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Chiefs Opponent Preview: Get to Know the San Diego Chargers

Here’s a quick guide to familiarize yourself with the San Diego Chargers

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The San Diego Chargers (3-9) enter Sunday's contest with the Kansas City Chiefs (7-5) having lost seven of their last eight games, including a 33-3 loss to Kansas City just three weeks ago. The Chargers are 1-4 on the road this season.

Head coach Mike McCoy commented on the quick turnaround with the Chiefs.

"That's the way the game is these days in the division," he said. "Everyone is doing it at some point in time in the year [where] there's a quick turnaround before you play another team, so we're familiar with one another, obviously, the number of times we've played against each other, the coordinators, the head coaches, things like that. Everyone else in the league is doing it also, so it's nothing new."

San Diego lost their last game, 17-3, to the first-place Denver Broncos.

Here's a look at the Chargers coaching staff:

Chargers Coaching Staff

Position

Name

Head Coach

Mike McCoy

Offensive Coordinator

Frank Reich

Defensive Coordinator

John Pagano

Special Teams Coordinator

Craig Aukerman

Despite losing key players to Injured Reserve this season (right guard Johnnie Troutman, running back Branden Oliver, wide receiver Keenan Allen and center Chris Watt), quarterback Philip Rivers has led San Diego to the sixth best offense and fourth best passing offense in the league.

Wide receiver Malcom Floyd (shoulder) returned to action against the Broncos last week. Floyd had 1 catch for 13 yards on 4 targets in the loss.

With WRs Stevie Johnson (neck) and Dontrelle Inman (groin) held out of practice Wednesday due to injury, Floyd may need to play a bigger role for the Chargers Sunday against the Chiefs. To help with the possible vacancies, the Chargers also signed WR Vincent Brown this week.

121015-VincentBrown-ia.jpg

Among players still active for the Chargers, running back Danny Woodhead has both the most targets (74) and receptions (55).

Rivers has also heavily targeted tight end Antonio Gates, who is in his 13th season with the Chargers. Gates led the team with 2 touchdowns in San Diego's 31-25 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars two weeks ago.

Gates believes that the upcoming game against the Chiefs will be important for the identity of his Chargers moving forward.

"It's an opportunity for guys to – in my opinion, really show what they're about," he said, "really show the characteristics of what this team is made of. More importantly, obviously we're not playing for a playoff berth at this particular point, but playing for this organization and playing for your pride to me, is just as important. So I think collectively, that's something that we're trying to hang our hats on and I'm quite sure we'll do our best and just try to fight – fight together for these last few weeks."

The Chargers are much more likely to pass the ball (504 attempts) than run the ball (285 attempts), but when they do opt to run, it's primarily with with rookie RB Melvin Gordon.

Gordon leads the Chargers with 155 attempts for 565 yards rushing this season, but hasn't recorded a touchdown. The only touchdowns rushing for the Chargers came in Week 1 against the Detroit Lions, against whom Woodhead had 2.

Here's a look at the unofficial offensive depth chart for the Chargers:

San Diego Chargers Offensive Depth Chart (Unofficial)

POS

FIRST

SECOND

THIRD

THIRD

WR

Malcolm Floyd

Dontrelle Inman

Javontee Herndon

LT

King Dunlap

Chris Hairston

LG

Orlando Franklin

Kenny Wiggins

C

Trevor Robinson

J.D. Walton

RG

D.J. Fluker

Kenny Wiggins

RT

Joe Barksdale

Tyreek Burwell

TE

Ladarius Green

John Phillips

TE

Antonio Gates

David Johnson

WR

Stevie Johnson

Tyrell Williams

QB

Phillip Rivers

Kellen Clemens

RB

Melvin Gordon

Danny Woodhead

Donald Brown

Here's a look at the Chargers numbers and ranks so far this season on offense:

Offense

Chiefs

Chargers

Net Yards Per Game

341.3 (23rd)

380.6 (6th)

Yards Per Play

5.58 (11th)

5.58 (12th)

Points Per Game

26.8 (5th)

20.6 (25th)

Possession Average

30:48 (10th)

30:50 (9th)

Net Rushing Yards Per Game

121.3 (7th)

82.7 (30th)

Net Passing Yards Per Game

220.0 (26th)

297.9 (4th)

Had Intercepted/Yards

3/44

9/262

Sacks Allowed/Yards

39/-207.0 (T-29th)

30/-201.0 (22nd)

Fumbles/Lost

12/7

16/10

Third down Pct.

36.7% (21st)

43.0% (6th)

Red Zone TD Pct.

55.3% (19th)

61.8% (9th)

Giveaways

10 (2nd)

19 (T-14th)

The San Diego Chargers give up 370.6 yards per game, ranking them 24th for total defense in the entire league. Based on the same stat, they are 26th (124.6 yards allowed per game) against the run and 21st (246.0 yards allowed per game) against the pass.

The best players on the Chargers defense are safety Eric Weddle and linebackers Melvin Ingram and Manti Te'o. Weddle, a three-time Pro Bowler, leads the Chargers in total tackles with 70.

121015-MelvinIngram-ia.jpg

Ingram leads the Chargers defense with 5.0 sacks and 13 tackles for loss, but the defense as a whole has shown a knack for bringing pressure from all different angles this year. 13 different Chargers players have at least a half a sack on the season. Ingram also leads the team in forced fumbles with 2.

LB Denzel Perryman had the most tackles against the Broncos last week with 10.

*Familiar face: *Cornerback Brandon Flowers spent 2008-13 with the Chiefs. In 87 games with Kansas City, he recorded 17 interceptions and returned 1 for a touchdown. The Chiefs will likely not see Flowers Sunday, as he was carted off with a knee injury in San Diego's game with the Broncos and has yet to practice this week.

Here is a look at the Chargers defensive depth chart:

San Diego Chargers Defensive Depth Chart (Unofficial)

POS

FIRST

SECOND

THIRD

DE

Kendall Reyes

Ricardo Mathews

NT

Sean Lissemore

Ryan Carrethers

DT

Corey Liuget

Ricardo Mathews

Damion Square

OLB

Melvin Ingram

Kyle Emanuel

ILB

Manti Te-o

Kavell Conner

Joe Mays

ILB

Donald Butler

Denzel Perryman

Nick Dzubnar

OLB

Jerry Attaochu

Cordarro Law

CB

Brandon Flowers

Steve Williams

Greg Ducre

CB

Jason Verrett

Patrick Robinson

Craig Mager

SS

Jahleel Addae

Jimmy Wilson

Adrian Phillips

FS

Eric Weddle

Darrell Stuckey

Here's a look at the Chargers numbers and ranks so far this season on defense:

Defense

Chiefs

Chargers

Net Yards Per Game

337.5 (T-10th)

370.6 (24th)

Yards Per Play

5.19 (6th)

6.15 (30th)

Points Per Game

20.0 (T-7th)

27.0 (29th)

Net Rushing Yards Per Game

96.2 (8th)

124.6 (26th)

Net Passing Yards Per Game

241.3 (14th)

246.0 (21st)

Intercepted by/Yards

17/333.0

7/106.0

Sacks For/Yards

34/-218.0 (T-5th)

22/-144.0 (T-24th)

Opponent Fumbles/Lost

16/6

7/4

Third down Pct.

33.8% (6th)

39.6% (18th)

Red Zone TD Pct.

66.7% (30th)

47.5% (6th)

Takeaways

23 (T-3rd)

11 (29th)

Finally, here's a side-by-side comparison of the individual statistical leaders for both teams: 

Chiefs

Chargers

Passing Yards

A. Smith

2,843

P. Rivers

3,713

* *

* *

* *

* *

* *

* *

Rushing Yards

C. West

408

M. Gordon

565

J. Charles

364

D. Woodhead

255

A. Smith

326

B. Oliver

108

Receiving Yards

J. Maclin

867

K. Allen

725

T. Kelce

731

D. Woodhead

593

A. Wilson

279

S. Johnson

497

Points Scored

C. Santos

107

J. Lambo

81

Three Tied

30

D. Woodhead

30

T. Kelce

28

L. Green

28

Interceptions

M. Peters

5

J. Verrett

2

Five Tied

2

* *

Five Tied

1

Sacks

J. Houston

7.5

M. Ingram

5

T. Hali

6.5

J. Attaochu

4.5

A. Bailey

4.5

C. Liuget

3

D. Johnson

4

K. Reyes

2

Defensive Tackles

D. Johnson

82

E. Weddle

67

R. Parker

57

M. Te'o

57

M. Peters

50

M. Ingram

48

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