Raiders +6 at Chargers — 2 units
The Raiders should come into this game with a lot of momentum after the overtime win against the Browns and the LA crowd should be heavy Raiders fans – there is essentially no home field advantage for the Chargers in LA and the amount of red jerseys in the stands when they played the 49ers made it look like a road game. The Chargers just went to the wire against C.J. Beathard and Derek Carr shouldn’t have many issues moving the ball on a defense that has underperformed without Joey Bosa. Marshawn Lynch looks as good as ever and if you saw any part of the game that immediately stood out. The Raiders played sloppy at times against the Browns but there were at least 3-4 moments between the 4th quarter and overtime when the game looked like it was getting away from them and they could’ve folded but both the offense and defense made big plays instead. Yes, the refs were wrong on that fumble call late in the game but the score was also 35-34 at that point and we can’t take the Browns as a joke anymore – they have a legitimate defense, a lot of playmakers on offense, and Baker Mayfield is the real deal (not to mention this defense held the Saints to 3 points through 3 quarters in the Superdome). The Raiders are #2 in the NFL in yards per game and if you takeaway Carr’s rookie year and a meaningless Week 17 game last season, he is 4-1 SU against the Chargers and the one loss was by a point.
This should be a close game the whole way and what I like also is that the Chargers’ kicking situation is still a mess – they missed two extra points last week and an easy field goal inside 35 yards. This line’s off, give me the 6 points all day.
