Los Angeles Chargers running back Melvin Gordon believes he will be able to play in Sunday’s divisional round matchup against the New England Patriots despite a knee injury.

“Yeah, I’m ready to roll,” Gordon said, via video posted by Fernando Ramirez of NBC San Diego.” I just hurt it a little bit. Throw a little dirt on it, [and] I’ll be all right.”

Gordon missed three weeks due to an MCL sprain. He returned to play in the team's last two regular season games, but then suffered another sprain early in their win over the Baltimore Ravens on Wild Card weekend, which saw him play just 32 of 73 snaps.

Gordon had a strong regular season, rushing for 885 yards in 12 games as he set new career-highs in yards per carry (5.1) and total touchdowns (14) to earn a second Pro Bowl nod.

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However, he has clearly been limited by those knee injuries. After averaging an impressive 5.2 yards per carry in his first 10 games knee pre-injury, he’s racked up just 123 yards on 39 carries (3.1 yards per carry) over his last three games post-injuries.

It seems highly unlikely that Gordon will be anywhere close to 100 percent against the Patriots. But his mere presence should still help the Chargers given their running back situation. Backup RB Austin Ekeler is also pretty banged up. He had just29 yards on 11 carries against the Ravens.

If Gordon and the Chargers running game are unable to get much going on the ground against New England, it’ll be up to Philip Rivers to carry the offense through the air.