Who To Watch For: Chiefs vs. Chargers

Three Players To Keep An Eye On Sunday At The Q

Chiefs running back Jamaal Charles is good.

Thank you, Captain Obvious!

I mean, he's a tremendous running back, just 53 yards shy of passing Priest Holmes and  becoming Kansas City's all-time leading rusher. But, you could argue that he's every bit as dangerous when he catches the ball out of the backfield.

In 84 career games, he has 16 touchdown catches. Now, let's put that in perspective.

In his entire soon-to-be Hall of Fame career, a span of 170 games, LaDainian Tomlinson (one of the greatest pass-catching running backs of all time) caught 17 touchdown passes.

Over the first 84 games of his Hall of Fame career, Marshall Faulk (THE greatest pass-catching running back of all time) caught 11 touchdown passes.

Jamaal Charles is on a pace to not only be good, but to be among the best to ever play the game, which is why he poses such a threat to the Chargers' 5-game winning streak on Sunday.

Of the 10 touchdown passes the Bolts have allowed in 2014, four have come from running backs. The Bolts are among the best teams in the league in guarding wide receivers, so the guys on the outside are doing just fine.

But, they're one of the worst teams in the NFL at covering running backs, so the guys on the inside need some work. And that brings us to this week's players to watch for:

Donald Butler, ILB

Butler has been one of the top offenders when it comes to running back assignments (just cue up the tape from the Seahawks game and you'll see what I mean), which is interesting because he's shown glimpses of being very good in coverage. Butler has picked off a pass in 2011, 2012 and 2013, plus one against the Broncos in the Divisional Playoffs. But, this year, he's been losing backs with alarming consistency. While Defensive Coordinator John Pagano will also use safety Eric Weddle to keep an eye on Charles, Butler will likely be the first option. If he can't stay close to the Chiefs' All-Pro back, this game will turn in to a shootout like last year's 41-38 slugfest at Arrowhead Stadium.

King Dunlap, LT

If it does get to a point where the team with the ball last wins, and the Chargers are having to pass 35 times, Philip Rivers will be in great peril. Kansas City linebackers Tamba Hali and Justin Houston are pass rush specialists who can wreck a game in a hurry. Both of them were hurt in the first game of 2013, and neither dressed for the season finale. Dunlap has played at a Pro Bowl level this season, and he'll have to maintain that to give Rivers a chance to get the ball off (and avoid having to drink all his meals for a month). Hali and Houston will rotate from side to side on occasion, but for the most part Dunlap will be tangling with Hali, who has 76.5 sacks in his career. If Dunlap can delay him long enough to give Philip Rivers three or four seconds to throw (and right tackle D.J. Fluker can do the same with Houston on the other side), the Chargers have a monster advantage, and here's why.

Keenan Allen, WR

Statistically speaking, Marcus Cooper is the worst cover cornerback in the NFL right now, and Keenan Allen is probably not the right guy to fix that against. I'll go back to that game in K.C. last year, where Allen caught nine passes for 124 yards, the majority of them on crossing routes where he lost Cooper either at the line of scrimmage (in press coverage) or in the middle of the field (in zone). While Cooper did show improvement in the season finale, the second-year CB seems to have regressed a bit. Allen leads the Chargers in catches, but has yet to get in the end zone, and while he is supportive of his team-mates scoring lots of touchdowns, the frustration has got to be mounting. Against the Jets, Philip Rivers made a few interesting throws late in the game that sure looked like he was trying to get Keenan a TD. This might be his best chance yet to do it.

Derek's Prediction

I am scared to death of this game. The Chargers offensive line has been beat up, and against the Chiefs front seven (linemen Dontari Poe and Allen Bailey are also having solid seasons), getting Rivers enough time to find an open man will be difficult. However, if they do, Philip will have no trouble dissecting the Chiefs secondary, especially with safety Eric Berry not playing.

On defense, the Bolts will benefit from getting Shareece Wright and Reggie Walker back, but if Brandon Flowers (groin) and/or Jason Verrett (shoulder) can't play, they'll be in deep trouble trying to handle not only Charles and fellow running back Knile Davis, but tight ends Travis Kelce and Anthony Fasano.

When you have this many variables, I like to look at two final factors: location, and quarterback. The game is at home. The Chargers have Philip Rivers. In a game between two teams that do not turn the ball over very much, expect a clean, close match where the Bolts hold the trump card.

Make it seven straight wins for San Diego over Kansas City at Qualcomm Stadium.

Final score: Chargers 27, Chiefs 24

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