Injuries Impact the First Meeting of the Chiefs and Chargers

Following their Week 1 games, both the Kansas City Chiefs and Los Angeles Chargers are facing injuries to key players that may affect the matchup.

For the Chiefs, injuries to cornerback Charvarius Ward, defensive lineman Khalen Saunders and defensive end Alex Okafor put strains on Kansas City's defense.

We learned Wednesday Saunders will miss "about a month" with his injury but with none of the other two practicing Thursday, it seems likely neither will play on Sunday.

The Chargers got the news Thursday they will be without center Mike Pouncey while star defensive end Joey Bosa works through a tricep injury. Los Angeles' defense has been bit hard by the injury bug.

After their season-opening contest against the Cincinnati Bengals, linebacker Drue Tranquill suffered a broken fibula, taking him out of the rest of the season. On Sept. 5, safety Derwin James was put on the season-ending injured reserve list after undergoing surgery to repair a torn meniscus.

ChargerReport's Fernando Ramirez joined me to preview the Chiefs and Chargers Week 2 meeting on today's Roughing the Kicker podcast where we discussed how the Chargers' defense stacks up against the Chiefs' offense.

In the episode, Ramirez discussed the injury to Tranquill and the effects of it on the defense after James was already ruled out for the season.

"I think [the Tranquill injury] affects [the Chargers defense] the most because of the Derwin James injury," Ramirez said. "He was the guy that was going to cover tight ends. So it may be difficult to cover Travis Kelce, especially because you have a rookie in Kenneth Murray who you don't know yet what he can completely do."

Ramirez continued and said that he thinks the chess match between Kansas City's offense and Los Angeles' defense would've been fun to watch if the Chargers were fully healthy.

"To be honest, I'm not saying its a mirror replica, but the Chargers have as many playmakers on defense, when healthy, that the Chiefs do on offense," Ramirez said. "The defense had Derwin James, it had Drue Tranquill and that's what I was waiting to watch. I was hoping no injuries would happen because I wanted to watch Week 2 Chiefs, Chargers. The defense against the offense."

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