Los Angeles Chargers have chance to survive injury rash

The Los Angeles Chargers are dealing with their annual crush of injuries. The good news is they can survive them.

Los Angeles is already without left tackle Russell Okung (pulmonary embolism), running back Melvin Gordon (holdout), cornerback Trevor Williams (quad), linebacker Denzel Perryman (hamstring) and safety Derwin James (foot). It’s not even the start of Week 2.

Now the Los Angeles Chargers are adding tight end Hunter Henry who is dealing with a fractured left knee, putting him on the sideline for 4-6 weeks. Finally there is wide receiver Mike Williams, who left Sunday’s win over the Indianapolis Colts with a knee injury. His status for this weekend’s game against the Detroit Lions remains unknown.

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Few teams can claim the amount of injuries that the Los Angele Chargers can. It’s a rough start and an ugly pattern from years past, but there’s good news. The schedule is soft early, and while some of the situations are long term (James) or have the potential to be (Okung and Trevor Williams), most are expected back before the midway point of the campaign.

After the aforementioned victory over Indianapolis, the unbeaten Chargers now head to Detroit for a date with the Lions. In Week 3, the Houston Texans pay a visit. The following game comes against the tanking Miami Dolphins on South Beach. Finally, the Chargers have their first divisional tilt in Week 5 when the Denver Broncos come to sunny California.

While the Texans are a quality team and the Lions are enjoying their home opener, there’s little reason to see more than one loss (if any) in that stretch. The first real test might come in Week 6 when Ben Roethlisberger and the Pittsburgh Steelers come to town for a Sunday Night Football affair.

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The biggest trick for the Chargers is not incurring more injuries over the next month. Los Angeles can’t afford to see anymore key players go down, guys such as Joey Bosa, Melvin Ingram, Keenan Allen, Philip Rivers and so forth. If Los Angeles wants to compete with the Kansas City Chiefs in the tough AFC West, they’ll need to likely win 12 or 13 games.

The first test? Detroit, which is coming off blowing an 18-point lead in the fourth quarter to the Arizona Cardinals. If the Lions have any pride, this might be their biggest challenge to any team this season.

The Chargers are facing an uphill battle with the injuries, but they have the ammunition remaining to win.