The Los Angeles Chargers and Tennessee Titans suffered two of the closest losses of the NFL’s opening week, and they face each other in Week 2. The Chargers are favorites as each team looks to pick up its first win of the season.
Kickoff is at 1 p.m. ET Sunday at Nissan Stadium. The game will be televised on CBS.
Last week, the Titans couldn’t get anything going on offense, and the Chargers couldn’t stop anything on defense. Ryan Tannehill could use a good performance after throwing three interceptions in Tennessee’s season opener against the Saints. Nick Folk converted five field goals for the Titans’ only points in their first game with wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins. The Saints (fifth-fewest yards allowed per game last season) boast a stingy defense, but the Titans offense led by Ryan Tannehill can’t feel great heading into this game after not scoring a touchdown in Week 1.
The Chargers appear to have problems after Tua Tagovailoa, Tyreek Hill, and the Miami Dolphins took a blowtorch to Brandon Staley’s defense in Week 1. Miami has one of the league’s best offenses when healthy, but the Chargers’ lack of progress on defense in Staley’s third season is hard to ignore and something Tennessee will try to exploit on Sunday.
But it’s not all doom and gloom in Los Angeles. The Chargers offense didn’t skip a beat under new coordinator Kellen Moore and even excelled in new areas. After averaging 89.6 rushing yards per game last season (third worst), Los Angeles exploded for 234 yards rushing against Miami. Austin Ekeler turned his 16 carries into 117 yards, and Joshua Kelley ran 16 times for 91 yards. Tennessee had the NFL’s best-rushing defense last season and was stout again on Sunday. Will the Chargers continue to succeed on the ground, or was last week’s performance simply a mirage? Ekeler will miss this game with an ankle injury he suffered late in Week 1.
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(Photo of Brandon Staley: Thearon W. Henderson / Getty Images)