averaged 269 yards and 2 TDs last year, and that kind of production looks very reasonable. With the Chargers playing ...
This report is taken from today's Week 2 edition of Fantasy Index Weekly. The newsletter includes our player rankings and 20 pages of matchup previews, plus stat projections and custom rankings for the games being played this weekend.
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... without their starting running back, they'll likely have to rely more on the pass. ... There's been no apparent movement on the Melvin Gordon front. Even if he were to sign today, he probably wouldn't be active on Sunday. It should be Austin Ekeler and Justin Jackson. Ekeler is the better of the two. He's undersized, but he's a lot more explosive and a far more effective weapon in the passing game. And he's definitely their starter. In the Colts game, he was on the field for three times as many plays, finishing with twice as many carries and a 6-1 edge in receptions. It's the pass catching that makes Ekeler a fantasy asset; that's a huge part of this offense, and as a receiver he might be even better than Gordon. Ekeler caught 6 passes for 96 yards in the win over Indianapolis. Jackson ran for 57 yards on 6 carries but caught only 1 pass for 4 yards. The Lions ranked 10th in run defense last year, but it would be fairer to say they're average or slightly above-average against the run. With how they use Ekeler -- running draws and catching dumpoff balls -- he should be fine. David Johnson caught 6 passes for 55 yards and a touchdown against the Lions last week, as well as running for 82 yards. ... The matchup looks fine for the pass catchers. More so than with other teams, the Chargers tend to want to go to their top guy. Two years in a row, Keenan Allen has caught more passes than all of their other wide receivers combined. That seems to be how it's playing out again. He caught 8 passes in the opener, compared to only 5 for their other guys. Larry Fitzgerald is kind of a Keenan Allen type, and he caught 8 passes against Detroit last week. Look for another typical Allen-type game. The Chargers have another good wide receiver -- Mike Williams -- but they seem to like him mostly as a closer, throwing him high passes in the red zone. Williams caught only 2 passes for 29 yards in the opener, though he left in the fourth quarter with a knee injury. Williams seems to be fine physically, but that will need to be checked out later in the week. ... The Chargers have an up-and-coming tight end, Hunter Henry, and he was solid in the opener, with 4 catches for 60 yards. Now that he's over a year removed from reconstructive knee surgery, they could be ready to use him more in the passing game. ... Michael Badgley (groin) will need to be checked out later in the week; they're hopeful he'll play. If he sits out again, they'll go with punter Ty Long for their placements, and he should hold up fine. Long was both a kicker and punter in his two years with the B.C. Lions, converting 88 percent of his field goals. He hit a 40-yard field goal against the Colts, as well as all three of his extra points. Detroit's defense played well in its opener until running out of steam late; it allowed only 92 kicking points last year, ranking among the leaders. ... The Chargers Defense looks above-average for pass rush. Matthew Stafford has taken 47 and 40 sacks the last two years, and he appears to be headed for another one of those kind of seasons. Arizona got him 3 times. But Stafford doesn't tend to throw interceptions -- just 10-11 three years in a row. Desmond King is one of the league's top 10 kick returners, but Detroit has allowed only one of those touchdowns in the last four years.