The Chargers’ prolific offense ranks inside the NFL’s top-10 for yards per game, scoring, sacks allowed and several other categories.
But one statistic stands most impressive — 7.6 average yards gained on first-down plays.
“That’s amazing. It’s crazy,” Broncos coach Vance Joseph said. “Their second downs are short and they’re rarely in third down. Doing a good job (defending) on first down, obviously in the run and pass game, is going to be critical to winning series. I mean, 7.6 on first down, that’s almost a first down on every first down they play. That’s the challenge: to win first down, to clog every gap, to press the receivers, hit the run game and knock passes down on first down.