Los Angeles Chargers: Week 11 will be massive for Melvin Gordon

The Los Angeles Chargers host the Denver Broncos in Week 11 and leading the way for the Bolts is going to be running back Melvin Gordon.

The Los Angeles Chargers and Denver Broncos are squaring off for the first time this season all the way in Week 11 heading in completely different directions.

The Los Angeles Chargers are winners of six in a row and have the second-best record in the AFC at 7-2. Meanwhile, the Denver Broncos have lost six of their last seven games and enter the contest with a 3-6.

Denver has played most of its games fairly close but has not gotten the magic out of Case Keenum that the team expected. The defense has been bad in areas and overall, the team is pretty woeful on the road.

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The Broncos are 1-3 on the road this season with the only win coming against the Arizona Cardinals on Thursday Night Football. While that was a lopsided 45-10 win, the team has been outscored by 32 points in the other three road games.

The Chargers are finally back home after being away from LA for over 40 days. Los Angeles last game at the StubHub Center was a 26-10 win over the Oakland Raiders on Oct. 7. While they don’t have much of a home-field advantage, the Chargers are going to come out firing in this contest.

One of the areas that the Broncos struggle with defensively is stopping the ground attack. Denver allows the seventh-most rushing yards per game, 131.7 and has allowed eight rushing touchdowns in nine games.

To be fair, the Broncos have come up against Todd Gurley, which certainly skews the stats as he is the best running back in the league. In the Rams’ contest against the Broncos, Gurley rushed for 208 yards on 28 carries.

On Sunday, we will see a similar day out of Los Angeles Chargers running back Melvin Gordon, who has been the engine to the team’s wonderful offense this season.

When Gordon gets going the rest of the offense gets going. A hard runner with some of the quickest cuts in the game, Gordon consistently adds two-three yards more than he should have to nearly every carry.

That is why Gordon is averaging 5.4 yards per carry this season. No running back in football has as many carries as Gordon has with that high of an average. Kerryon Johnson and Matt Breida are the only backs in the league with 100 or more carries with the same (or in Breida’s case, higher) average.

Gordon is not among the top in rushing yards due to missing the London Game against the Tennessee Titans and not getting as many carries as the other guys. While Gordon has been good, he has not gotten 20 or more carries in a single game this season and really has not had that statement game that elite backs have every year.

Gordon has been great in every single game he has played in. His worst game was in Week 2 against Buffalo in which he still had a combined 66 yards from scrimmage and three touchdowns. However, his highest rushing total in a single game this season is still only 132 yards.

We are going to see a statement game out of Gordon similar to the game that Gurley had against these same Broncos. Denver’s pass rush is scary and it is important to establish the run early and let Gordon get his legs, and the offense, moving.

I do not expect 200 rushing yards out of Gordon. However, I do expect him to eclipse the 150 mark and add in at least 50 receiving yards. Throw in two touchdowns, one on the ground and on via pass, and Gordon is going to be the best fantasy producer in Week 11.