San Diego Chargers rule RB Melvin Gordon out; Kenneth Farrow to start

The San Diego Chargers officially ruled running back Melvin Gordon out of Sunday's game against the Oakland Raiders due to hip and knee injuries.

Gordon suffered the injuries in last Sunday's game against the Carolina Panthers and didn't practice all week.

Undrafted rookie Kenneth Farrow will start in place of Gordon. Recently acquired Ronnie Hillman will serve as the backup.

"We had a good feeling coming in what was going to happen," Chargers coach Mike McCoy told reporters. "And we gave the other guys the work that we need to get put in. There are certainly things you do with every player on the team, and you do what they do best.

"Our system's in place and then you kind of tweak a few things here and there for who's playing in the game."

Hillman, who rushed for 863 yards and seven touchdowns with the Super Bowl champion Denver Broncos last season, will be making his first appearance for the Chargers. He was released by Denver prior to the season and later was picked up by Minnesota, seeing action in five games before being released.

"This week me and Farrow had more reps obviously," Hillman told reporters. "So I've been getting in the playbook and learning them, and actually going out there and doing it helps a lot."

Gordon is hopeful of returning for the following game against the Cleveland Browns. The second-year back is three yards short of his first 1,000-yard season.

Farrow picked up the workload against Carolina after Gordon's injury and had 16 carries for 55 yards and caught six passes for 23 more.

Farrow, who played collegiately for Houston, has 125 yards on 36 carries entering his first career start.

"It's pretty crazy," Farrow told reporters. "Not a lot of people probably would have guessed I'd be in this position, but my biggest thing is you just go and work every day. You work hard (then) good things happen. That's all I can do. Just keep working."