Kickoff: Sunday, 4:05 p.m. ET
Line: Denver -4, Total: 50.5

The Chargers look to rebound from a tough loss to the Patriots when they host another AFC Championship contender, the Broncos, on Sunday.

Denver beat the Bills 24-17 as a 9.5-point home favorite behind three rushing touchdowns from C.J. Anderson. San Diego was unable to pick up a victory, losing 23-14 as a 4-point road underdog against the Patriots. The Broncos won-and-covered in a 35-21 home victory over the Chargers earlier in the season on Oct. 23, and are now 6-1 SU in the past seven meetings of this series. Denver has also won-and-covered in its past three trips to San Diego and four of the past five. The Broncos are 20-9 ATS as a favorite of 3.5 to 9.5 points over the past three seasons and 6-0 ATS in road games on grass fields over the past two contests. However, they are 0-6 ATS in road games after two or more consecutive wins over the past two years. Peyton Manning was held without a touchdown pass for the first time in 51 games last week, so he’ll likely come out aggressive on Sunday. RB C.J. Anderson (ankle), WR Demaryius Thomas (ankle) and TE Julius Thomas (ankle) and are all probable for the Broncos, while TE Ladarius Green (concussion), LB Donald Butler (quad) and RB Ryan Mathews (ankle) are all questionable for the Chargers.

Can Denver pick up a big road win on Sunday? For the answer, connect to NFL Best Bets for all the StatFox Experts picks throughout the 2014 regular season and playoffs. StatFox Dave is 55% ATS (28-23-1) in Best Bets during the past 12 weeks, while StatFox Scott is 54% ATS (27-23-1) in Best Bets since Week 3. to improve to 54.4% ATS (31-26) on the season. StatFox Gary is 63% ATS (10-6-1) in his past five weeks of NFL Best Bets, while StatFox Brian is on a 4-1 ATS run.

The Broncos defeated the Bills last week, but the game was far from pretty for QB Peyton Manning (3,910 pass yards, 36 TD, 11 INT), who threw for just 173 yards in the game with zero touchdowns and two interceptions. Instead it was RB C.J. Anderson (594 rush yards, 4 TD) who fueled this Broncos offense, rushing for 58 yards and three touchdowns. Anderson has been outstanding for the Broncos recently. In the two weeks before rushing for those three touchdowns, Anderson rushed for 167 yards and a touchdown against the Dolphins and 168 yards with a receiving touchdown against the Chiefs. Manning, however, won’t take a back seat to Anderson two weeks in a row. This game should be extremely pass-happy for Manning, who threw for 268 yards with three touchdowns and zero interceptions the last time these two teams met. Denver’s defense was excellent in that game, forcing Philip Rivers to throw two interceptions. The Broncos held the Chargers to just 306 total yards in that game and have now allowed only 16.5 points per game over the past two weeks. If their defense can keep this level of play up, it will be very difficult for anybody to beat this team.

The Chargers hosted the Patriots last week and were unable to pick up a big win, losing 23-14. QB Philip Rivers (3,407 pass yards, 26 TD, 11 INT) completed 60.6% of his passes in the game for one touchdown and one interception. He’ll need to be a lot better in this game, as it could end up being very high-scoring. One player who will also really need to step his game up if this team is going to make the playoffs is WR Keenan Allen (74 rec, 765 yards, 4 TD). Allen has been extremely inconsistent this season, following up a 121-yard, 2-touchdown performance with just two catches for three yards against Darrelle Revis and the Patriots last week. Allen is this team’s most talented receiver and he’ll need to get back on track against the Broncos on Sunday. The Chargers would also be wise to keep RB Ryan Mathews (330 rush yards, 3 TD) involved in this game. Mathews should play through his ankle injury, and was productive with his touches last week, gaining 44 yards on just 11 carries. He could help slow the game down a bit to keep Peyton Manning off the field. Defensively, the Chargers are going to have to make the most of their opportunities to get off the field. San Diego allowed the Patriots to go 7-of-16 on third down conversions last week, and was even worse against the Broncos when they last played, allowing Manning’s offense to convert 8-of-13 third downs. This defense cannot afford to let the Broncos keep drives alive on Sunday.