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LA Chargers (4-9) at Las Vegas (7-6)
This is the final Thursday Night Football meeting of the season, barring some kind of unforeseen circumstances, which we have already seen during this season played under the shadow of the coronavirus crisis. This final Thursday game pits the lowly Chargers and the struggling Raiders.
The Raiders looked like a legitimate playoff contender for most of the season, but they have now stumbled upon hard times. They have won one game in the past month or so, and that was a narrow escape win against the winless New York Jets. Otherwise, the Raiders have not enjoyed impressive success, and have even had some glaring failures, like an embarrassing blowout loss at Atlanta. For now, they still maintain a winning record of 7-6 that keeps them in playoff contention in the AFC, although they have lost three of their last four games at the worst possible time.
However, a home game against the Chargers may be just the tonic that they need. The Chargers are a familiar opponent, and they are also a weak one. They lost the first meeting between these two in heartbreaking fashion, but the Raiders also should match up well with them. The Chargers defense in particular is a weak point, as they have one of the weakest defenses in the league. Of course, their offense is not much better, and they have struggled quite a bit with a fair degree of frequency this season. In their last three games combined, the Chargers have produced a total of 37 points.
The Las Vegas offense is strong, and can likely burn the Chargers. However, despite the Chargers not having a particularly impressive offense, they may be able to do something against the Raiders defense, which has been horrendous this season. Only the Cowboys and the Jets have defenses that rank lower than the Raiders this season. In their last four games, the Raiders have allowed a whopping 154 points, or an average of over 38 points per game. That is just too many points allowed to reasonably expect any team to be able to pull off many wins, even if the offense has talent. Obviously, if the Raiders hope to win this game and stay relevant in the AFC playoff picture, they will need to start tightening up the defense considerably, to seal up some of those massive leaks.
For their part, the Chargers are now mostly playing for pride. They will not be going to the playoffs, and so that allows them the potential freedom to take chances, to act as spoilers. Plus, remember that the Chargers have the extra added incentive of getting a measure of revenge for that earlier season loss, which some felt deserved more scrutiny. They may have some justification for feeling cheated, and so that could fuel their drive to win this one. They surely would love to effectively eliminate the Raiders from the playoff picture, which a loss in this game would almost assuredly do.
It will be interesting. But in the end, despite their obvious recent troubles and overall flaws, the Raiders are the better team. They should be able to score some points on offense, and I expect their defense to tighten up a bit, as well. That is not to say that they will suddenly become a dominant defense, but it is hard to imagine that they will not make adjustments and fix some of the problems on defense, like the Cowboys did last weekend. In the end, this one should go in favor of the Raiders.
My pick: Las Vegas
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