Today at 4:40 p.m. ET, the San Diego Chargers (9-7 regular season) and Denver Broncos (13-3) go head-to-head live from Sports Authority Field at Mile High in Denver for AFC Divisional Playoff action. The game can be live streamed here. San Diego fans can hear all of the action on KIOZ 105.3 while Denver fans can do the same on 105.3 The Fox.
Philip Rivers and the Chargers enter Denver as underdogs despite the fact that they won there last month while Peyton Manning had a record-setting regular season but is looking to prove doubters wrong about his postseason capabilities when the quarterback and the Broncos play host to a playoff matchup.
The winner of this game advances to the AFC Championship match up against the New England Patriots with a trip to the Super Bowl at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on the line.
Rivers was 378-for-544 (69.5%) in the regular season for 4,478 yards with 32 touchdowns and 11 interceptions for the Chargers while Manning had a historic year for Denver and went 450-for-659 (68.3%) while setting NFL records with 5,477 yards and an astounding 55 scores. Manning also threw 10 picks.
Ryan Mathews had a big game for the Chargers during their 27-20 win in Denver on Dec. 12 and ran for 127 yards and a touchdown. Mathews finished the regular season with 1,255 rushing yards on 285 carries while reaching the end zone six times.
Still, the Chargers aren't getting ahead of themselves.
"It's tough to say you're confident knowing what you're going against. You don't want to take that the wrong way," Chargers Pro Bowl safety Eric Weddle told ESPN. "Do we believe we can win [again]? Yes. Do we know what a tough challenge it is and how great we have to play? Yeah. It's not just because it's happened in the past it's going to happen. You still have to play at a high level and do the things necessary as a team to win."
The Broncos look to change the perception of their team after they fell in the divisional round last year to the eventual Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens after losing in double overtime following the team allowing a 70-yard game-tying touchdown with 31 seconds left.
"You don't harp on the first time you fell off your bike, but you remember falling off and you know you don't want to do it again," tight end Julius Thomas said per ESPN. "So, it's not that we're dwelling on the Ravens or even if it's about the Ravens. It could have been any team that we lost to. But we do have a fresh reminder of if you don't come out and play your 'A' game in this tournament, you're going to lose."
Thomas had 65 receptions for 788 yards in the regular season with 12 touchdowns.
Manning will have his full set of weapons back when Wes Welker (concussion) returns. Welker had 73 receptions for 778 yards with 10 scores.
Rivers is excited to take on Manning.
"I've always appreciated and look forward to, as a fan of his growing up, to go against a Peyton Manning-led team," Rivers said per ESPN. "The teams that we've both been on have had awesome games, and games have come down to the wire, overtime playoff games and our two games this year were really tight."
With an AFC Championship Game appearance hanging in the balance, the Chargers visit the Broncos in a Divisional Playoff matchup.
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