With five games left in the season, the Denver Broncos have already mathematically eliminated the San Diego Chargers from contending for the AFC West division championship.
But when the two old rivals meet Sunday at Qualcomm Stadium the last place team should be in better health than the first place team.
Despite dinging up his foot last week in Jacksonville, quarterback Philip Rivers did not miss any practice and is fine to play. Only offensive linemen D.J. Fluker and King Dunlap have been ruled out while defensive linemen Corey Liuget and Sean Lissemore along with linebacker Jeremiah Attaochu are questionable.
Everyone else should play for the Bolts.
Meanwhile Denver is missing quite a few important pieces. Linebacker DeMarcus Ware and safety T.J. Ward, both Pro Bowlers, are out. So is defensive tackle Sylvester Williams, arguably the most important member of the defensive line, so the Broncos won't have three of their best defensive players, one at every level.
And of course future Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton Manning is not available either so backup Brock Osweiler starts for the third straight week.
He's also looking for his third straight win. Osweiler sat for three and a half years behind Manning and obviously he was paying attention. In fact he's looked so good in his first two career NFL starts that there's pressure on Broncos head coach Gary Kubiak to keep him in the starting role even after Manning is healthy enough to get back on the field.
At first blush, purposefully leaving Peyton Manning on the bench seems like a ludicrous thing to do but Osweiler (in a small sample size) has shown signs of being a legitimate NFL quarterback. It's up to the Chargers defense to try and find weaknesses in his armor.
