Thursday Night Football returns tonight, and with it comes an AFC West showdown between the Oakland Raiders and San Diego Chargers.
At stake in this game is sole possession of first place in the division, as both the Raiders and Chargers are tied with the Kansas City Chiefs atop the division at 4-4. Per Bodog, the oddsmakers think the Chargers will ultimately come out on top, as they have the Bolts favored to win by a full seven points.
Though the Chargers have lost three games in a row and have been disappointing all season, I'm inclined to pick them to win and cover. They have issues, but I'll wager the Raiders have even more issues, a couple of which will play directly into San Diego's hands.
Above all, the one thing that concerns me about the Raiders going up against the Chargers is how their horrendous pass defense is going to hold up.
To be sure, the Silver and Black has looked pretty good against the pass in each of its last two games, but I'm not reading into that all that much because the two quarterbacks they faced are named Matt Cassel and Tim Tebow. They're not exactly known for their ability to light up the stat sheet, and they lived up to that reputation against the Raiders.
Philip Rivers, on the other hand, is known for his ability to light up the stat sheet. He's had well-documented problems throwing the football to the wrong team, but there is something to be said about the fact that he is currently fifth in the league in passing yards. Against an injury-depleted Raiders secondary that is poor to begin with, Rivers should be in for a big day.
If the Raiders are to have any hope of winning this game, Carson Palmer and the Raiders offense will have to put up points. With Darren McFadden out yet again, you can count on Palmer getting plenty of throws, and the question will be whether or not he can minimize mistakes against the league's fourth-ranked pass defense.
Understandably, Palmer hasn't been able to limit his mistakes so far. He's still trying to get on track after sitting out the first six weeks of the season, so it's not exactly surprising that he has six interceptions in six quarters of play.
Personally, however, my concern is not that Palmer looks like a rusty quarterback. It's that he looks like Carson Palmer. He's been mediocre for several years now, and it could be that not much is going to change with the Silver and Black, no matter how many snaps he is able to get under his belt.
Unless Palmer magically reverts back to his 2005 self, the Chargers are going to take this one with little difficulty.
Chargers 35, Raiders 24
Ben Gordon Josh Howard Jason Terry Jason Kidd Dirk Nowitzki Jerry Stackhouse
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