Chargers: Reasons they win or lose against Raiders


Chargers reason they lose: A trap game?
The Chargers are unlikely to have peaked emotionally, as the game earlier this week wasn’t exactly a nail-biter for four quarters. However, the Raiders are dangerously placed after the Chargers’ best win of the year and before their biggest game of the year, a prime time matchup with the Kansas City Chiefs.
Chargers reason they win: The Raiders are hurt in a bad way
The Chargers are excellent in one area and poor in another, and that’s rushing the passer and stopping pass-rushers, respectively. The Raiders are going to be without Arden Key for the rest of the season, and center Rodney Hudson and tackle Trent Brown were both limited in practice on Tuesday.
The defensive line has been the strength of the Chargers, but the tackle position has been a weakness. A little bit of help doing both their jobs goes a long way.
Chargers reason they win: The Raiders haven’t fixed their defense yet
The Raiders give up just 12 fewer yards per game than the Miami Dolphins. Yikes.
Next. Chargers vs Raiders: Bold predictions
They also give up 27 points per game, and have only allowed one team to score fewer than 20 points all year. Two weeks ago, they watched as the quarterback the Chargers just embarrassed on Sunday throw for 429 yards and five touchdowns. The Chargers have lived off of big plays when they play the Raiders, which included both Melvin Gordon and Austin Ekeler scoring huge touchdown off screen passes. And if they fumble, hey, Keenan Allen will be waiting right there to scoop it up for a touchdown (it’s happened).