One thing is for sure come Sunday afternoon in southern California, our Bucs are in for a helluva battle going into San Diego to face a real Jekyll and Hyde Chargers team.
This 2016 Chargers squad is very interesting statistically speaking. We’ll jump right into the juicy stats. San Diego defensively has turned into a turnover juggernaut generating 23 extra possessions for their gun-slinging QB through a league high 14 picks. Outstanding right? Yes, until you see their offense at #1 in the NFL in giveaways at, wait for it, 23 for a zero differential. To make it clearer how hard that is to do, #2 Jets and #3 Jaguars behind them in total turnovers are -14 and -15 turnover differential. Chargers are tied for first in lost fumbles at 11, so ball punching and holding guys up til the crew gets there will be important as the Bucs are tied for first in recovered fumbles.
The Chargers have given up the 6th least yards on the ground at 988 yds but 9th worst through the air giving up 271.3 ppg and allowing opponents a ridiculous 26.5 pts pg. A nice easy west coast style offense would suit the Bucs well in this contest as they would like to control time of possession again and give Rivers less time to dice us up.
This game will 100% unequivocally come down to the turnover battle. Whoever wins that stat, wins this ever so important game. This also has the strong potential to be a high flying aerial shootout with two of the NFL’s better throwing teams. 45-42 would be a lot of fun for a Bucs win out west for the second time and possibly go 2-2 versus the AFC West. Watch our Bucs take on Rivers and the Chargers at 4:25 Sunday! GO BUCS!
