I remember fondly the days when I viewed this upcoming three-game stretch of games with high expectations. The Los Angeles Chargers? The Cincinnati Bengals? The New York Jets? Finally, the schedule was calming down for the Oakland Raiders!
And then? The Chargers absolutely obliterated the Green Bay Packers (and plenty of betting tickets, I’m sure) on Sunday to the tune of 26-11, making Thursday Night’s game far more interesting.
In fact, Las Vegas was so impressed that it has made the Raiders home underdogs for the game — with the line opening up at Oakland +1 as of Monday morning. This means that for the eighth time in nine games, the Raiders are underdogs. Insane.
As for what to watch for…
Chargers Run Game is the Key
On Sunday, the Chargers rushed for 159 yards — thanks in part to the fact that they led the entire way. In their previous four games? 142 total rushing yards. Note: not a typo.
Not surprisingly, the Chargers won just one of those four games (against the Fighting Trubiskys). This is good news for the Raiders, who have the seventh-best run defense (92.5 ypg).
Gruden Gets Another Chance to Flex
The Chargers come into the game with the league’s fifth-best passing defense, despite missing their best defensive back in Derwin James. Last week, they held Aaron Rodgers (the same guy who torched the Raiders) to just 161 yards on 35 pass attempts.
As a Jon Gruden believer, I’ll admit that this doesn’t worry me quite as much as it should. At this point in the season, I’ve come to believe Gruden is going to get his points against anyone — and so if he can take out the other team’s strength in the process? Bravo.
On the other side of the ball…WATCH OUT
After facing the league’s third-best passing offense last week, the Raiders get to see the league’s sixth-best passing offense this week. The good news is that rookie cornerback Isaiah Johnson is back at practice (and finally available to play) — which can’t hurt a defensive backfield that has struggled.
I actually thought rookie Trayvon Mullen was impressive Sunday — not because he was breaking up a ton of passes, but simply because his name didn’t get mentioned all that much. Daryl Worley saw the ball headed his direction regularly, though, with an up-and-down overall performance.
The game plan here has to be the same as last week: pray for turnovers and hold them to field goals. The Raider defense as constructed is never going to dominate, but if they can keep the offense in the game and make just enough plays, anything can happen.
Injury Watch
The two names to keep an eye on this week are Rodney Hudson and Trent Brown. It seemed like Hudson was close to playing Sunday, which should be good news for his availability on Thursday. Brown, on the other hand, seemed to be in rough shape when he came off the field in the first quarter — not to mention he’s already missed a game this season due to injury.
I’m guessing that part of the reason for the fishy game line here is because of the possibility that David Sharpe is going to find himself across from Joey Bosa or Melvin Ingram a lot — which would be the very definition of “bad news”. Those two combined for three sacks, two tackles for loss and six quarterback hits last week.
Hudson and Brown are both listed as questionable though, so the hope if that they both will be able to play.
Prediction: Raiders 35, Chargers 24
I know Vegas has this game closer — and they usually know more than I do — but I just don’t see it. I think on a short week I trust the Raider coaches far more than I do LA’s, and I think Gruden relishes this opportunity to play on national television.
As I said above, I think the Raiders are going to get theirs — it’s just a matter of whether they can get the stops to match. I think if they stop the run (they will), they can make the 2-3 plays they need to be the difference.
