2018 Week 12 Charger Power Rankings

[Bolt-O]

A bump up in Rankings, with the win and the Steeler loss, but the statistical rankings have a bigger gain, due to the defense performance.

Summary

ranks2018.jpg

ARGH and Vegas Insider delayed.

Blurbs follow

[Bolt-O]

Frank Schwab, Yahoo Sports 7 (LW 7)Walter Football 6 (LW 7)

I guess I can no longer say this because the Chargers finally lost to a team not named the Rams or Chiefs. I never understood the hype though. The Chargers got blown out in both games. They barely beat C.J. Beathard at home. Their other seven wins are against the Bills, who suck; the Raiders, who suck; the Browns, who saw Baker Mayfield get hurt in the first quarter; the Titans, who shot themselves in the foot repeatedly; the Seahawks, who are mediocre at best; the Raiders, who, if you didn't see it earlier, suck; and the Cardinals, who suck. None of those teams have winning records except Seattle.

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. Philip Rivers was flawless against Arizona, but part of that was because the Cardinals lost their best cover linebacker Josh Bynes, to an injury in the early going.
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Elliot Harrison, NFL.com 5 (LW 6)

Listening to the Chargers' radio broadcast of their game against the Cardinals, I heard NFL Network colleague Daniel Jeremiah say he felt like he was watching Philip Rivers put together a perfect game after never having seen one from the Padres, of whom he is a lifelong fan. Twenty seconds after Jeremiah made that comment, Rivers got hot about having to call a timeout. Rivers is the guy fans love to hate for being so demonstrative on the field ... because he cares. Next play, Rivers rolls out, takes his time, then calmly completes his 25th pass in a row for a third touchdown. Haters gonna hate, but they sure sound stupid doing it. Rivers is Canton-bound..
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[Bolt-O]

Pete Prisco, CBS Sports 6 (LW 7)

They bounced back nicely this week from their loss a week ago, but now face a tough road game against the Steelers
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Rebecca Toback, SB Nation 6 (LW 8)Mike Florio, Pro Football Talk/NBC 6 (LW 7)Vinnie Iyer, Sporting News 6 (LW 8)

The Chargers came out with vengeance at home after the stumble to the Broncos and saw Philip Rivers put up his best performance in arguably his best season. The defense is healthier and stronger; now the hope is Melvin Gordon will be, too.
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Matt Verderame, Fansided.com 7 (LW 8)

The Chargers have to hope Melvin Gordon returns quickly.

[Bolt-O]

USA Today 5 (LW 6)

Not sure why Melvin Gordon was still playing with Bolts up by 18, but it's kind of move franchise averse to prosperity too often makes.
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ESPN 5 (LW 7)

Toughest game left: Week 15 at Kansas City. While the Chargers (8-3) are solidly in the playoffs right now, they're only a game behind Kansas City (9-2) in the AFC West standings. However, the Bolts have lost nine straight against the Chiefs. The Chargers have to figure out a way to limit turnovers and stop Kansas City's explosive offense led by Patrick Mahomes if they want to overtake the Chiefs in the AFC West. -- Eric Williams
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MMQB 7 (LW 7)Reddit u/NFLPowerRankers 6 (LW 7)

The slow start that would have been a major hurdle for past Chargers teams proved to be nothing but a speed bump for this one. The Chargers put up 45 unanswered points, Philip Rivers set a record and tied a similar one, and the run game and defense all did their part. However, Melvin Gordon's MCL sprain is a significant setback, especially with the Chargers entering the real meat of their schedule in the coming month.
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Bleacher Report Consensus 7 (LW 8)

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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	41.6%	1	42.4%	1	9-2	38.4%	1	5.2%	25	8.5%	1
2	LAR	32.6%	2	31.1%	2	10-1	31.5%	2	-1.1%	17	0.1%	17
3	NO	27.1%	4	31.1%	3	10-1	23.4%	4	-1.5%	14	2.2%	9
4	LAC	26.2%	5	28.2%	4	8-3	26.4%	3	-5.5%	9	-5.7%	32
5	CHI	21.1%	3	20.9%	6	8-3	2.7%	14	-22.5%	1	-4.0%	29
6	DEN	19.7%	7	21.8%	5	5-6	8.8%	9	-12.5%	3	-1.6%	23
7	PIT	14.5%	6	17.0%	7	7-3-1	14.2%	6	-2.4%	12	-2.1%	25
8	BAL	14.2%	9	12.7%	9	6-5	1.6%	15	-9.9%	5	2.7%	6
9	NE	11.6%	10	13.5%	8	8-3	12.3%	7	0.8%	19	0.2%	16
10	GB	11.5%	8	11.5%	10	4-6-1	14.7%	5	1.6%	20	-1.5%	22
11	SEA	9.5%	12	10.3%	11	6-5	5.1%	11	-2.8%	11	1.5%	11
12	HOU	7.7%	14	8.5%	14	8-3	-6.6%	21	-12.0%	4	2.2%	8
13	IND	7.0%	11	8.7%	13	6-5	4.5%	12	-1.2%	16	1.4%	13
14	MIN	6.7%	13	8.9%	12	6-4-1	-0.5%	17	-9.8%	6	-2.6%	26
15	CAR	5.4%	15	5.4%	15	6-5	10.7%	8	5.8%	26	0.6%	15
16	JAX	-5.4%	17	-7.6%	17	3-8	-15.4%	28	-7.0%	7	3.0%	5
17	WAS	-7.0%	16	-8.3%	18	6-5	-11.2%	25	0.1%	18	4.4%	3
18	MIA	-7.3%	20	-9.0%	19	5-6	-8.8%	23	2.8%	21	4.3%	4
19	CIN	-8.1%	19	-10.6%	23	5-6	0.4%	16	9.3%	28	0.7%	14
20	NYG	-8.2%	21	-7.4%	16	3-8	-2.2%	18	8.6%	27	2.6%	7
21	DAL	-9.6%	22	-9.4%	20	6-5	-9.4%	24	-1.5%	13	-1.7%	24
22	ATL	-9.6%	18	-10.2%	21	4-7	8.6%	10	19.6%	32	1.4%	12
23	CLE	-11.9%	25	-10.4%	22	4-6-1	-12.7%	26	-6.3%	8	-5.5%	31
24	PHI	-12.0%	23	-11.6%	24	5-6	-6.3%	20	4.2%	24	-1.4%	21
25	TEN	-14.9%	24	-14.4%	25	5-6	-13.2%	27	3.7%	22	1.9%	10
26	TB	-18.5%	28	-18.9%	26	4-7	3.3%	13	18.8%	31	-3.0%	27
27	NYJ	-18.7%	27	-19.4%	27	3-8	-25.7%	30	-1.2%	15	5.8%	2
28	SF	-24.0%	26	-25.2%	30	2-9	-16.9%	29	4.1%	23	-3.1%	28
29	DET	-24.1%	29	-22.8%	29	4-7	-7.2%	22	16.1%	30	-0.8%	19
30	BUF	-24.6%	31	-21.8%	28	4-7	-38.3%	31	-14.8%	2	-1.0%	20
31	OAK	-27.2%	30	-30.1%	31	2-9	-6.1%	19	15.8%	29	-5.3%	30
32	ARI	-37.4%	32	-37.9%	32	2-9	-39.6%	32	-2.9%	10	-0.7%	18

[Bolt-O]

Wednesday Blurbs:

Teddy Covers - Covers.com 7 (LW 7)Rotoworld 6 (LW 7)Pro Football Focus Elo 6 (LW 6)