In a game that’s only important for your fantasy teams (daily or otherwise), bettors and die hards like you and me, the San Diego Chargers (4-10) take on the Oakland Raiders (6-8) in what amounts to a “loser leaves town” wrestling match. Or, maybe “winner leaves town” depending on how you feel.
Scroll on down for the live blog or keep reading for preview information.
First, here’s the pick from this week’s FAQ.
Thursday Night
San Diego at Oakland (-5.5)
We kick our weekend off with a game that’s mainly interesting because both these teams want to get the hell out of the cities they’re in and play in Los Angeles next season. The Chargers seem to be as good as gone but the Raiders will probably need to work things out with mom and dad in Oakland. Raiders 28, Chargers 24
And here’s Josh Schwager’s Calculated Line for this game.
Amari Cooper has been on a bit of a draught as of recently, but stepped up last week for 120 yards and two scores. With that game, he is sitting as the 13th best receiver according to yards gained. Cooper is the only rookie this season to top out at 1,000+ yards receiving.
Derek Carr may have some difficulty this week due to the Chargers’ secondary. Their secondary has been playing very well over their last three weeks. They are the third best secondary during that time period, allowing 175 yards per game to opposing quarterbacks. On the season they are 11th, allowing 237 yards per game to opposing teams through the air….
The Raiders’ secondary has been much improved since the beginning of the year and will provide more resistance than they did in the first meeting between the two teams, where Rivers threw for over 330 yards. They are currently allowing 203 yards to opposing passers over their last three games.
The Chargers lost their rookie runner Melvin Gordon to a knee injury that landed him on the injured reserve list.
Danny Woodhead will be their lead back and played very well against the Raiders in their last meeting, though he did most of his damage through the air. He caught 11 passes in their last meeting for 75 yards and two touchdowns in that game.
What to Watch:
The Chargers are the team to watch in this one. They’ve proven to be a fairly inconsistent team this year, especially against tough competition.
Philip Rivers has figured out ways to make this offense effective without his best weapons and if they want to win this week, he’s going to have to do exactly that. In their last meeting Rivers tossed two interceptions. This game he is going to have to be safer with the ball if the Chargers want to go home with the win.
Vegas Line:
The Vegas NFL Line is currently -6 points in favor of the Raiders with a 45 point over/under.
The Raiders have been playing quite well this season and in their first meeting they really controlled that game. With all of the injuries the Chargers are dealing with and have dealt with already, I don’t see this game going any different. I’ll be picking the Raiders in this one.
Win Percentage: 60% Oakland Raiders | 40% San Diego Chargers
Calculated NFL Line: -6.5 Oakland Raiders
The game is on NFL Network at 8:25. Let’s ignore our families and watch it.
