Jody Gomez-US Presswire
The San Diego Chargers will play their regular season home opener against the Tennessee Titans on Sunday at 1:25 PDT. San Diego has won their last eight games against the Tennessee franchise dating back to the 1993 season and are 24-13-1 all time against them.
San Diego could be without 2011 Pro Bowl running back Ryan Mathews for the second regular season game in a row because he has not been cleared for full practice. San Diego and Tennessee struggled to the run the ball in their week one games.
San Diego had 32 rushing yards on 20 attempts against the Oakland Raiders while Tennessee had 20 yards on 16 attempts against the New England Patriots.
Tennessee’s starting RB Chris Johnson has been on a decline since leading the NFL with 2,006 rushing yards in 2009. Johnson averaged 5.6 yards per attempt that season, 4.3 in 2010 and 4.0 yards per attempt in 2011.
Johnson had 11 rushing attempts for four yards in Tennessee’s lost to New England on Sunday. In two career games against San Diego, Johnson had 36 attempts, 201 yards and two touchdowns, so containing him will be a key to victory on Sunday.
In four games against Tennessee, which includes a playoff victory in 2007, Philip Rivers completed 68 percent of his passes, averaged 258 yards per game, threw seven touchdowns and three interceptions.
San Diego averaged 28 points per game during this eight game winning streak against Tennessee while the latter averaged 14 points per game. Tennessee will more than likely send second year QB Jake Locker to the field on Sunday.
The Chargers need to rattle the young QB by putting pressure on him, but this could be difficult because Tennessee’s offensive line allowed just 24 sacks last season. This was tied for second in the NFL among 32 teams.
I think that San Diego will continue their winning ways against Tennessee with a 27-10 victory on Sunday.
