NFL Picks Week 2: Why the San Diego Chargers Will Beat the New England Patriots

The San Diego Chargers travel on the road this week to take on the New England Patriots, a team quarterback Philip Rivers has had a lot of success against in the past.

The Chargers present a lot of matchup problems for the Patriots on both sides of the ball, and it starts on offense with Rivers.

Rivers has a career quarterback rating of 96.4 against the Patriots in three regular season games, and has six touchdowns and three interceptions.

Last year the two teams met in San Diego and Rivers threw for 336 yards and one touchdown, leading the Chargers into field goal range at the end of the game, only to have kicker Nate Kaeding miss a game-winning kick.

Rivers is an elite quarterback, and his talented group of receivers will give the Patriots fits on defense. Receivers Vincent Jackon and Malcolm Floyd are physical receivers, who have great hands and athletic ability.

The Patriots secondary is small and lacks the size to win balls in the air against the Chargers receivers and their All-Pro tight end Antonio Gates, who the Patriots have no one to cover.

New England's defensive line is almost all new from a year ago, and while it's certainly talented with All-Pro defensive tackle Vince Wilfork, it's likely they won't be able to get enough pressure on Rivers to disrupt his passing rhythm.

On defense the Chargers are well suited to contain Tom Brady and the prolific Patriots passing attack. Brady threw for 511 yards last week against the Miami Dolphins, but will find replicating that performance against the athletic secondary of the Chargers very difficult.

The Chargers are a big team up front and will get pressure on Brady, and force him into making some poor throws.

In five career regular games against the Chargers, Brady has thrown four interceptions, fumbled the ball three times, and has been sacked 10 times.

The Chargers have the ability to get to Brady and make life uncomfortable for him in the pocket, and have enough athletic players in the secondary to cover and tackle the versatile Patriots receivers and tight ends.

Philip Rivers is one of the best quarterbacks that New England will face all year, and if Dolphins quarterback Chad Henne can throw for 400 yards against the Patriots like he did last week, then Rivers could have a historic day on Sunday.

The Patriots will face a team this week that can score just as much as they do, and can attack their most glaring weakness, pass defense.

The Chargers will beat the Patriots in Week 2 and improve to 2-0, and in the process proving to their fans that they'll be a consistent team all season and will avoid another bad September start.

Nicholas Goss is a Featured Columnist at Bleacher Report. Follow @NicholasGoss35