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With an MCL sprain sidelining Melvin Gordon on Sunday and beyond, rookie Justin Jackson moves up the Los Angeles Chargers’ backfield depth chart. He will work as the change-of-pace/backup to Austin Ekeler versus the Steelers in Week 13. Last Sunday, when Gordon sat out the second half of a blowout win over the Arizona Cardinals, Jackson totted the rock 7 times for 57 yards.
When Gordon was healthy, Ekeler was on the field for over 36% of offensive plays and averaged 9.3 touches per game. Jackson is expected to see a similar amount of volume with perhaps a bit more as Ekeler has been dealing with a neck injury this week. The Chargers’ backfield gets a favorable matchup this week, too, as the Steelers have struggled to stop the run recently.
In the last two games, Pittsburgh is giving up an average of 151.5 rushing yards per game. Running backs have accounted for 344 total yards and 2 scores against the Steelers the last two weeks, 62.1% of the total production allowed. In what Vegas believes will be the fourth-highest scoring game of the week -- a 52.0 over/under -- Jackson should have plenty of opportunities to pile up fantasy points this week.