In this Week 17 regular season finale, the Denver Broncos and San Diego Chargers play at Sports Authority Field at Mile High. The NFL’s second-leading passer, Philip Rivers (4,564 yards, 27 TDs), will be a player to watch in this game. While Denver’s season has had its high points, the team has struggled lately, losing two of its last three. Kickoff is at 4:25 p.m. ET on Sunday, Jan 3 and will air on CBS.
Denver and San Diego last met in Week 13, when the Broncos put in a solid performance and beat the Chargers 17-3. Denver has been victorious in the last four over the Chargers, going back to the 2013 season. David Bruton Jr. led the Broncos defensive effort in the last meeting, recording 10 tackles. Denzel Perryman led the defensive effort for San Diego, recording 10 tackles.
A close score is not projected this week when the Chargers, a substantial seven-point underdog, take on Denver. The Over/Under (O/U) line is currently at 41 points for this matchup.
Sitting at 11-4 Straight Up (SU) and 7-6-2 Against The Spread (ATS), the Broncos will look to improve heading into Week 17. In their five most recent matchups, the Broncos went 3-2 SU and 2-2-1 ATS. Denver hopes to take advantage of a Chargers defense that allows 5.1 yards per rush during road games, 31st in the NFL. Turning to the Broncos defense, there are several areas to keep an eye on. San Diego’s offense will face a tough challenge against the second-ranked Broncos run defense, which gives up 81.6 rushing yards per game. The Chargers will have to keep Denver from hitting their quarterback. The Broncos average the most sacks per game in the league with 3.2.
Shifting to the opposition, the Chargers head into Week 17 with records of 7-8 ATS and 4-11 SU. Over their last five games, the Chargers have a SU record of 2-3 and a 4-1 record ATS. The Chargers. lead the league with 42.2 passing attempts per game. Shifting to the other side of the ball, it might be tough for the Broncos to keep up with San Diego’s defense in a few areas. San Diego is a menacing unit for opposing offenses. When the Chargers are on the road, they give up 219.6 yards per game through the air, fourth in the league. It’ll be difficult to keep San Diego’s offense off the field this week. The team’s average time of possession is 32:40, ranking fourth in the league.
Predictions: SU Winner – Den, ATS Winner – Den, O/U – Over
Notes
Denver is 2-5-1 ATS in its last 8 games.
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Denver’s last 6 games.
Denver is 11-4 SU in its last 15 games.
Denver is 13-3 SU in its last 16 games at home.
Denver is 2-4 ATS in its last 6 games at home.
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Denver’s last 6 games when playing San Diego.
Denver is 8-1 SU in its last 9 games when playing San Diego.
Denver is 17-8 SU in its last 25 games when playing at home against San Diego.
Denver is 2-7-3 ATS in its last 12 games when playing at home against San Diego.
San Diego is 2-4 SU when leading at the half this season. Denver is 7-2 SU when taking a lead into halftime.
This season, San Diego is only 2-7 SU in games where it wins the turnover battle, and an even 2-2 SU when losing the turnover battle.
San Diego is winless (0-6 SU) this season when allowing at least 3.0 sacks in a game. The Denver defense has averaged 3.2 sacks over the last five games.
Dating back to last season, Denver is 9-2 SU against AFC West opponents, while San Diego is just 2-9 SU against division foes.
Denver is rated higher in the ground game on both sides of the ball. Its 18th-ranked rushing attack will face the 23rd-ranked run defense of San Diego, while its second-ranked rush defense will look to contain the bottom-ranked run game of the Chargers.
