San Diego Chargers @ Denver Broncos
Much like the Seahawks and Patriots before them, the Denver Broncos have a formidable home record that makes them the favourites to advance to the AFC Championship game.
However, the San Diego Chargers have been at Mile High already this season and have come away with the win and will be hoping to produce a repeat performance on Sunday.
They will be in confident mood having won their last five games, ending with their wildcard win over the Cincinnati Bengals last weekend.
Nevertheless, led by Peyton Manning, Denver have outscored opponents by an average of 20.4 points in its first seven home games before falling to a 27-20 loss to San Diego, and will be determined to avoid a similar result.
In contrast, Philip Rivers has been labelled as arguably the second or third best quarterback in the league currently, and it promises to be an interesting night at Sports Authority Field.
Sumeet Paul: It’s easy to assume that Manning will carve up the Chargers defense, particularly with Wes Welker set to return too and boost an already dangerous offensive unit that helped their star quarterback set all sorts of passing records. Nevertheless, I think San Diego make this competitive led by Rivers, although ultimately Manning and the Broncos will prevail.
Scott Hazlewood: Broncos by 14. The difference in this game will be the high octane offense seen by Peyton Manning and his side all season long. San Diego did manage to beat the Broncos 27-20 back on December 12, but Manning and the Broncos will be out to avenge their collapse against the Baltimore Ravens in double overtime 38-35 in last season’s playoffs. If the Chargers are to cause the upset they will need to get their ground game going, with the side 10-2 when they rush for more than 102 yards, compared to 0-5 when they don’t.
San Diego Chargers 0-2 Denver Broncos
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