Chargers vs. Jets: 5 Reasons San Diego Will Beat New York

San Diego vs. New York could very well be the game of the week. It definitely has the most storylines leading up to it. Whether it's coaches feuding, LaDainian Tomlinson facing his former team, or the Chargers looking for revenge from their 17-14 loss in the 2009 playoffs, there will be many reasons each team will want to come away with a victory here.

New York is coming off of a win against the Miami Dolphins on Monday Night Football, improving to 3-3. They are not at the point they wanted to be—San Diego is completely opposite. They are coming off of their bye week, so they should be extra rested against a reeling Jets team. The Chargers are 4-1, which is their best start under Norv Turner.

Both teams will be fighting hard for the win, but here are five reasons why the Chargers will come out victorious.

5. History Repeats Itself

When is a bye week not helpful? The week off is supposed to be a time to rest, reevaluate your team and, for the Chargers, heal injuries. The good news for San Diego is the fact that they are 4-0 after bye weeks under Norv Turner. It also couldn't have come at a better time for San Diego. Regardless of their record (4-1), the Chargers need a lot of improvement, especially in the red zone.

With top players Antonio Gates, Vincent Jackson and Ryan Mathews all battling injuries, it's been hard for Philip Rivers to have success. But I don't think that's the reason for Rivers' poor performance. His offensive line is not giving him enough time to make the decisions he wants to. He's been sacked more times in five games than he ever has in his career, and he has more interceptions than touchdowns (six TDs, seven INTs). Once the offensive line steps up, so will Rivers' production.

The defense has been good, not great. Don't forget, San Diego's four wins were against the Vikings, Chiefs, Dolphins and Broncos. Each team is under .500. Given that, there has been many speculations about how good the Chargers really are. They are playing down to their opponents' level, yet still come away with wins. In my opinion, San Diego looks worse than years past in the first five games, but they lead the division at 4-1.

Norv Turner will hope to make it 5-0 after the bye week against the Jets this Sunday.

4. San Diego's Run Game vs. New York's Run Defense

Through six games, the New York Jets' run defense ranks 28th in the league. This Sunday, they will welcome Ryan Mathews and Mike Tolbert. Both backs have been facing injuries—Mathews with a calf strain, and Tolbert with concussion symptoms, but both will be in action.

Ryan Mathews is in the midst of a breakout season. He's 10th in yards with 413. He's on track to run for over 1,200 yards this season. He's also adding to the receiving games, aiding for the loss of Darren Sproles. Mike Tolbert is also a big part of the receiving game. In fact, Mathews and Tolbert are on track for most receiving yards by a duo in a season. So what's different about the Chargers' run game this season? It's their ability to fight for yards. Their extra efforts are fueling their success.

Fantasy Focus: If you own Ryan Mathews, you better have him in your lineup. Look for him to have a big game, with about 125 yards, and one touchdown.

3. Health Is Restored

The last two seasons have been injury-plagued for the San Diego Chargers. Already this year, they have lost Nate Kaeding, Bob Sanders, Stephen Cooper and Luis Castillo for the season. Ryan Mathews has been dealing with a strained calf, Vincent Jackson with a pulled hamstring and Mike Tolbert with concussion symptoms, as mentioned earlier.

San Diego will be very happy to welcome Antonio Gates back, who has been battling plantar fasciitis for the last year. Gates is arguably one of the greatest tight ends not only in franchise history, but NFL history as well. Just with him back at 75 percent will help the offense—him at 100 percent will do wonders.

According to Kevin Acee, every player who isn't out for the season practiced in full today. It was Antonio Gate's first full practice since the beginning of the season.

We could be looking at the most healthy Chargers team in almost a year.

2. Red Zone Improvement

In Week 5 against the Broncos, Nick Novak scored five field goals. Four of them came from failures to score in the red zone. Are the Chargers struggling inside the 20 because of Philip River's lack of production, the offensive line, or just flat out because of injuries? It's a little bit of them all, but the main reason for their poor performance in the red zone has to be Norv Turner's play-calling.

From the start of his head-coaching career, Norv has been known for being a predictable guy. First down, what does he do? Run up the middle. It's the same thing over and over. Philip Rivers can get it done with just about any receiver, as we saw last year, so that isn't the problem. Still, he's not getting the chance to prove himself either.

Turner isn't opening up the play-calling, and the defenses are catching on. He also commits to the run game as soon as he gets close to scoring. It would all be alright if he stuck with Ryan Mathews but, instead, he keeps Mike Tolbert in the game, who is less effective than Mathews, and adds to the lack of production.

San Diego knows that they have to improve their touchdown-to-field-goal ratio in order to be a dominant team. Norv Turner will be extra aware this weekend against the Jets, wanting to prove everyone wrong about being predictable.

1. Norv Turner Has Something to Prove

If you didn't know, Rex Ryan probably has the loudest mouth of a coach. Earlier this week he stated, "Well I think I would have had a couple of rings (if he was Chargers coach)."

Really Rex? There's no saying that he is right or wrong, but it was completely uncalled for. He later apologized to Norv Turner by calling him and clearing things up. Norv Turner said the first that he'd heard of Rex's comments were during their phone call. When asked later, Norv said, "I was wondering if he had those rings with the ones he’s guaranteed the last couple of years."

This is very unusual because Turner is known for not publicly responding to comments, but this must have gotten under his skin. It has been said that each are beyond the comments, and they treat it like it never happened—I highly doubt that.

In their last meeting, Rex Ryan completely out-coached Norv Turner. Norv will have all his players back, and they're coming off of a bye. He will have no excuses in this game. He needs to prove why San Diego made the right decision by hiring him over Rex.

On Sunday, at 10:00 Pacific time, Norv Turner will take his rested Chargers team into the Meadowlands to take on Rex Ryan and his reeling New York Jets. A lot will be on the line for both teams. We'll see what coach will outsmart the other and come away with the victory.