Jamaal Charles not expected to play in Chiefs-Chargers game

All week long we talked about the importance of the Kansas City Chiefs staying injury-free as they play the San Diego Chargers now that the Chiefs are locked into the No. 5 seed in the playoffs.

Andy Reid is taking his injury-free assurances one step further and deactivating Jamaal Charles today, according to Jay Glazer and Ian Rapoport. If Charles is inactive then he will not dress and will not play in today's game against the Chargers.

I was on the side that felt the Chiefs needed to get some work for the starters in this game but Andy Reid obviously disagrees. And I can see his point. There's no way Reid or anyone else with the Chiefs would be able to swallow seeing Jamaal go down with an injury in this game. It's hard to argue Reid's viewpoint here.

This news means that backup Knile Davis will be running the show in the Chiefs backfield today. I'm really excited for this because Davis is an explosive player. As he's shown on kickoff returns, he has a burst when he gets rolling. The downside is that he has a fumble history, which popped up just last week. The Chiefs will need Davis to spell Charles at times in the playoffs so it's important he knows how to hold onto the football.

Also out today will be Dwayne Bowe and Tamba Hali, who are both dealing with injuries.