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Thursday Night Football Picks: Los Angeles Chargers vs Las Vegas Raiders

by Mike Allen - 12/12/2023

Thursday Night Football picks Los Angeles Chargers vs Las Vegas Raiders Austin Ekeler

We are entering Week 15 of the NFL regular season, and believe it or not, only two teams have been eliminated from postseason contention. Those two teams are the NFC's Carolina Panthers and, in the AFC, the New England Patriots.

This Thursday night, we have a matchup between 2 AFC West foes. Each team is 5-8 coming into this one, but mathematically speaking, they are still in the hunt. The Las Vegas Raiders have a 1% chance to make the postseason, while the LA Chargers have a whopping 2.7% chance.  I would say at least one of these teams, though, will be checked out.

Unfortunately for the Los Angeles Chargers, they lost their starting quarterback Justin Herbert to an injury. He will require surgery, and his season is done. It was not a good year for LA. In my opinion, and that of many others, the Chargers were the biggest disappointment in the entire league.

This team is incredibly talented on both sides of the ball. They have playmakers abound, whether it be stars in the secondary, the pass rush, or the quarterback position, and, outside of Christian McCaffrey, they have the best dual-threat running backs in the league in Austin Ekeler.

Even though this game will be played in Las Vegas, the look-ahead line was (-4) for LA, and as you can see, Herbert's injury has moved this betting line an entire touchdown.

As for the Las Vegas Raiders, they are coming off a 3-0 loss. Yes, you read that correctly. On Sunday, the Raiders lost 3-0 to the Minnesota Vikings in a game that was 0-0 going late into the 4th quarter.

The new interim head coach for the Raiders, Antonio Pierce, has done a decent job bringing in random coaches to fill gas this late in the season, but it appears that the offense is still struggling mightily.

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Chargers vs Raiders Betting Odds

Point Spread

Las Vegas: -3 (-110)

Los Angeles: +3 (-110)

This Thursday night game has under written all over it. Most primetime games have gone under this year, specifically Thursday Night Football games.

Right now, though, we are getting a team that scored 0 points last week and the LA Chargers, who just lost their star quarterback, moving the line an entire seven points.

If I had to guess, I would say the Raiders will be more locked in, playing hard, and possibly overachieving between these two teams on Thursday night.

Both teams are playing like crap, though, and I would like to avoid playing a side.

Moneyline

Las Vegas: -160

Los Angeles: +135

Point Total

Over 34.5: -110

Under 34.5: -110

These two teams combined for a total of seven points in week 14. how many are they going to get when they play each other?

Well, the Las Vegas Raiders defense is pretty good. And a bright spot coming out of last week was they held them decent Minnesota Vikings offense to only three points.

We do have to be concerned here about the Chargers' defense, which has been more or less a joke since the beginning of the season.

Chargers vs Raiders Betting Analysis

I can’t believe the Chargers haven’t fired their head coach. Brandon Staley’s days are numbered, though. It’s only a matter of time before this guy is fired and forced to take a demotion to work again in the NFL.

The Las Vegas Raiders offense ranks in the bottom 5th of the league and yards per play, while the Los Angeles Chargers defense also ranks in the bottom five of the league in yards per play allowed.

The rushing attacks for both teams are dreadful. We are talking less than a 4-yard-per-carry average throughout the entire season.

Chargers vs Raiders Betting Prediction

The total of 34.5 is low, but we can’t expect the sportsbooks to be blind. This game has far too many reasons to go under the point total for us to ignore.

Pick: Under 34.5 Points

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