Broncos 16, Chargers 19 OT (Broncos covered +4.5, U45.5)

Pregame: The matchup on Monday night carries pretty massive implications for the rest-of-season outlook of the AFC West.  The Broncos are currently 2-3, while the Chargers are 3-2.  If the Chargers pull out the win, they will keep pace with the Chiefs, who have four wins, and separate themselves from the Raiders and Broncos.  But if the Broncos win, they will jump the Chargers for second in the division and both teams will be 3-3.  The matchup between the Chargers’ powerful offense and the Broncos’ stonewall defense will be lots of fun to watch for football fans, but it has potential to be rough for fantasy GMs with shares in the Chargers offense. On the other side of the ball, the Chargers defense has been dismantled by the running game, so it will be interesting to see which running back will be the most effective runner out of the Broncos backfield.

Postgame: The game on Monday night definitely did not disappoint, although there was a substantial lack of fireworks.  Both sides played very strong defense, while the offenses truly struggled to produce anything noteworthy. Justin Herbert threw the ball 57 attempts without recording a single touchdown pass, a NFL record, and Russell Wilson started the game on fire before becoming ice cold. The Chargers were able to pull out the win in overtime and separated themselves from the Raiders and Broncos in the process.  On the other side of the ball, the Broncos need to figure out a way to get the ball moving on offense because if they do, their defense is strong enough to carry them to a championship.

Broncos

QB

Pregame: So far this season Russell Wilson has looked very uninspired and honestly, bad.  He has all but disappointed his fantasy GMs in three of five games this season, scoring under 12.1 fantasy points in those contests.  This season, Wilson ranks as the QB16 and only has a Week 4 matchup that ranks inside the top-12 on the week. Fantasy GMs are likely still hanging onto any sliver of hope that Wilson can get back to his ways in Seattle and find a regular slot in the weekly QB1 rankings. 

Postgame: Wow, did Wilson look great to start this game! He started 10-of-10 with over 100 yards passing and a touchdown right out of the gate, but that quickly came back to the unfortunate reality that is this season of struggles.  Even with the hot start, he finished 15-of-28 for 188 yards and only that one score. Fantasy GMs were so excited for about one quarter that Wilson had returned to his old ways, but unfortunately this offense is stale.  They desperately need their bye week so they can completely revamp their offense and get things figured out because whatever they are doing right now is not working.

RB

Pregame: Last week, Mike Boone stepped into a larger role on the offense in the absence of Javonte Williams, but it was Melvin Gordon that led the backfield in yards and touches, playing a season high 56% of snaps.  Fantasy GMs were hopeful that Gordon was going to step into a substantial workhorse role, but he only played 11 more snaps than Boone. Gordon had 103 yards on 18 touches last week, while Boone had 81 yards on 10 touches.  Both backs are likely to continue sharing opportunities out of the backfield and with the addition of Latavius Murray, there is a path to this backfield becoming a three-way split. The matchup against the Chargers is about as good as it gets, as they have allowed a top-6 RB in four weeks straight, while giving up 5.8 yards per carry. 

Postgame: Monday night was the Latavius Murray show, with Gordon glaring on the sidelines and Boone nowhere to be found.  The camera frequently looked at Gordon and he did not look pleased that he was not being involved in the game whatsoever, finishing the night with three carries for eight yards. Murray was scooped up by the Broncos less than two weeks ago and he showed that he still has some game left in him, leading the Broncos with 15 carries for 66 yards. He also grabbed one reception for negative two yards. Boone only had two touches in this game, combining for four total yards. This backfield might be Murray’s for the rest of season, but it’s one that fantasy GMs may want to avoid at all costs. 

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WR

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