Chargers to play once in 23 days after Denver

Philip Rivers and the Chargers will have some time to heal after Thursday's game. (USATSI)

After the Chargers play the Broncos on Thursday night, they'll get to do something no other NFL team has ever done: They'll only play one game in the 23 days after playing Denver.

According to NFL.com's Gil Brandt, that's the longest span any team has ever gone only playing one game during the regular season. The long layoff comes at the perfect time for a Chargers team that has several players out with injury.

Thanks to the scheduling quirk, players like Ryan Mathews and Brandon Flowers could be back by Nov. 16 when the Chargers host the Raiders.

San Diego can thank the NFL scheduling guy for its long layoff. After playing the Broncos on Thursday (CBSSports.com preview here), the Chargers will have 10 days off before playing the Dolphins on Nov. 2. After that, San Diego will go into its bye week before hosting the Raiders on Nov. 16.

Only playing one game in 23 days is rare, but it's not unprecedented. It's happened twice before, but the other two times came under unique circumstances and had nothing to do with how the NFL made its schedule.

After the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001, the Steelers played one game in 27 days.

Week 1 of the 2001 season was played on Sept. 9, the NFL then canceled all games scheduled in Week 2 on Sept. 16.

Thirty of the 31 NFL teams returned to the field on Sept. 23, but the Steelers weren't one of those teams because they had a Week 3 bye. That bye meant Pittsburgh only played one game between Sept. 10 and Oct. 6.

The other long layoff also came in 2001, but it spanned between the regular season and the playoffs. During the 2001 season, there were an odd number of teams, so at least one team had to have a bye each week.

The Patriots got a bye in Week 16, then played in Week 17, then didn't play again until the AFC Divisional playoffs because they had earned a first-round bye. From Dec. 23, 2001 to Jan. 18 2002, the Patriots only played one game in 27 days.

The long breaks worked out for both the Patriots and the Steelers, who met in the AFC title game that season. New England would knock off Pittsburgh and go on to win Super Bowl XXXVI.

NFL Hot News

Bengals WR A.J. Green admits he may not be healthy for rest of the season



Whether Bengals wide receiver A.J. Green plays this weekend is still unknown -- he specifically said Tuesday that he "hopes" to play, but "it's still up in the air." If he is given the green light after missing the past two games due to a stubborn toe injury, fantasy owners should know that they won't be getting a fully healthy Green for this week and perhaps for the rest of the season."It's probably not gonna be 100 percent, but I hope it's just manageable," Green said on NFL Network's "NFL AM." "I can get through the season and be fine and still play at a high level."The Bengals host the Ravens this weekend.



There have been mixed signals on Green's Week 8 status since Sunday. On that day, there was a report that Green told a teammate he would play in the next game. On Monday, head coach Marvin Lewis said Green has made "tremendous progress." But Green apparently doesn't want us to get ahead of ourselves. We'll see if he can make it through a couple of practices. Green's return would be good news for not only fantasy owners but also for everyone on the Bengals' offense. Coming out of their pathetic 27-0 defeat to the Colts, it's obvious the Bengals are desperate for Green's playmaking ability.