The San Diego Chargers will host the San Francisco 49ers on Thursday Night Football with plenty of playoff implications. Because this game means so much for both teams, you can expect each of them to simply stick to what they do best. For the Chargers, that's lots and lots of passing. Philip Rivers can expect plenty of work in the passing game, even with Antonio Gates expected to miss the game.
Thursday Night Football, 49ers Vs. Chargers: Expect To See Philip Rivers To Vincent Jackson
SB Nation’s Bolts From The Blue breaks down the numbers and says the Chargers deep threat will be in full force on Thursday night.
Just seeing those numbers gives me a giddy feeling of the Chargers marching down the field with long bombs and 15 yard comeback routes. The 49ers are terrible against all kinds of WRs and the Chargers have Philip Rivers, Vincent Jackson and Malcom Floyd all playing in this game. The Bolts also don't plan to be very dependent on throwing to the TE with Antonio Gates out, and that seems to be the 49ers' only strength on pass defense.
The 49ers defense ranks 28th against No. 1 receivers and 30th against No. 2 receivers so San Diego will likely look to exploit that. It's good timing then that Vincent Jackson is starting to get his feet under him after he returned last week against the Kansas City Chiefs.
Check out Bolts From The Blue for the full breakdown by the numbers.
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