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The San Diego Chargers will win against the Jacksonville Jaguars

Each week, we give San Diego Chargers fans three reasons to be optimistic about the team's upcoming game. This week, the Chargers travel to Jacksonville to take on the winless Jaguars.

By John Gennaro

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Mike Ehrmann

Ryan Mathews

Guess who has the worst rush defense in the league. Go ahead.

If you guessed the Jacksonville Jaguars, you are wrong. HOWEVER, you're not that wrong. The answer was the New Orleans Saints, which is also the answer to "Which is the only rush defense in the league worse than the Jacksonville Jaguars'?"

Ignoring the Raiders game, when Mathews left with a concussion, here are Ryan's last two games:

  • vs. DAL: 23 touches, 103 total yards
  • vs. IND: 22 touches, 102 totals yards

In two career games against the Jags, Mathews has averaged just 11.5 touches for 84.5 total yards. He also has 1 TD and 1 fumble. I'd say he's due for a big game on the ground.

Philip Rivers

Hold on. Let me do this first.

  • 2nd best QB by DYAR
  • 3rd best QB by DVOA
  • 3rd best QB by QBR
  • 4th best QB by PFF's overall rating
  • 3rd best QB by Passer Rating

I think it's safe to say that Philip Rivers has been a "Top 5" quarterback this season. Outside of the second half against the Texans and the odd Raiders game, Rivers has been nearly flawless.

In addition to having one of the league's worst defenses, the Jaguars have far-and-away the league's worst offense. Should this need to turn into a shootout, 2013 Philip Rivers should be able to win it handily.

John Pagano

Seriously.

The guy had a great gameplan against the Colts offense, which can do just about anything they want. Now he gets to gameplan against a Jacksonville team that struggles to throw deep, because Chad Henne doesn't have the arm, the offensive line can't buy him the time, and all of the receivers are injured. This should be pretty easy to gameplan against.

The defensive line should be able to win battles against their offensive line, and that should help in stopping the Jacksonville running game. Once they're able to do that, they can easily cover up all of the other holes the team has on defense.

Let's be honest here. The Jaguars are 0-6 for a reason. There's almost no talent on this roster. People are openly wondering if the Alabama Crimson Tide could beat this professional football team. This isn't the Titans or the Raiders, both teams with good defenses and mobile QBs (Pagano's Kryptonite!) . The Jaguars are several levels below both of those teams. If the Chargers lose this one, Mike McCoy will have to face some serious questions about why his team can't seem to win two in a row no matter the quality of opponent.

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