Raiders vs. Chargers Sunday Prediction
The Chargers opened as 6-point home favorites to beat the visiting Raiders on Sunday, but are now 7.5-point favorites. Is that too many points to lay in a divisional matchup between two bottom-feeders?
Game Snapshot
459 Oakland Raiders (+7.5) at 460 Los Angeles Chargers (-7.5); O/U 45.5
4:05 p.m. ET, Sunday, December 22, 2019
Dignity Health Sports Park, Carson City, CA
Public Betting Trends
According to our NFL Football Public Betting Chart page, the Chargers are receiving 56% of the betting tickets from online sportsbooks.
Oakland Raiders Fantasy Spin
Josh Jacobs (shoulder) won’t play in Week 16 against the Chargers. Coach Jon Gruden will hold the rookie out and re-evaluate his shoulder injury prior to Oakland’s regular season finale. DeAndre Washington played 63 percent of Oakland’s offensive snaps in Jacobs’ lone absence this year, handling 14 carries and 7 of the team’s 10 running back targets in that particular matchup. He’s an immediate RB2/FLEX against the Chargers on Sunday, especially given his previous goal line role over Jalen Richard on two of the team’s three carries inside the 10-yard line in Week 14.
Los Angeles Chargers Fantasy Spin
Hunter Henry caught both of his targets for 29 yards in the Chargers’ Week 15 loss to the Vikings. He wasn’t targeted until deep in the third quarter, snagging his first look for a 24-yard gain on 4th-and-2. At the end of his second catch, Henry lost a fumble. And that’s how his stat sheet ended. Henry has a couple clunkers over the last three weeks, but he gets a nice Week 16 matchup with the Raiders as a shoo-in TE1.
NFL Betting Trends
Oakland
The Raiders are 3-8 against the spread in their last 11 games after allowing less than 90 yards rushing in their previous game.
Los Angeles
The Chargers are 2-8-2 against the number in their last 12 games after accumulating more than 250 yards passing in their previous game.
Prediction
The road team is 7-3 against the spread in the last 10 meetings between these two teams while the Raiders are 7-3 against the number in their last 10 road games versus the Chargers and the underdog has cashed in 16 of the previous 21 meetings between these two teams overall. The Chargers shouldn’t be favored by 7.5 points over anyone right now, even a Raiders team coming off an ugly loss to the Jaguars. Oakland won’t have Josh Jacobs, which will hurt, but the Chargers were just destroyed at home last week by the Vikings and can’t protect Philip Rivers. In a matchup of two bad teams, I’ll take the 7.5 points.
NFL Week 16 Prediction: Oakland Raiders +7.5