The Pittsburgh Steelers definitely suffered a disappointing loss to the Denver Broncos on the road Sunday and now the team must quickly put that defeat behind them and start preparing for a very tough Week 13 Sunday night game at Heinz Field against the Los Angeles Chargers. The 7-3-1 Steelers opened Monday as a 3.5-point consensus favorite over the Chargers, who improved their record to 8-3 on Sunday with a 45-10 win against the Arizona Cardinals.
In the Chargers Sunday win over the Cardinals quarterback Philip Rivers was very impressive as he completed 28 of his 29 total pass attempts in the game for 259 yards with 3 touchdowns and no interceptions. Rivers also set an NFL record in that game by completing 25 consecutive pass attempts. Two of his touchdown passes went to wide receiver Mike Williams while the other one went to wide receiver Keenan Allen.
For the season, Rivers has completed 69.5% of his pass attempts for 3,119 yards with 26 touchdowns and just 6 interceptions. He’s also only been sacked 19 times in total so far this season.
Allen leads the Chargers in receiving with 69 catches for 848 yards and 4 touchdowns while running back Melvin Gordon leads Los Angeles in rushing with 802 yards and 9 touchdowns on 153 total carries. Gordon, however, is expected to miss the Week 13 Sunday night game against the Steelers with an MCL injury that he suffered during the team’s Sunday win over the Cardinals. That means backup running back Austin Ekeler will likely get the start against the Steelers.
Defensively for the Chargers, their top two edge-rushers, Joey Bosa and Melvin Ingram, have combined to register 7.5 sacks on the season. Bosa, however, registered his first two sacks of the season in Sunday’s win over the Cardinals as the former first-round draft pick missed the team’s first 9 games with a foot injury.
Chargers rookie safety Derwin James, a first-round selection this year, leads his team in total tackles entering Week 13 with 78. James also has registered two interceptions so far this season in addition to 3.5 sacks. Cornerback Desmond King currently leads the Chargers in interceptions with 3.
Including 3 postseason games, the Steelers and Chargers have played each other 32 times in total with Pittsburgh winning 23 of those contest. In the 18 games between the two teams that were played in Pittsburgh, the Steelers have won 15 of them. However, the Chargers did beat the Steelers 34-24 in the last meeting between the two teams that was played in Pittsburgh in 2012
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