Gameday: Chargers vs Bills

WEEK 7: CHARGERS AT BUFFALO BILLS – On the road in Buffalo on an unusually warm and sunny day on the shores of Lake Erie, the Chargers started fast before a capacity crowd of 71,602 at Ralph Wilson Stadium, outscoring the Bills, 7-3, in the opening 15 minutes. The Bills got an early field goal from Rian Lindell and the Chargers countered late in the quarter with a 14-yard scoring pass from Philip Rivers to Malcom Floyd. The first half of the game and even into the early third quarter was marked by a massive power failure in the Orchard Park area that knocked out the power in the stadium and caused a first quarter delay of approximately 10 minutes. Power was not fully restored in the stadium until early in the second half. The outage was caused by a bundle of balloons that became entangled in a power line. San Diego’s offense stagnated in the second quarter and the Bills outscored the Chargers, 10-0, on a two-yard touchdown catch by Lee Evans and a Lindell field goal. On their only two series of the quarter, the Bolts lost the ball on a fumble and went three-and-out. San Diego’s defense set the tone early in the third quarter. A defensive stand on Buffalo’s opening series led to the Chargers’ second TD of the game, an 80-yard drive capped off by a 14-yard Jackson catch that gave San Diego a 14-13 lead, but Buffalo answered right back with a 78-yard drive of their own and scored a touchdown on a nine-yard run by Marshawn Lynch to reclaim the lead at 20-14. The Chargers first drive of the fourth quarter stalled out at Buffalo’s 40-yard line and two others ended in turnovers as the Bills added a late field goal and closed out the game 23-14.

The Matchup

The San Diego Chargers play the first of two games during an 11-day road trip on Sunday, Oct. 19 against the Buffalo Bills at Ralph Wilson Stadium. Kickoff is at 10:00 a.m. PDT. CBS’ Greg Gumbel and Dan Dierdorf will call the action.

Following the game, the Chargers will fly overnight to London, England where they’ll take on the New Orleans Saints on Sunday, Oct. 26 in historic Wembley Stadium.

The Chargers, who are coming off a 30-10 win over the defending AFC Champion New England Patriots, will travel 11,235 air miles during their 11-day trip. The Bills figure to be well-rested as the AFC East leaders are coming off a bye.

The Series

Former AFL nemeses, the Chargers’ and Bills’ series dates back to 1960. San Diego leads the all-time series, 21-11-2, including a 24-21 win in their last meeting in 2006 in Western New York. The Chargers have won the last two games; three of the last four and six of the last eight against Buffalo. The Chargers are 9-5-1 as the road team in the series.

Sunday’s game will complete the Chargers’ regular-season slate against the AFC East. The Bolts are looking to improve to 3-1 against the division following wins over the New York Jets and Patriots, and a loss at Miami.

The Starting Quarterbacks

Philip Rivers, the NFL’s top-rated passer (109.4), will make his  second-career start in Buffalo, where he passed for 160 yards and a touchdown in the Chargers’ 24-21 win in ’06. Rivers is coming off a stellar 306-yard, three-touchdown night against New England in which he completed 66.7% of his throws for a season-high 141.9 passer rating. Rivers is tied for the NFL lead with 14 touchdown passes and has thrown just four picks. Four of Rivers’ five career 300-yard games have taken place on the road.
 
Buffalo’s Trent Edwards ranks 12th in the NFL in pass efficiency (93.9). He’s completing 66.4% of his passes for 948 yards with four touchdowns and only two interceptions.

What to look for

• An energetic and hostile crowd at Buffalo’s Ralph Wilson Stadium where the Bills are 2-0 this season and have drawn in excess of 71,000 fans for each. At 4-1, the Bills are off to their best start since 1999. The Chargers can take solace in the fact that the Bills lost their sixth and seventh games that year to slide to 4-3.

What to look for – offense

• Philip Rivers is looking for his second-straight 300-yard game after a 306-yard outing last Sunday against New England. Rivers has never posted back-to-back 300-yard games during his career. Rivers has thrown a career-high three touchdowns four times this season, including Sunday against the Patriots.
• Another big performance from the Chargers’ twin towers, six-foot-five wide receivers Vincent Jackson and Malcom Floyd, who combined for 209 yards receiving and two TDs against New England. Jackson had a career-high 134 yards and a touchdown against the Patriots, while Floyd, subbing for an injured Chris Chambers (ankle), responded with 75 yards and a touchdown. Jackson’s previous career-high was 114 yards in the playoffs and he has never recorded back-to-back 100-yard games.
• Should Chambers return from the injury on Sunday, he’ll do so against a team that he has had very good success against during his career. As a Miami Dolphin, Chambers saved some of his best games for the Bills, recording more yards (665) and touchdowns against them (seven) than any other team during
• The Chargers’ passing attack, which ranks ninth in the NFL (239.8 yards per game), will be tested by the NFL’s ninth ranked pass defense in Buffalo, which is only allowing a stingy 184.8 yards through the air.
• Another big effort by San Diego’s offensive line. After allowing six sacks in the last two weeks, the unit held the Patriots in check, not allowing a single New Englander to get a sack on Rivers, while he sat in the pocket and completed 18 of 27 for 306 yards and three TDs. It’s the second time this season the Chargers haven’t allowed a sack in a game. The Bills have only recorded 10 sacks this season as a team, tied for ninth-fewest in the league.

What to look for – defense

• The Chargers evolving defense to turn in another dominating performance. The Chargers’ defense is coming off a season best 299-net yard performance against New England. San Diego’s defense, anchored in the middle by three-time Pro Bowler Jamal Williams, had four sacks Sunday night against New England, giving the defense 14 in the last four games while the Chargers have gone 3-1. That same San Diego defense has limited opponents to just 96.5 rushing yards per game over the same four-game stretch.
• The Chargers’ linebackers to continue wreaking havoc on the oppositions QBs. San Diego’s LBs have combined for 10.5 of the team’s 17 total sacks this season, which ranks fifth in the NFL. The OLBs are led by Shaun Phillips, who leads the team and ranks among the NFL’s top sackers with 3.5 for the season, while Marques Harris is looking for his fourth-game in a row with a sack.
• Another strong effort by San Diego’s pass defense. Sunday, the Bolts held New England’s Matt Cassel to a 61.6 passer rating, 22.5 points below his season average coming into the game. For the first time this season, that same group also did not allow a passing TD. The challenge on Sunday will be to stop Buffalo’s Trent Edwards, who has the NFL’s sixth-highest completion percentage (66.4), but has only thrown four touchdown passes. Edwards’ passer rating is a solid 93.9.

What to look for – special teams

• With eight punt returns on the season, Darren Sproles now has enough to rank among the NFL leaders. After averaging 25.0 yards on two punt returns against New England, Sproles goes to Buffalo tied for fourth in the league at 14.3 yards per return. He’s also right up there with the NFL’s top kickoff return men, ranking third with a 30.4-yard average, including a 103-yard touchdown on the road in Week 2 at Denver. Buffalo’s special teams units have been shaky. The Bills’ rank 24th in the league in defending punts (12.1 yards per return) and 27th in defending kickoffs (25.6 ypr).

Notable Connections

• Chargers General Manager A.J. Smith spent 14 seasons in the Bills’ organization as an area scout, assistant director of college scouting and director of pro personnel. Director of Pro Scouting Denny Abraham and scouts Mike Biehl and Tom Gibbons all worked in football administration for the Bills.
• Defensive coordinator Ted Cottrell coached the D-line and linebackers in Buffalo, while also serving as their D-coordinator from 1998-00. Secondary coach Bill Bradley tutored the Bills’ DBs from 1998-00 under Cottrell. Wide receivers coach Charlie Joiner spent nine seasons from 1992-00 in the same capacity in Buffalo.
• Chargers players with ties to New York state include safety Steve Gregory, who is from Staten Island and played collegiately at Syracuse, and practice squad defensive end Andre Coleman, who is from Buffalo and played collegiately at Albany.
• Bills quarterback Gibran Hamdan was born in San Diego as was center Duke Preston. Duke’s father, Ray, played linebacker for the Chargers from 1976-84. Fellow QB J.P. Losman is from Venice, Calif. Linebacker Keith Ellison is from Redondo Beach.