The Pittsburgh Steelers lost a heartbreaker in overtime at home on Sunday to the Baltimore Ravens and now the 1-4 team will begin preparing to play the 2-3 Los Angeles Chargers next Sunday night on the road. Not surprisingly, the banged-up Steelers opened Monday as 5.5-point underdogs to the Chargers, according to vegasinsider.com.
The Chargers surprisingly lost on Sunday to the Denver Broncos 20-13 as quarterback Philip Rivers threw two interceptions on his way to completing 32 of his 48 total pass attempts in the game for 211 yards. Rivers now enters Week 6 of the 2019 regular season having completed 68.6% of his pass attempts with seven touchdown passes and four interceptions. He’s also been sacked 11 times so far this season.
The Chargers leading rusher entering Week 6 is running back Austin Ekeler as he has 227 yards and three touchdowns on 59 total carries. Ekeler also leads the Chargers in receptions entering Week 6 as he has caught 39 passes for 356 yards and three touchdowns. Wide receiver Keenan Allen is close behind Ekeler with 38 receptions for 470 yards and three touchdowns.
Defensively for the Chargers, linebacker Thomas Davis leads the team in total tackles with 41 with one of those being a sack. Defensive end Joey Bosa enters Week 6 as the Chargers leader in sacks with three and the defense has 12 on the season.
The Chargers defense has recorded four interceptions so far through five games with four different players being responsible for one each. Cornerback Casey Hayward is one of those four players and he’s the team leader in passes defensed with four.
The Chargers are 1-2 at home on the season with their lone win coming in Week 1 and in overtime against the Indianapolis Colts. Their other win came in Week 4 on the road against the Miami Dolphins, who have yet to win a game this season.
The Steelers and Chargers have met each other 33 times (including 3 postseason games). The Chargers won 10 of those games. The last meeting between the two teams happened last season in Week 13 with the Chargers beating the Steelers 33-30 in Pittsburgh and on a Sunday night.
The Steelers enter their Sunday night Week 6 road game against the Chargers with a 1-6 record in the Pacific Time Zone under head coach Mike Tomlin. Their loan win came against the Chargers in week 5 of the 2015 regular season. That was a Monday night game that the Steelers won on the game’s final play. Michael Vick also started that game at quarterback in place of injured starter Ben Roethlisberger.
With Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph currently dealing with a concussion suffered during the team’s Sunday home loss to the Ravens, backup quarterback Devlin Hodges might have to make his first career start Sunday night against the Chargers.
