Chargers vs. Rams Fantasy Football Worksheet, Week 8

The Worksheet, a comprehensive fantasy football preview by Rich Hribar, breaks down everything you need to know about the Chargers vs. Rams Week 8 matchup.

Find a breakdown of every Week 8 NFL game in our Worksheet Hub.

Trust = spike production for that player

Chargers vs. Rams Fantasy Quarterback Preview

Matthew Stafford

Adjusting the offense around multiple injuries and controlling the game, the Rams had their lowest dropback rate of the season on Sunday (44.1%).

Stafford threw for only 195 yards on Sunday, his fewest since Week 1.

He has thrown for fewer than 7.0 yards per pass attempt in three of his past four games.

The Rams went run-heavy on Sunday, but they've adjusted their passing attack over the past few weeks, moving toward a more condensed approach.

Stafford's three lowest depth-of-throw rates have come over the past three weeks.

He has thrown 20.8%, 23.3%, and 24.1% of his passes at or behind the line of scrimmage after a 10.7% rate of those throws in Weeks 1 through 4.

He has thrown the ball 10 or more yards downfield on 23.3% and 20.7% of his passes in the past two games, his lowest rates of the year.

The Rams have thrown fewer passes to wide receivers because of injuries.

They have thrown 43.8% and 41.4% of their passes to wide receivers in the past two games, while tight ends have received 31.3% and 48.3% of targets.

That has raised Stafford's completion rates to 74.1%, 75.8%, and 79.3% in the past three weeks.

His yardage has dropped, but Stafford has made up ground with multiple touchdown passes in all three games, throwing 8 touchdowns to 1 interception.

Even running hot in the touchdown department, Stafford has closed the past two weeks as the QB12 in weekly scoring.

This approach makes it hard for him to have front-end ceiling output.

As expected, the Rams leaned on 13 personnel for a season-high 50% of snaps on Sunday after Davante Adams‘ injury.

They played 11 personnel on a season-low 35.3% of the snaps.

We should expect things to stay on a similar path.

The Chargers play man coverage only 10.6% of their snaps (29th) and two-high coverage 57.1% of the time (8th).

As a byproduct, they face the league's lowest depth of throw (5.4 air yards).

They are also a bad team, so teams not only throw short against them, but they are hardly throwing at all.

The Chargers face the league's highest run rate and only 28.5 pass attempts per game (2nd fewest).

That means Stafford will have to build the plane out of touchdown efficiency as a fringe QB1.

The Chargers have allowed just one quarterback to finish higher than QB15 versus them this season, and that came with 3 touchdown passes.

Justin Herbert

Herbert returns from his bye after the worst stretch of his career.

Herbert has completed 59.4% of his passes (28th) for 6.3 yards per pass attempt (25th), a 2.8% touchdown rate (29th), a 4.4% interception rate (31st), and a 10.4% sack rate (31st).

He ranks 31st in passing points per dropback (0.21) and hasn't had a week higher than QB22 all season.

The Chargers should be healthier out of the bye with the potential to get Ladd McConkey, Joe Alt, and Kayode Awosika back.

We'll also learn what (if anything) this offensive coaching staff has adjusted during the week off.

There have been swirling rumors that Mike McDaniel is on the immediate hot seat, as someone will eventually take the first fall for this season's failure.

Until we see proof the concepts are working, there is no reason to be bullish on using Herbert as more than a back-end QB2.

The Rams are also not a good matchup.

They have allowed a 57.8% completion rate (3rd) and 5.9 yards per pass attempt (2nd).

They have allowed a 4.4% touchdown rate (18th) if you are adventurous.

Chargers vs. Rams Fantasy Running Back Preview

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