Broncos look to all but seal the Chargers fate this weekend

The game that turn the season around for two teams.  Coming into week six, the Broncos were looking to stay afloat sitting at 2-3 while the Chargers looked like the team of the past moving ahead at 3-2.  The first half of that game was dominated by the Chargers.  But remember that saying "it's not how you start, but how you finish".  Well, the Broncos finished this game, going on to score 35 straight points to win 35-24 on the spectacular efforts of the offense and defense. 

Since the start of the second half, the Broncos offense has been lights out.  The offense has put up 136 points since the second half of the Charger game, or 34 points per game.  QB Peyton Manning has thrown for 1206 yards, 10 TD's to 3 interceptions with a QB Rating over 100 in each outing.  The defense continues to improve, allowing 51 points in the last four contests total.  They haven't allowed a team to get onver the century mark on the ground and the secondary keeps getting better with the youth movement in Tony Carter and Chris Harris.  The Broncos are now on a four game winning streak and currently sit at 6-3 and lead the AFC West.

The Chargers mean while are spinning their wheels and are going no where.  Since the second half of the Broncos game, they have scored 61 points, including six points in a loss to the Cleveland Browns and scoring 30+ one time since.  Phillip Rivers posted a 54.1 QBR against the Broncos and a 65.1 QBR against Browns, but was above 100 the last two.  He's also thrown for 5 TD's and 7 interceptions.  The offensive line struggles to keep River jersey clean.  He's been put down on the turf eight times in the last 3.5 games.

Two teams that were going opposite directions saw a half that has completely done a 180 on their seasons.  It's not too late for something to change though.  For the Broncos, its simple.  If they win, they are 3-0 in the division and swept the team in second place.  They will have a four game lead with six games left to be played. 

On the flip side of the coin, if the Chargers win this game, they move to 5-5 and Denver falls to 6-4.  This would mean that San Diego would be one game out of first place and one game out of the sixth and final playoff spot.  They would have several tiebreakers going for them.  They would be 4-1 in the division, 5-2 in the conference and can give themselves momentum to make a late season push as the Chargers always seem to do.

Keys to this game for the Chargers will be simple, play mistake free football and run the rock.  The last matchup against the Broncos, the Broncos were able to score 14 points in crucial moments to get the win against the Chargers in the first matchup.  With the Broncos being able to score in bunches, slow down the Bronco offense and force Denver to score on every drive, put the pressure on them.  This is still a young team, even with Manning at the helm, they are still learning how to win.

For the Broncos, Defense.  Get after Phillip Rivers early and often.  Rivers is key to their offense with a non-existent running game lead by RB Ryan Mathews.  Whether he gets sacked or is hit after a throw, rattle Rivers, cause as he gets more rattled, he tends to lose his composure and the team feeds off him.  The entire offense goes through him.