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As the Chargers’ offensive line has studied overtime in the film room this week, one thing they’ve learned from the Giants’ physical, aggressive defense is to expect the unexpected.

“They blitz a lot, but they don’t do a lot of things repetitively,” center Scott Mruczkowski said. “They’re always coming up with new blitzes and running different things. They don’t really have a blitz that they feature that they’ll run over and over again. They’ll bring corners off the edge, bring safeties down. It’s definitely going to be challenging.”

Despite battling injuries in the secondary, the Giants enter Sunday’s game against the Chargers ranked third in the NFL against the pass. Much of their success can be attributed to a talented front seven that knows how to get to opposing quarterbacks. Led by Pro Bowlers Osi Umenyiora and Justin Tuck, New York has 18 sacks as a team, tied for seventh most in the NFL. Eleven different Giants have recorded at least a half sack this season.

“They’ve got a lot of guys that can change games,” Head Coach Norv Turner said. “They’ve got a lot of guys who can make plays. They do a great job with their blitz scheme. They’ve been able to get great pressure on quarterbacks and that’s kind of been their deal. It’s a great challenge.”

The challenge arrives as the Chargers are coming off their two best performances of the season as far as pass protection. In consecutive wins over the Chiefs and Raiders, Philip Rivers was sacked just once in 55 pass attempts, a vast improvement over the 15 times he was dropped in the team’s first five games.

“I think we’ve all executed better, executed to our ability,” offensive tackle Jeromey Clary said. “We did our jobs and didn’t try to do more than our jobs (the last two weeks). We’ve got to continue to get it done and we’ll have our hands full this week with a talented group. If we can all do our jobs and block by the rules of the protection, we should have the success we’re looking for.”

Mruczkowski believes the decline in sacks and pressures can be credited to the offense as a whole, not just the improved play on the offensive line.

“We’ve found a good mix of short routes and deep routes to keep teams off balance,” Mruczkowski said. “The backs doing a good job picking guys up, the ball is coming out quicker. Everything contributes to that and it’s been fun.”

Turner said the Chargers have also benefitted from stability up front. They shuffled their lineup early in the season due to injuries to center Nick Hardwick and Louis Vasquez. Sunday will be their fifth-consecutive week with the same starting lineup along the offensive line.

After being touched just twice last week against the Raiders, Rivers was extremely complimentary of his offensive line.

“I think they’ve improved every week as we all have,” Rivers said. “These last few weeks they’ve played well and are really meshing well together. There have been a lot of guys shuffling in and out of there. It hasn’t been very constant. They’re finding that timing and togetherness you need with an offensive line. I think they’ll be excited about the test they’ve got this week.”

Hardwick out

Center Nick Hardwick (ankle) will wait at least another week to make his return to the lineup as he’s listed as out. It was expected that Hardwick would miss eight weeks after having ankle surgery, and his operation was performed almost seven weeks ago.

“I think he’s on schedule,” Turner said. “Because a guy starts to practice, I think everyone assumes that he may be closer than you would assume. I’m glad to see that he’s able to go out and do more, but it’s not a deal where we can rush him. When he’s ready, he’ll be ready.”

Linebacker Tim Dobbins (knee) is doubtful for Sunday’s game at Giants Stadium, while linebacker Kevin Burnett (ankle) and defensive tackle Ogemdi Nwagbuo (ankle) both missed Friday’s practice and are questionable.

Linebacker Shawne Merriman also sat out of Friday’s drills with a foot injury but is probable.

Siler to start

Brandon Siler has been one of the Chargers’ top special teams performers throughout his three years with the club, and according to Turner, Siler will make his first start Sunday against the Giants.

“Brandon is a good football player,” Turner said. “He’s very attentive. He understands what he needs to do. He understands his strengths and weaknesses and plays to them extremely well.”

Siler is tied for the team lead in special teams tackles and saw his most significant action of his career on defense last week against the Raiders.

Use Ticketmaster

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