That 5-1 start to the season by the San Diego Chargers is a distant memory now. The team is now on a three-game losing streak, culminating in Sunday's 37-0 beatdown at the hands of the Miami Dolphins. The Chargers, who were once in first place in the AFC West, are now stuck in third.
The Chargers had four turnovers to the Dolphins' zero, and were outgained on offense 441-178. There were no positives to the game for San Diego, with only 50 rushing yards and 148 receiving. The team does get a much-needed bye in Week 10, and then has an easier slate of opponents in Week 11 and 12, when the Chargers face Oakland and St. Louis.
Take a deep breath, because we're about to run through the fantasy sadness from the game:
Philip Rivers: Only a few weeks ago, we were talking about Rivers as the NFL MVP. But after middling performances the last two weeks, Rivers' production completely evaporated Sunday. Rivers threw for 138 yards on 12-of-23 passing, and he also threw three interceptions and lost a fumble. In Rivers' very mild defense, the Dolphins have been the league's top fantasy defense this season, but there's really no justifying a fantasy score of negative-3. Rivers is falling down the quarterback rankings, though he's still a starter for now.
Branden Oliver, Donald Brown: The Chargers got one of their injured running backs back Sunday, with the end result being that neither guy had any real value. Oliver still led the way, with 13 carries, but he gained only 19 yards on those carries. Brown, meanwhile, got more yards (23), but only carried the ball four times. Each back also caught a pass. With a bye week and then the likely return of Ryan Mathews, neither back has any real value going forward.
Keenan Allen, Malcom Floyd: The Chargers were led in production Sunday by the two receivers, though that's saying very little. Each receiver caught four passes, with Floyd going for 60 yards and Allen for 47. Allen, though, had the clear edge in targets, with nine against Floyd's five. Allen remains on the low-end WR2 radar, while Floyd is more of a questionable flex play. The team's third receiver, Eddie Royal, has now had three miserable games in a row, and is fully droppable.
Antonio Gates: You knew a bad game for Gates had to be coming eventually. He had averaged almost 14 fantasy points a game over the last month, but fell back to earth against the Dolphins, with only 28 yards on three catches. He's still a starting tight end, but this game has to sober up some of the people who were investing so heavily.