3 Giants the LA Chargers must exploit to win in Week 14

2. Tae Crowder

The LA Chargers have had the worst run defense in the league thus far this season and right in front of them has been the New York Giants. Tae Crowder, while not the only reason, it one of the big reasons why the Giants have struggled to stop the run this season.

The inside linebacker has been playing in place of an injured Blake Martinez, who suffered an injury in Week 3. Since that Week 3 injury, Crowder has played every single snap on the defensive side of the football and he has not been very good.

This is not a case where Crowder is great in one area and gets exploited in another area. The seventh-round sophomore should probably just be a special teams player as he struggles in both filling the running gaps and in pass coverage. The Chargers should be going after him every chance they get and make sure they are exploiting the middle of the field.

I am not a huge fan of Pro Football Focus grades because of the subjectivity of the grades making it hard to compare players but it is clear by his grades that he is not a starting-caliber middle linebacker. In fact, Crowder's 28.1 defensive grade ranks the worst among all inside linebackers in the NFL.

Austin Ekeler has quietly been one of the best running backs between the tackles in the league and has not had a huge game yet (running the ball) as the team has limited his workload. This very well could his biggest game of the season in terms of rushing yards.