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Chargers-Rams Preview

Oct 14, 2010 - 10:45 PM By BRETT HUSTON STATS Senior Writer

The San Diego Chargers are 2-3 for a fourth consecutive season, but in their past three subpar starts they've gone on to win the AFC West.

If they plan on following that same pattern, they'll need to figure out a way to cut down on their many mistakes.

The Chargers have been plagued by turnovers in dropping all three of their road games, a trend they'll try to reverse when they look for the franchise's first win in St. Louis on Sunday.

San Diego has made a habit out of turning slow starts into division titles, and last season reeled off 11 consecutive victories after dropping three of its first five games.

The Chargers' point differential - plus-34, making them one of two teams below .500 to have a positive ratio - is actually the best it's been at this point during the past four seasons. But turnovers and a mistake-filled special teams unit have cost Norv Turner's team in all three of its road games.

Last Sunday's visit to Oakland may have been the most glaring example. San Diego had two punts blocked in the first five minutes - costing it nine points - and fumbled three times, the last of which was returned for a touchdown to seal a 35-27 loss.

"Losing's tough," said Philip Rivers, who leads the NFL with 1,759 passing yards and is tied for first with 11 touchdowns. "This one's no tougher than the other two. We made some mistakes that we made in our other losses and it resulted in the same thing."

San Diego has had an NFL-high three punts blocked, no doubt in part because it's on its fifth long snapper after the first three suffered season-ending injuries and Ethan Albright was released Wednesday.

"I know what everyone wants to make it out to be. It turns out to be a blame game," coach Norv Turner said. "It ain't gonna turn out to be that with me. We're going to address the things. I always look forward."

Rivers is keeping the Chargers' offense rolling, averaging nearly a first down every time he steps back to pass even without holdout wide receiver Vincent Jackson. He's picking up 9.61 yards per pass attempt, a rate that would be the NFL's best since Kurt Warner's 9.88 with the Rams in 2000.

The San Diego offense, the NFL's best by more than 40 yards with 461.8 per game, may be getting another big boost Sunday. Left tackle Marcus McNeill is likely to play for the first time this season after spending the past three weeks on the roster exempt list following his own offseason holdout.

The two-time Pro Bowl selection agreed to a five-year contract extension this week as the Chargers added him to the active roster.

San Diego, however, won't have linebacker Shawne Merriman on the field. Once one of the most-feared players in the NFL, Merriman (calf) was placed on injured reserve Wednesday with a "minor-injury designation," meaning he must be released when he becomes healthy. The former first-round pick held out for two weeks before signing a one-year tender in mid-August.

Jackson is still holding out and will be eligible to be traded Monday - just 24 hours before the trade deadline. Perhaps no team could use a healthy wideout more than the Rams, though a report surfaced this week that St. Louis is not interested in Jackson.

Right now, the Rams (2-3) would settle for any healthy target for No. 1 pick Sam Bradford. They lost third-year wideout Donnie Avery to an ACL injury in the preseason, then watched leading receiver Mark Clayton go down with a torn patellar tendon in last Sunday's 44-6 loss at Detroit.

Coach Steve Spagnuolo's team at least seems to have already moved on from the loss to the Lions, which came on the heels of a pair of comfortable home victories.

"I understand the ebb and flow of momentum," defensive end Chris Long said. "You win a couple of games and all of a sudden you are the favorite to do this and that then all of a sudden the sky is falling. We are going to try to keep it even keel. We have to take our medicine and move on."

The Rams will certainly look to ride Steven Jackson with their banged-up receiving corps, while the Chargers may want to consider getting Mike Tolbert and Ryan Matthews a heavy load of carries. San Diego has averaged 165.5 rushing yards in its wins as opposed to 96.3 in the losses.

Steven Jackson needs 141 yards to pass Eric Dickerson and set the Rams' career rushing record.

The Chargers have lost all three visits to St. Louis, falling in 2000 and 2002 to the Rams and losing to the now-Arizona Cardinals in 1983.