Los Angeles Chargers at Las Vegas Raiders

Week 15 of the NFL season starts with a battle of two 5-8 AFC West teams, as the Los Angeles Chargers travel to Las Vegas to take on the Raiders. Both of these teams have endured less-than-ideal seasons, with the Chargers straight up falling short of expectations across the board and the Raiders imploding to the point that they fired their head coach in the middle of the season.

To make matters worse, the Chargers lost quarterback Justin Herbert for the season after he injured his finger last week against the Broncos. Easton Stick – yes, that his real name – will get the start for the Chargers at quarterback.

Injuries at the quarterback position have derailed the season for many teams. There have been 54 different starting quarterbacks this season, with eight to 10 “backup” QBs set to start under center for their respective teams in Week 15. That said, backup quarterbacks are 88-69-5 against the spread (ATS) dating back to last season. These two teams essentially offset each other, with Stick and Aiden O’Connell running the show for the Chargers and Raiders on TNF.

Antonio Pierce won his first two games after taking over as head coach for Josh McDaniels, beating the Giants and Jets in consecutive weeks before dropping three-straight contests. While the Raiders hung in there against the Miami Dolphins, they were blown out by the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 13 and lost a 3-0 snoozer to the Minnesota Vikings last week.

The Chargers have been unable to get anything going consistently this season and enter this game having lost four of their last five games, with the lone win being a 6-0 victory over the pitiful New England Patriots. Upon entering the game last week, Stick threw for 179 yards while completing 54.2% of his passes. There’s nothing to write home about, and the jury is still out on just how effective he can be moving forward this season.

This game has some ugliness to it, but could be interesting, so let’s take a look at this matchup from a betting perspective.

Las Vegas -3.0 (-110)

What to like about this line…

• Although the Raiders are far from being the best team in the NFL, they have more continuity entering this matchup than their opponent. Justin Herbert was already having a down year to his standard despite having a litany of weapons at his disposal. If the Chargers struggled to put up points with Herbert, how will they fare without him on a short week? Los Angeles has looked uninspired all season. Again, the Raiders are not great, but they have their head on straight, more so than the Chargers right now.
• Stick is a total wild card in this game, and while the Raiders have struggled to put up points, their defense has been solid, ranking ninth in points per game on average (19.9) and 16^th in yards per game allowed (335.1). The Chargers’ lone points last week came from an Austin Ekeler rushing touchdown. Keenan Allen has been ruled out of this matchup, as well. Allen has been one of the best wideouts in the league, so losing him will not make the Chargers’ job any easier this week.

Over/Under 34.5 (-110)

What to like about the over…

• Last week on “TNF,” everyone saw a historically low total go over with relative ease despite two putrid offenses in the Steelers and Patriots. This game has a similar type of vibe – two backup quarterbacks on teams that lack any real sort of identity.

• Last week should be the floor for the Raiders, and the Chargers had a good chunk of game reps for Stick to get his feet wet with the personal and playbook. Even with Allen out and Raiders running back Josh Jacobs listed as questionable, there is still plenty of talent at the skill position on both sides of the ball with Ekeler and Davante Adams. As we saw last week, two inferior teams could neutralize each other and result in some scoring.

What to like about the under…

• These two teams are a combined 6-20 to the under this season and have cashed in seven of the last eight games played the previous four weeks by both teams.

• Two awful offenses with two backup quarterbacks that have not really shown an ability to generate any sort of consistency on offense.

Steve Quinne’s Pick: Los Angeles +3.0 (-110)

What does this game hold? It could be much like last week’s matchup between the Raiders and Vikings, which resulted in three total points. Or it could play out like last week’s “Thursday Night Football” game, where the Patriots put up 21 points on the Steelers despite playing awful on offense heading into the game. Either way, there is no way one should consider laying any points with the Raiders here, even though they are at home and have more continuity. It’s not a simple or obvious edition of Thursday Night Football, but let’s back the Chargers and hold our breath.