Philip Rivers on Thursday Night Football: “It’ll Be a Heck of a Challenge”

This Thursday night will be very interesting. Why? Because the two of the best teams in the AFC division, and the whole American Football Conference have a showdown, which will be the biggest game of the season so far.

The Kansas City Chiefs (11-2) are hosting the Los Angeles Chargers (10-3), in the decisive match of the season for both sides

Why is this match so important? Because it might decide the division champions and with that secure the home ground advantage in all the games until the Super Bowl. The losers will head for the wild-card round and have a much tougher schedule, which includes road games if they overcome the first round, and no week off after the regular part of the season concludes.

Phillip Rivers understands the significance of this contest, but he is also aware of the difficulty of it. The Arrowhead stadium is one of the loudest in the NFL, the negative tradition, an excellent form of the hosts, all these factors are against his Chargers.

“It’s new game, new week, it will be a heck of a challenge. It will be as loud as it ever been, and we’ll have to manage those things plus a really good football team”. Rivers said.

Chargers LIVE: Philip Rivers previews #LACvsKC https://t.co/Bx2NDZqWGI

— Los Angeles Chargers (@chargers) December 11, 2018

However, he isn’t afraid and he can’t wait for the game to begin.

“You should be excited about it” Chargers QB said. ” I mean these are the games, these are the ones you dream about when you are little, these are the ones you talk about in the offseason. Having a chance to play, and keep you division champs hopes alive… These are the games you want to be in”

Last year we saw a similar situation when these two franchises clashed in the Week 15. The stake was the division title. Chargers started the season with 0-4, while on the other side Chiefs were the biggest surprise with the 5-0 beginning. But at the time went by, Chargers improved, and Kansas City’s form deteriorated, leading both teams to a 7-6 record.

Still, in that meeting Chiefs won 30-13 clinching the division, eliminating the Chargers from the playoff picture.

These two sides met in Week 1 this season, and Kansas City won in Los Angeles 38-28. It was the ninth straight loss for Rivers and his team against this rival.

One of the reporters asked Rivers about the losing skid his team has against the Chiefs, and how that affects him and his team.

Rivers was at first kidding while answering.

“That depends where you start the streak, because if we go way back, it is not,” he said and made everyone laugh.

“We kick off on Thursday. We’ll see what happens on Thursday. Each game to me stands alone. While I acknowledge that this has been the case…. There are guys in this locker room who played them only once.”

Rushing leader and a starting running back, Melvin Gordon is still dealing with the knee injury. His absence in KC could be a huge setback for the guests. Coach Lynn stated yesterday that Gordon’s status is still questionable and that he is going to be a game-time decision.

What is even worse, his backup Austin Ekeler has issues with his neck and it appears that the majority of their running game is going to depend on rookie RB from Northwestern Justin Jackson.

The latest on my report regarding Chargers running backs Melvin Gordon and Austin Ekeler, who seem unlikely to play Thursday vs. the Chiefs. pic.twitter.com/wzdTczAFEV

— Steve Wyche (@wyche89) December 11, 2018

His backup will probably be another rookie, undrafted free agent Detrez Newsome.

The plan is pretty much clear for the LA-based franchise, win this one, then the one against the Ravens and the one against the Broncos, and hope that the Chiefs are going to slip somewhere in the last two games.

Mahomes and the crew have to travel to Seattle and to host the Raiders before the end of the regular part of the season.

Many things are depending upon this matchup, which is why this TNF, is going to be much more interesting than any of the previous ones in this campaign.