2018 Week 14 Charger Power Rankings

[Bolt-O]

Lackluster performance by Bolts shows in the ratings and rankings, even if other playoff contenders other than the Chiefs lost.

Summary:


ranks2018.jpg

Delayed... Vegas Insider


Blurbs follow

[Bolt-O]

Frank Schwab, Yahoo Sports 4 (LW 5)Walter Football 6 (LW 6)

The Chargers won in Pittsburgh on a recent Sunday night, a win that never would've happened had the Chargers been called for a false start on their first touchdown and had two Steeler defenders not run into each other on the should've-been interception that turned into a touchdown to Keenan Allen. The Chargers have been extremely lucky this season, and it's going to catch up to them eventually.

The Chargers can't defend the middle of the field, and they also can't stop the run in the wake of Corey Liuget's injury. Recently, they lost to Denver at home and then nearly suffered a defeat against the skeleton-crew Bengals, also as hosts.
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Elliot Harrison, NFL.com 5 (LW 5)

Love the Chargers, but boy do they play to the level of their competition. Two weeks ago, they were fully capable of lighting up the Steelers in the second half to steal a road win. On Sunday, they plodded their way squarely into Bengals-esque mediocrity. Most folks were too zoomed in on Eagles- Cowboys or the Steelers' debacle in Oakland to pay much attention to the squeaker at the L.A. soccer hub. Especially after the Bolts scored at will while going up 14-3 in the first half. Maybe the Chargers were looking ahead to the dandy of a matchup in Arrowhead this Thursday night. Let's just say that ain't Jeff Driskel they'll be facing out there.

Side note: Respect, Michael Badgley ... making 14 of 15 field-goal tries since joining the fray in October is heady stuff. Badgley saved the day versus Cincy
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[Bolt-O]

Pete Prisco, CBS Sports 8 (LW 9)

It wasn't pretty against the Bengals, but they found a way. Now comes the biggest game of the year at Kansas City.
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Ryan Van Bibber, SB Nation 9 (LW 2)

(no blurb-seems like this guy is focused on the last game played)
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Mike Florio, Pro Football Talk/NBC 4 (LW 5)Vinnie Iyer, Sporting News 4 (LW 5)

Philip Rivers and the Chargers' defense didn't play well Sunday, perhaps looking ahead to the short week and long road trip to Kansas City. But the scary thing is their effort was still good enough to take care of the Bengals, and Melvin Gordon could return this week.
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Matt Verderame, Fansided.com 4 (LW 6)

Now for the showdown at Arrowhead.
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[Bolt-O]

USA Today 4 (LW 5)

Do they ever fire on all cylinders? Just as Joey Bosa and special teams approach peak form, offense nearly unravels against DOA Bengals.
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ESPN 4 (LW 5)

Top wish list item: A healthy Melvin Gordon. The Chargers have won both games Gordon missed with a sprained right knee. However, the Wisconsin product accounted for 36 percent of the Bolts' scrimmage touchdowns before his injury. If the Chargers want to make a deep postseason run, they need a healthy Gordon to reach their full potential on offense. -- Eric D. Williams
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MMQB 6 (LW 5)

(No blurb, Bears leapfrog)
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Reddit u/NFLPowerRankers 4 (LW 5)

Coming off a close win against a (still) solid Steelers team and hosting a wounded Cincy squad, this one had all the makings of a trap game. The Bengals D kept them in it, but the Chargers did just enough to pull off the win. Mike Badgley has been a revelation for the kicking game, knocking in a franchise record 59-yard FG before the half. If the Chargers have any hope of winning at Arrowhead on Thursday night, they must bring their absolute best because their performance this past Sunday wasn't it.
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Bleacher Report Consensus 6 (LW 5)Teddy Covers - Covers.com 5 (LW 5)

No Melvin Gordon, no problem for LA. Austin Ekeler finished with 94 yards from scrimmage in their win over Cinci, including a five yard TD scamper.
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[Bolt-O]

Football Outsiders DVOA summary:

Columns:

Rank
Team
Total DVOA
Last Week
Weighted DVOA
WDVOA Rank
W-L
Offensive DVOA
ODVOA Rank
Defensive DVOA
DDVOA Rank
Special Teams DVOA
STDVOA Rank

1	KC	33.5%	1	30.4%	1	11-2	36.3%	1	7.9%	26	5.1%	2
2	LAC	26.4%	3	27.4%	2	10-3	26.0%	2	-4.3%	9	-3.8%	26
3	LAR	25.8%	2	23.6%	4	11-2	22.7%	3	-2.9%	12	0.1%	14
4	NO	21.8%	4	26.3%	3	11-2	17.9%	4	-2.3%	13	1.6%	11
5	CHI	17.2%	6	16.0%	7	9-4	-5.2%	22	-26.3%	1	-4.0%	28
6	BAL	16.9%	9	16.1%	6	7-6	-0.3%	15	-13.3%	2	3.8%	5
7	DEN	15.5%	5	19.6%	5	6-7	5.3%	11	-12.0%	4	-1.8%	23
8	SEA	12.0%	10	13.5%	8	8-5	8.6%	9	-0.6%	15	2.8%	8
9	PIT	11.1%	7	13.5%	9	7-5-1	15.5%	5	-0.1%	16	-4.6%	32
10	NE	10.9%	8	12.7%	11	9-4	14.8%	6	3.3%	21	-0.6%	19
11	IND	7.1%	13	13.5%	10	7-6	2.9%	13	-3.8%	11	0.4%	13
12	GB	6.0%	12	7.1%	13	5-7-1	13.2%	7	5.5%	25	-1.8%	22
13	HOU	4.3%	11	3.7%	14	9-4	-5.1%	21	-6.5%	8	2.9%	7
14	NYG	2.9%	16	8.8%	12	5-8	1.3%	14	2.9%	20	4.5%	3
15	CAR	1.6%	14	1.6%	16	6-7	10.2%	8	8.4%	27	-0.1%	17
16	MIN	1.6%	15	2.9%	15	6-6-1	-1.7%	17	-7.0%	6	-3.6%	25
17	DAL	-2.3%	18	-1.7%	17	8-5	-8.1%	25	-6.8%	7	-1.0%	20
18	JAX	-5.0%	17	-8.8%	22	4-9	-16.7%	28	-8.4%	5	3.3%	6
19	MIA	-5.2%	21	-10.0%	23	7-6	-2.6%	20	4.2%	24	1.7%	10
20	PHI	-6.0%	19	-6.8%	21	6-7	-2.0%	19	3.9%	23	-0.2%	18
21	TEN	-8.1%	25	-4.8%	19	7-6	-7.3%	23	0.8%	17	0.0%	15
22	ATL	-8.4%	20	-6.2%	20	4-9	6.5%	10	16.8%	32	1.8%	9
23	CLE	-8.9%	23	-4.6%	18	5-7-1	-8.7%	26	-4.1%	10	-4.4%	30
24	CIN	-9.2%	24	-15.8%	26	5-8	-0.5%	16	9.6%	28	0.8%	12
25	TB	-13.6%	26	-15.2%	25	5-8	4.2%	12	13.2%	30	-4.6%	31
26	WAS	-16.1%	22	-18.5%	27	6-7	-17.7%	29	2.4%	19	4.1%	4
27	NYJ	-16.6%	27	-21.4%	29	4-9	-23.1%	30	1.0%	18	7.5%	1
28	DET	-21.6%	28	-14.0%	24	5-8	-7.4%	24	13.2%	29	-1.0%	21
29	OAK	-21.8%	29	-23.7%	30	3-10	-1.7%	17	15.8%	31	-4.3%	29
30	SF	-23.3%	31	-24.1%	31	3-10	-16.1%	27	3.8%	22	-3.3%	24
31	BUF	-25.9%	30	-20.3%	28	4-9	-34.2%	31	-12.1%	3	-3.8%	27
32	ARI	-36.6%	32	-35.9%	32	3-10	-38.8%	32	-2.3%	14	0.0%	16

[Jagged]

[Budsman]

[Bolt-O]

And what the hell is Prisco smoking?

My cynical view... he has you talking, which columnist love to do... take a adverse position, and get the attention. Records be dammed, lol.

But the Cowboys, Bears and Seahawks are playing good ball, even though the Chargers could beat those teams...and the Chargers didn't play good ball on Sunday. If anything, the Pats should be lower than the Chargers in all rankings.

[Bolt-O]

Wednesday blurbs:

Rotoworld 6 (LW 6)

The cupboard is getting awfully thin at running back for the Chargers, who could be missing both Melvin Gordon (knee) and Austin Ekeler (concussion, stinger) Thursday night in K.C. Keenan Allen continues to be as steady as they come. The sixth-year assassin graced the end zone with his presence yet again in Week 14, stretching his touchdown streak to five in the process. I assume the boogeyman checks his closet for Joey Bosa (four sacks in his last three games) before he goes to sleep at night.
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Pro Football Focus Elo 5 (LW 5)

The Chargers, who are on pace for 11.6 wins, might finish second in the AFC in total wins. In a very Chargerian way, this gives them only a 10% chance to actually win their division, making their path to a Super Bowl championship (about five percent) a murky one. PFF Greenline has them at roughly a 35% chance at winning in Kansas City on Thursday, which would be a great start for them if they want to play at home in the playoffs and make these likelihoods shoot up.
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Posting the summary in the OP