Today at 4:25 p.m. ET, the Denver Broncos (7-1) tangle with the San Diego Chargers (4-4) live from Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego. The game can be live streamed here. Denver fans can hear all the action on 850 KOA while San Diego fans can do the same on KIOZ 105.3 FM.
Defensive Coordinator Jack Del Rio will take the reigns at the helm while Broncos coach John Fox recovers from heart surgery while former offensive coordinator and current San Diego Chargers head coach Mike McCoy revisits his old team this afternoon. Fox is expected to miss several weeks after he had his aortic valve replaced.
"We all wish him a speedy recovery," Del Rio said per ESPN. "The best way that we could honor him is to go out and play great football."
Denver has done just that through the first half of the season averaging an NFL-best 42.9 points as quarterback Peyton Manning is likely to set many NFL records under center this season. Manning has completed a league-leading 237 passes on 33 attempts for a 71.2 completion percentage while throwing for an NFL-high 2,919 yards while leading the league with 29 touchdowns and throwing just six interceptions.
Manning has had plenty of help from his receiving corps.
Wes Welker leads the Broncos with 50 catches and nine touchdowns, Demaryius Thomas leads the team with 685 receiving yards while adding six scores and Eric Decker has 669 receiving yards for three touchdowns. Tight end Julius Thomas has reached the endzone eight times on 39 receptions for 451 yards.
"I'm not going to say it's as easy as it looks," Demaryius Thomas told ESPN. "The main part is, everyone needs to be on the same page. You've got to have everyone on the field knowing what they're doing all the time."
The Broncos haven't played since an Oct. 27 victory over the Washington Redskins by a score of 45-21. San Diego is coming off a loss to those same Redskins last Sunday in overtime by a score of 30-24. The loss was a heartbreaker for San Diego.
"Every loss is hard to get over. It feels like you die," center Nick Hardwick told the Chargers' official website. "But we have to get over it quickly. We need to get a good week of work in and get ready to play Denver and play our best game of football to date."
San Diego will have to tighten up as if it allowed 500-yards of offense to the Redskins last week, the team may shudder to think what an elite quarterback like Manning could do to it.
The Chargers offense starts with Phillip Rivers, who leads the league in completion percentage by converting at a 72.2 mark, just ahead of Manning, while going 213-for-295 for 2,473 yards with 17 touchdowns and seven picks.
Denver will look to continue its offensive purge while San Diego will try to stay afloat in the AFC wild-card race when these two teams take the field at Qualcomm Stadium this afternoon.
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