Chargers Roll Into The Big Easy In Relatively Good Shape
By Dave Thomas
For the San Diego Chargers, their visit to New Orleans Sunday evening for a primetime contest with the Saints on NBC will provide a number of storylines.
Among them:
With the different story lines that will be in play Sunday night in the Superdome, the Chargers will at least go into the contest relatively healthy.
As of Friday afternoon, the Chargers were reporting that they are relatively healthy going into this game, something that they were not able to say earlier this season when they at times had to go without the likes of Ryan Mathews and Antonio Gates among others.
The biggest challenge healthwise for the Bolts going into last weekend's matchup at Kansas City was doing without the services of kicker Nate Kaeding.
Kaeding, who injured his groin in practice a week ago Friday, did not travel with the team to Kansas City. His replacement, Nick Novak, who kicked in Kaeding's absence a season ago when the former missed all but one play of the season with a leg injury, was smooth as could be a weekend ago. Novak hit on 3-of-3 field goals, while also connecting on all four of his extra point attempts.
The Chargers announced that Novak will again handle the kicking duties this weekend, as Kaeding's exact return to action is not known at this time.
Meantime, cornerback Shareece Wright continues to battle an ankle injury suffered in the season opener at Oakland, and is not expected to play versus the Saints.
Finally, guard Tyronne Green is listed as probable for Sunday after recently injuring his knee. According to the Chargers, Green has been participating in practice during the week.
After scoring their second division win of the season in Kansas City last Sunday (37-20), the Chargers follow their home game with Denver next week with a bye week (Oct. 21), then travel to Cleveland on Oct. 28. The Browns join the Saints heading into play this week as the only other winless team in the NFL.
The Bolts will have a short week after the visit to the Browns to prepare for a Thursday night contest, hosting the Chiefs on Nov. 1.
Out:
Nate Kaeding, K (groin)
Shareece Wright, CB (ankle)
Probable:
Tyronne Green, LG (knee)
For more Local Football Bloggers and the latest Chargers news, see CBS Sports Los Angeles.
Dave Thomas is a freelance writer covering all things Chargers. His work can be found on Examiner.com.
