Jaguars vs. Chargers Preview

Jacksonville Jaguars at San Diego Chargers

Week 4 — Sunday, September 28th, will have the Jacksonville Jaguars(0-3) against the San Diego Chargers (2-1). The game is being played at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, California and will be televised on CBS at 4:05 PM EST

Setting the Stage

• The Jaguars will be facing the Chargers for the 7th time in team history with an overall record of 2-4
• The Chargers have won the last three meetings by a combined score of 100-33
• San Diego has the 20th ranked offense in the NFL (12th in passing, 26th in rushing) with Jacksonville being ranked 31st in the NFL (25th in passing, 30th in rushing)
• Jaguars have been outscored 119-44 this season

Last Meeting

In a week 7 matchup, Ryan Matthews lead a big running game for San Diego in 2013. Matthews finished with 110 yards on 21 carries and one touchdown in helping the Chargers defeat the Jaguars by a final of 24-6. The Chargers finished with 40 carries for 158 yards (3.95 per carry average).

Philip Rivers had a very efficient day throwing for 285 yards and one touchdown and completed 22 of 26 passes.

Chad Henne passed for 318 yards and one interception and the Chargers defense sacked him 6 times on the day. The Jags running game could only muster 78 yards on the day and the telling stat for the outcome was time of possession -- 37:30-22:30 in favor of San Diego

Going Back to Cali

Jaguars have five players on their 53 man roster that played college in the state of California:

93 Alualu, Tyson DE California

19 Anger, Bryan P California

21 Gerhart, Toby RB Stanford

11 Lee, Marqise WR Southern California

45 Ta'ufo'ou, Will FB California

The Bortles Era Begins

September 21, 2014 could be an important in the history of the Jaguars.

Blake Bortles made his debut at the beginning of the third quarter and he will be the quarterback for, hopefully, the next 15 years. Bortles finished the game 14 for 24 with 2 touchdowns and 2 interceptions. He also made a difference in the run game adding two rushes for 30 yards (also had an 14 yard rush called back by penalty).

Blake and the offense put up 17 points in the second half and you couldn't help but notice the difference in the team overall.

The atmosphere of the stadium when he came in and the energy he brought as a whole, it feels like the current solution at quarterback could is finally the long term solution.

Who is Playing?

Jacksonville will be without WR Marqise Lee (hamstring) for the second week in a row and TE Mickey Schuler (illness) will be out being replaced by newly signed rookie Nic Jacobs (signed of Saint's practice squad on Tuesday). The good news is TE Clay Harbor is available and RT Austin Pasztor will make his season debut.

Jaguars are relatively healthy and with the defensive starter changes with Josh Evans starting at Free Safety (FS) and J.T. Thomas coming in at the Otto linebacker position.

San Diego RB Ryan Matthews (knee) is listed as out along with LB Manti Te'o (foot) and LB Reggie Walker (ankle).

Prediction

Personally, I am looking forward to seeing Blake Bortles start a game and really see what he can do. You know Jedd Fisch is excited and I expect more parts of the playbook to be available. With San Diego not having too much film on Blake Bortles in this offense, I expect the Jaguars offense to have some success early. Really the goal for the game is to have the offense sustain drives as to not tire out the defense, which has happened in all three games this season.

The defense as of today is last in the NFL. My thoughts are the offensive three and out's have really affected the overall performance of the defense. If the offense can do their part, we may actually get to see what this defense is capable of.

With that being said, the Jaguars have been unable to defend against the Tight End position. This weekend they face one of the best QB-to-TE pairs in the league. Philip Rivers to Antonio Gates should be a welcome sight for some fantasy owners (this one included).

I don't see Jacksonville pulling this win out on Sunday. An efficient quarterback against an unproven defense will win this day.

San Diego 31, Jacksonville 17