The Los Angeles Chargers are finding themselves in desperate need of a win as they get set to host the Pittsburgh Steelers in their Week 6 matchup on Sunday night.
The Chargers have been one of the most disappointing teams in the NFL thus far, going just 2-3 over their last five games. Most recently, they suffered a brutal loss to the previously winless Denver Broncos, so Los Angeles seems to have already hit rock bottom.
Fortunately, there is still plenty of time left for the Bolts to turn things around, but they'll have to come away with a victory against the 1-4 Steelers in order to right the ship.
One of the biggest keys for the Chargers in this bout could be running back Melvin Gordon, who made his return from his holdout last weekend and carried the ball 12 times for 31 yards.
Prior to that game, head coach Anthony Lynn said that Austin Ekeler would likely get the bulk of the carries, but that ended up being false, as Ekeler toted the ball just three times for seven yards.
Obviously, LA still views Gordon as its No. 1 back and will almost surely treat him as such for the remainder of the season.
That means Gordon could get a lot of touches on Sunday evening, especially against a shoddy Pittsburgh run defense that ranks just 21st in the NFL.
And given how up and down Philip Rivers has been thus far this season, the Chargers may find themselves leaning more on the ground game than they originally expected this year.
Of course, Gordon still may not be in tip-top shape, as he sat out all of training camp and preseason and missed the first four games of the regular season.
As much as Gordon may have tried to keep himself in shape during his time off, nothing can match live game action, so the 26-year-old may still have a little while to go before he gets back into the swing of things.
It also doesn't help Gordon's case that Los Angeles' offensive line has been a glaring weakness this season, and with Mike Pouncey now out, that hole becomes even more noticeable.
But, Gordon should look a bit better than he did a week ago, as he does have a full game under his belt and should now be a bit more accustomed to the rigors of NFL action.
Look for the Chargers to try and establish Gordon early, and if he breaks off a couple of nice runs right off the bat, Los Angeles might make it a point to use him as its go-to guy for the entirety of the contest.
Plus, Gordon is a very good receiver out of the backfield, so Rivers may also look to try and get him going on screens and dump passes.
Now, we don't really know for sure what version of Melvin Gordon we will see this weekend. Again, the guy just played his first football game since last January, so he still has some rust to shake off.
Still, I do expect Gordon to look a bit more spry against the Steelers than he did against the Broncos.
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