Fantasy Football Advice: Which Chargers To Start Against Chiefs

Philip Rivers

El Capitan has played worse against the Kansas City Chiefs in the last two years than he has against the Broncos or the Raiders. In his last 4 meetings with the Chiefs, he's completed 63.4% of his passes and thrown for just 4 TDs against 5 INTs. On top of that, he's fumbled 6 times (but lost only 2). I don't think you need to be an expert to know that 7 turnovers against 4 TDs is not the ratio the Bolts are hoping for in this game for Mr. Rivers.

Philip will also be returning to the scene of "the phumble" on Halloween 2011. If you recall, the Chargers took the Chiefs to overtime in Arrowhead Stadium last year and had the ball in easy FG range. All they had to do was kneel down and bring in Nick Novak for a game-winning FG. Instead, the team tried to run the ball and Rivers fumbled it away, eventually leading to a game-winning kick for the Kansas City Kicker. He'll need to make up for that.

Start or Sit: Sit

Ryan Mathews

Ryan hasn't been particularly good or bad in his career against the Chiefs. For him, he's been rather average. In 4 games, he's rushed the ball 70 times for 298 yards (4.3 YPC) and 3 TDs. He's also caught 12 passes for 114 yards. Also, 2 of his 6 career lost fumbles have come against the Chiefs.

In just his second game of the season, Mathews does look very determined to finally make the leap to "elite running back", so he'll need to do a good job of taking care of the ball and he'll need to have at least one big play.

In 2012, Chiefs have played 3 teams that really like to throw the ball and have given up 84, 201 and 83 rushing yards. With a strong focus on rushing the passer, there are holes in their defense that can be run through.

Start or Sit: Start

Antonio Gates

The career of Antonio Gates seems to have stages, at this point. There's pre-foot injuries Antonio, injured Antonio and (now, hopefully) post-injuries Antonio. That's how we have to look at these numbers.

Career vs. KC (14 games): 77 catches, 952 yards, 12 TDs

Last 2 Seasons vs. KC (2 games): 9 catches, 149 yards, 1 TD

The career numbers include the last two seasons, obviously. In 14 games, that's a damn fine "season" for a TE.

Last week, Jimmy Graham caught 4 passes for just 16 yards and 1 TD. Tony Gonzalez caught 5 passes for 53 yards and 1 TD in Week 1 in Kansas City. Average those two out and you probably have what Gates will do on Sunday.

Start or Sit: Start

Malcom Floyd

Malcom has been a heck of a Wide Receiver this season. Through 3 games, he's averaging over 4 catches and over 75 receiving yards per game. Unfortunately, he's only got 1 TD reception. Malcom doesn't seem to be very effective in the red zone, and he never really has been. Maybe it's because he struggles against the bump at the line. Maybe it's simply that Rivers feels comfortable through to Gates down there.

In his last two seasons against the Chiefs, Floyd has caught 14 passes for 234 yards (in 4 games). Every single one of those catches went for a first down, but only 2 of them were touchdown grabs. The Chiefs secondary was embarrassed by Julio Jones and Roddy White, but they did a good job against the Bills' and Saints' top receivers. I think a healthy Gates opens up some holes for Floyd.

Start or Sit: Start