The Chargers are set to host the Texans in hopes of getting back on track after suffering defeat in Week 2.
Here are the four biggest storylines to follow in Sunday’s contest.
Filling in for AP
The Chargers suffered a huge on blow when Adrian Phillips broke his forearm in Week 2, which landed him on the injured reserve. Phillips brings a unique versatile skillset to the defense, but it’s next man up.
Los Angeles could’ve gone in a variety of ways to fill in for the former All-Pro, but they elected to roll with undrafted rookie Roderic Team to step in at strong safety.
Teamer showed a lot of promise this offseason and training camp, displaying similar traits to Phillips, but there’s always the possibility of growing pains going up against first-team offenses as opposed to third and fourth stringers.
If Teamer struggles, we can expect Rayshawn Jenkins to move down into the box and Jaylen Watkins or rookie Nasir Adderley will fill in for Jenkins at free safety.
Can Ty Long overcome the misses?
It wasn’t the outing that Long was hoping for in the Week 2 loss against the Lions. Long missed field goals from 39 and 41 yards, which ultimately cost Los Angeles the game.
Long will have the chance to redeem himself today, as he’s set to kick again while Michael Badgley will sit out for the third consecutive game with a right groin injury.
Fans know what it’s like to experience a plethora of missed fields, determining the outcome of the game, so making sure that Long is crisp will be something monitored.
Continuing the run defense dominance
After allowing 203 rushing yards in the regular season opener, the Chargers took a huge step forward by only allowing 94 yards on the ground to the Lions.
Los Angeles adjusted their game plan by fixing everything that went wrong in Week 1.
The interior defensive line was covering their gaps, the linebackers were reading, reacting and flowing to the ball nicely to make sound tackles and the defensive ends made an extra effort to make plays against the run.
Entering Week 3, they will be tasked with stopping a duo made up of Carlos Hyde and Duke Johnson. Hyde and Johnson are averaging 5.8 and 5.9 yards per carry. They’ve combined for 261 yards on 45 rushing attempts.
The run defense will need to step up in a big way, as this could be a big determining factor of the outcome of the game.
Slowing down the three-headed monster
Along with the prolific one-two punch of Hyde and Johnson, the Texans have a trio of wide receivers that could present a problem for the Chargers. All-Pro DeAndre Hopkins, Kenny Stills and Will Fuller are all capable of impacting the contest.
Casey Hayward will be tasked with covering Hopkins, Desmond King will have Stills in the slot, which leaves Brandon Facyson having the responsibility of lining up across from Fuller.
Facyson showed slight improvement in Week 2 after an underwhelming performance in the season opener. But Fuller presents a tough challenge for the former Virginia Tech because he has the ability to win deep with his blazing speed and free up his teammates in the middle parts of the field.
Los Angeles must also take advantage of a poor Houston offensive line that has allowed 10 sacks in two games in order to give quarterback Deshaun Watson very little time to find his weapons.
