2018 Week 6 Charger Power Rankings

[Bolt-O]

Well, surprise, the national press are now on the bandwagon. The only ranking below 10 is from someone who has lost lots of money on betting the Chargers.


Summary:

ranks2018.jpg
Missing Covers.com

Blurbs follow

[Bolt-O]

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Frank Schwab, Yahoo Sports 7 (LW 10)Walter Football 11 (LW 18)

The Chargers only lost to the Rams and Chiefs. The Chargers only lost to the Chiefs and Rams. Hey, the Chargers only lost to the Rams and Chiefs. The Chargers only lost to the Chiefs and Rams. Have you paid attention? The Chargers only lost to the Rams and Chiefs. The Chargers only lost to the Chiefs and Rams. Hey, guess what? The Chargers only lost to the Rams and Chiefs. The Chargers only lost to the Chiefs and Rams. Have you heard the news? The Chargers only lost to the Rams and Chiefs. The Chargers only lost to the Chiefs and Rams. Did you hear? The Chargers only lost to the Rams and Chiefs. The Chargers only lost to the Chiefs and Rams. You'll never guess who only lost to the Rams and Chiefs: The Chargers only lost to the Rams and Chiefs. The Chargers only lost to the Chiefs and Rams. Rams Chiefs. Chiefs Rams. Rams Chiefs. Chiefs Rams. Rams Rams Rams. Chiefs Chiefs Chiefs. Rams Chiefs Rams Chiefs Rams Chiefs Rams. Chiefs Rams Chiefs Rams Chiefs Rams Chiefs. Rams Rams. Chiefs Chiefs.

Sorry, I thought I was a member of the national media for a second. Yes. The Chargers only lost to the Rams and Chiefs. This is true. So what? They got blown out in both games. They barely beat C.J. Beathard at home. Their other three wins are against the Bills, who suck, the Raiders, who suck, and the Browns, who saw Baker Mayfield get hurt in the first quarter.

The Chargers can't defend the middle of the field, and their pass rush isn't very good. I don't trust their offensive line either, and they have a shaky coaching staff. They have reached obscene levels of overrated, and I can't wait to make money betting against them.

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Elliot Harrison, NFL.com 6 (LW 10)

Tyrell Williams out-jumped about seven Browns for that football in the end zone. Good grief. Even more noticeable in Los Angeles' win over Cleveland: Anthony Lynn's running game stockpiling yards -- 246 of them, when all was said and done. Such ample production must've made the former running backs coach proud. With the reeling Titans on the schedule this week and Joey Bosa expected to return after the Week 8 bye, the Chargers have an opportunity to close the gap on the Chiefs in the AFC West going forward. Either way, this is a playoff team.
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[Bolt-O]

Pete Prisco, CBS Sports 6 (LW 11)

Don't look now, but the Chargers are coming fast. They have the look of a team that is getting right.
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Rebecca Toback, SB Nation 5 (LW 12)Mike Florio, Pro Football Talk/NBC 6 (LW 9)

A rematch between the Chiefs and Patriots may hinge on both teams avoiding this team in the divisional round.
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Vinnie Iyer, Sporting News 5 (LW 11)Matt Verderame, Fansided.com 5 (LW 11)

The Chargers might be the most complete team in the AFC.
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[Bolt-O]

USA Today 5 (LW 5)

Remember when Melvin Gordon was barred from end zone in his 2015 rookie year? He has 33 TDs since, more than anyone but Todd Gurley (36).
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ESPN 8 (LW 14)

Playoff chances: 80.2 percent, per the FPI. The Chargers have the best playoff odds of any team not currently leading its division. That's largely thanks to Philip Rivers, who is averaging a career-high 8.8 yards per attempt and a career-high 15-3 TD-to-INT ratio.
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MMQB 8 (LW 10)Reddit u/NFLPowerRankers 6 (LW 12)

Spurred from Melvin Gordon's career day and the possibility that Mike Badgley might actually know how to kick through the uprights (5/5 XP, 1/1 FG), the Chargers put together their best win this season. The Chargers will stay in Cleveland for the week and then head to London, where they will face off against the Titans. 6:30 am kickoff hype!


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Bleacher Report Consensus 7 (LW 10)

The Los Angeles Chargers have long been known as a team that excels at falling flat. The kings of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

There was a measure of concern that could happen in Week 6. The Chargers were traveling east to face a game Cleveland Browns team in a 1 p.m. game. Two years ago, the Bolts gave the Browns their lone win of the 2016 season in a similar situation.

There would be no repeat.

The Chargers dropped a hammer on the Browns, racing out to an early lead and never looking back. It was an effort that left Davenport looking at the Chargers as a legit contender in the AFC:

"The Chargers did what they were supposed to do again Sunday. Beat a team handily they were supposed to beat. L.A.'s only two losses are to the Chiefs and Rams, and Philip Rivers and the Chargers were in both of those games. This is maybe the best team in the NFL that no one is talking about. They could be dangerous."

Sobleski agrees:

"It's time to consider the Chargers a legitimate Super Bowl contender and Philip Rivers a serious MVP candidate. Yeah, everyone has heard this story before, but Los Angeles has playmakers everywhere and the quarterback has never played better. This 4-2 team is only going to improve once its best defensive player, Joey Bosa, is healthy and in the lineup."

[Classic]

Walter Football sounds like a hater. Super unbias.

[Classic]

Sorry, I thought I was a member of the national media for a second. Yes. The Chargers only lost to the Rams and Chiefs. This is true. So what? They got blown out in both games. They barely beat C.J. Beathard at home. Their other three wins are against the Bills, who suck, the Raiders, who suck, and the Browns, who saw Baker Mayfield get hurt in the first quarter.

The Chargers can't defend the middle of the field, and their pass rush isn't very good. I don't trust their offensive line either, and they have a shaky coaching staff. They have reached obscene levels of overrated, and I can't wait to make money betting against them.

Excuses Excuses Excuses. You beat who's in front of you on the schedule and now we're claiming Baker was injured. Did he actually watch the Chiefs game, if he did he'd know it was close at the half and if not for the Punt return by Hill.

LMAO he has the Titans as underrated after being shut out but we're the most overrated team in the NFL after a blowout win.

[richpjr]

I honestly prefer coverage like that - keep us hungry with a chip on the shoulder flying under the radar.

[Bolt-O]

Not in defense of Walter C., he was pretty high on the Chargers last season and into this season. He probably overbet the Chargers in the Chiefs game, and lost a bundle. The problem in posting just the Charger blurbs is that there is no context with the rest of these lists. I prefer to look at the overall trend of the team through the ratings, but the ranking blurbs are entertaining.

[blueman]

Walter Football sounds like a hater. Super unbias.

Super hater.

[Bolt-O]

Wednesday Blurbs:

Rotoworld 5 (LW 11)

Traveling cross country to play an early game is usually the kiss of death for west coast teams, but the Chargers bucked that trend with a convincing 38-14 victory over Cleveland in Week 6. Melvin Gordon met his weekly touchdown quota with three end-zone visits but the real difference-maker was Tyrell Williams, who massacred the Browns for 118 yards and two scores. The Gazelle ranks third in the league in yards per catch behind only DeSean Jackson (23.9) and John Brown (20.2). The 4-2 Chargers are off to their best start since 2014 when they began the year 5-1.

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Pro Football Focus Elo 9 (LW 10)

[Bolt-O]

Football Outsiders DVOA table:

Rk Team .. DVOA.. LW DAVE ..RK.. Rec ODVOA Rk DDVOA Rk STDVOA Rk

1	KC	34.5%	3	23.3%	2	5-1	31.8%	2	13.2%	28	15.9%	1
2	LAR	31.7%	1	26.2%	1	6-0	33.3%	1	1.3%	17	-0.3%	15
3	CHI	27.6%	2	12.3%	6	3-2	3.9%	14	-21.2%	1	2.6%	9
4	BAL	25.0%	6	18.9%	3	4-2	4.9%	13	-19.7%	2	0.5%	13
5	LAC	23.3%	5	16.1%	4	4-2	26.8%	3	-2.6%	12	-6.1%	31
6	MIA	16.7%	7	9.5%	9	4-2	2.5%	15	-7.4%	9	6.8%	3
7	NO	14.6%	4	15.5%	5	4-1	21.0%	4	7.2%	26	0.8%	12
8	SEA	10.7%	14	8.8%	10	3-3	-2.1%	18	-13.8%	4	-1.1%	16
9	NE	8.7%	9	11.8%	8	4-2	13.0%	7	1.6%	19	-2.7%	24
10	PIT	8.4%	10	11.9%	7	3-2-1	11.3%	9	0.3%	14	-2.6%	22
11	CAR	7.7%	12	4.1%	12	3-2	6.8%	12	3.2%	21	4.0%	6
12	CIN	6.7%	11	3.7%	13	4-2	12.2%	8	5.7%	24	0.2%	14
13	DEN	5.4%	16	1.6%	15	2-4	9.5%	10	1.4%	18	-2.6%	23
14	GB	4.5%	13	6.5%	11	3-2-1	13.1%	6	4.5%	22	-4.0%	29
15	JAX	3.6%	8	0.8%	16	3-3	-11.6%	26	-13.6%	5	1.7%	10
16	NYJ	2.4%	17	-1.8%	20	3-3	-16.4%	28	-8.5%	7	10.3%	2
17	PHI	-0.9%	21	2.8%	14	3-3	-4.7%	19	-5.0%	11	-1.2%	18
18	HOU	-1.9%	15	-1.1%	17	3-3	-14.9%	27	-7.5%	8	5.5%	4
19	IND	-4.5%	18	-3.4%	21	1-5	-7.1%	23	1.1%	16	3.8%	7
20	DAL	-4.9%	23	-1.1%	18	3-3	-8.9%	25	-2.5%	13	1.5%	11
21	MIN	-6.7%	24	-1.4%	19	3-2-1	-0.2%	16	2.7%	20	-3.9%	28
22	WAS	-8.3%	22	-4.8%	22	3-2	-5.7%	21	5.3%	23	2.7%	8
23	NYG	-11.6%	19	-12.1%	26	1-5	-1.2%	17	8.8%	27	-1.5%	19
24	ATL	-14.3%	27	-8.5%	23	2-4	9.3%	11	22.5%	31	-1.1%	17
25	TEN	-15.1%	20	-10.4%	24	3-3	-19.3%	29	0.6%	15	4.9%	5
26	TB	-15.5%	28	-11.7%	25	2-3	13.8%	5	26.5%	32	-2.9%	25
27	SF	-16.5%	29	-16.4%	29	1-5	-7.2%	24	6.1%	25	-3.1%	26
28	CLE	-19.4%	25	-14.3%	27	2-3-1	-24.1%	30	-12.5%	6	-7.8%	32
29	OAK	-24.1%	26	-18.4%	30	1-5	-5.8%	22	14.9%	29	-3.4%	27
30	DET	-26.1%	31	-15.7%	28	2-3	-4.8%	20	16.3%	30	-5.0%	30
31	ARI	-26.2%	30	-21.3%	31	1-5	-31.3%	31	-7.3%	10	-2.2%	20
32	BUF	-36.5%	32	-31.9%	32	2-4	-53.4%	32	-19.1%	3	-2.2%	21

[blueman]

Kinda amazing when you look at the stats.