Get up to 145% in Signup Bonuses at BetUS!

Oakland Raiders vs. San Diego Chargers NFL Betting Odds & Spread

Written December 2, 2008 by Jason Lowry

Now the AFC West hasn’t been much to speak of this season, as Broncos easily lead the division at 7-5, and this Thursday the 4-8 San Diego Chargers will look to at least keep their spot at 2nd in the division when they host the 3-9 Oakland Raiders. Now neither team has much of a chance at catching the Broncos, so its pretty much for pride and the future from here on out, as the Chargers lost their 3rd straight game last week with a 16-22 loss to the Falcons at home, while the Raiders let the Chiefs win just their second game of the season on their home field 20-13. If you are looking to do a little NFL betting on the game this week, the oddsmakers have the Chargers 10 point favorites at home over the Raiders at Sportsbook.com

The Raiders really lost all the momentum that had from going into Denver and beating the Broncos two weeks ago with their recent loss to the Chiefs, as the win had the Raiders thinking playoffs for a little bit. Against the Chiefs last week the Raiders scored just 1 touchdown thanks to Justin Fargas, who led the team with 82 rushing yards, but the team had just 135 yards after running wild on the Chiefs when these two teams met up earlier in the season. Ja Marcuss Russell had his struggles throwing the football, as he was just 10 of 28 for 132 yards. Now its hard telling what you are going to get from either team this week, but with the Raiders going back on the road, its hard to imagine this team is going to find a way to get it clicking against the Chargers.

Now the Raiders defense played well enough to win last week, and thats something they have got pretty use to this season, as the offense has really hurt this teams chances of winning, and last week the offense did just that when they attempted to pull off a fake field goal that wound up turning into a fumble and a Chiefs touchdown. The Raiders continued to make life hard for opposing quarterbacks, as they kept Tyler Thigpen in check, as he had just 162 yards with no touchdowns and an interception. Now the Chargers offense isn’t really clicking of late, so if the defense keeps their play up they could pull of another surprise win on the road. Bet Raiders +10 at Sportsbook.com

Now the Chargers can’t say they haven’t had their chances this season, as they have now lost 5 of their last 6 games, and continue to lose close games almost every single week, as they are now 1-7 in games decided by a touchdown or less. In the game against the Falcons the Chargers got very little offense going in this one, as their only offensive touchdown came on a 3 yard run by LT in the 1st quarter. Now even with that score, LT wasn’t that impressive, as he had just just 24 yards on 14 carries. Now the passing game of Philip Rivers wasn’t any better, as Rivers had just 149 yards passing on 17 of 30 points. Now its hard telling just what went wrong with this offense, but if they don’t find a way to score against the Raiders, they really need to think about the direction this football team is headed.

The Chargers defense was yet another victim of rookie quarterback Matt Ryan, who threw for 207 yards and 2 scores, as the Falcons were in nearly complete control the whole game. It had to be some what of a sore sight for Chargers fans to see former backup Michael Turner run all over their defense for 120 yards, and has crushed LT on overall performance this season. Now the Raiders offense isn’t very good, but if this unit decided it doesn’t want to play or doesn’t think they have much to worry about, this will likely add to an already dreadful season. Bet Chargers -10 at Sportsbook.com

Check out these great NFL picks, and make sure you have the latest NFL odds for each game at Betfirms.

If you liked this article, you may also be interested in:

No comments yet, but your thoughts are welcome!