High Voltage in Oakland
7 NOV 2019
Chargers @ Raiders
Football fans, welcome to double-digit weeks! We are just over the halfway mark of the NFL’s 100th season & the promise land in Miami is just 87 days away… Week 10 kicks off in the Bay Area between the Chargers & Raiders in the 2nd AFC West clash to be featured on Thursday Night football. Here’s the rundown of the most important game of the season for both teams, 10 weeks into the season.
Polar Opposites…
This game is going to showcase a very intriguing matchup, mainly the offensive approach of each team. Here’s a statistical breakdown of both the Raider’ & Charger’ offense.
Offensively, the statistics speak for itself. The Raiders have a far better dual-threat offense due to their consistent rushing attack. On the contrary, the Chargers pose a one-dimensional offense that could actually be the key to victory…
Defense double down!
Before diving into the conclusion of this game pick, the Raiders offense has a long game ahead of them. The Chargers are coming off a phenomenal performance against Rodgers’ & the 7 win Packers. The Chargers secondary is ranked top 5 in the league allowing a mere 208.7 Pass YPG. On the contrary, the Chargers rush defense lands in the bottom half of the league allowing 114.1 Rush YPG. With a Raider offense ranked 6th in the league (136.6 Rush YPG) when it comes to running the ball, I expect them to rely on rookie, Josh Jacobs as their primary attack.
Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group
So yes, the Raiders have a two-dimensional threat offensively, however, they are bipolar when it comes to the defensive side of the ball. Stating that the Chargers are going to win this game with a one-dimensional offense sounds like a shot in the dark… but here’s why it’s not. The Raiders pass defense is ranked dead last in the league allowing nearly 300 Aerial YPG! (297.5). On top of that, Chargers’ Mike Williams has the most targets among wide receivers without a TD this season! Coming off his first 100-YD game, Williams could see some big numbers against the worst pass defense in the league. To make matters worse the Raiders defense has allowed 11 passing TDs in the last 3 games. I expect a close one as the Raiders have allowed 20+ PTS in 22 of their last 24 games & with all 5 Charger’ losses coming by at least one possession this season, expect a nail-biter to kickoff Week 10.
Getty Images/Elias Stein
