NFL Divisional Round: San Diego Chargers at Denver Broncos (SETTLED)

[Teh One Who Knocks]

FOX Sports


On a cold Thursday night last month, the Chargers played keep-away with Peyton Manning and the Broncos offense, and it worked perfectly in a 27-20 San Diego victory that made the Broncos suddenly seem awfully vulnerable.

The Broncos ran only 53 plays that night, which was the fewest they ran all season. The second-fewest (60) came earlier this season in a 28-20 victory over — you guessed it — the Chargers. So both times San Diego has played Denver, Mike McCoy's offense has tried to slow the game down (a season-high 44 rushing attempts in the second meeting after running it 35 times in the first matchup) to limit Manning's touches.

"The longer you keep the ball and the less he has it, the better off you're going to be," said McCoy, Manning's former offensive coordinator, after the Chargers' upset victory.

McCoy knows Manning is a nightmare for a defense when he gets into a rhythm. He surely also knows the cold has caused Manning 2.0 plenty of issues, so when you can ice him for a while, that's ideal. But we've got bad news on that front for McCoy in the form of a weather forecast that's calling for a high of 50 degrees on Sunday. Oh well, rhythm-breaking it'll have to be.

However, the Broncos know what the Chargers' game plan will be, so expect them to load up the box and try to get Philip Rivers and his bolo tie to throw it a little more. Rivers averaged 24.5 passing attempts against Denver and 35.3 passes in the 14 other regular-season games.

And, of course, it should be noted the Broncos will have Wes Welker back for Sunday's game after not having him in the loss to San Diego last month. Welker is a chain-mover, so his return should bode well for Manning's ability to extend drives and prevent the Chargers from playing their game of keep-away.

[FBD]

I just dont see that happening twice in a season. esp THIS season