3 distinct advantages the Chargers have over the Raiders
By Jason Reed
The AFC West is loaded heading into the 2022 season and the little brothers of the division are easily the Las Vegas Raiders. While Raiders fans like the strides that the team made this offseason, the fact of the matter is that they are a level below the rest of the division. There should be an eye-opening moment for the team in Week 1 against the LA Chargers.
Anything can happen on any given Sunday, though. The Raiders will likely finish the 2022 season with a losing record since the AFC West is so loaded but they could always surprise people. They is still talent on that roster, so they cannot be completely overlooked.
However, when it comes down to it, the LA Chargers look like they are going to be a much better football team in 2022. It is hard to ignore the big advantages that the Bolts have over the Raiders.
Here are 3 distinct advantages the LA Chargers have over the Las Vegas Raiders:
1. Quarterback
This is the most obvious one so we will start here. As much as it pains me to say as a Chargers fan, I do think Derek Carr is a bit underrated by mainstream NFL fans. He is definitely not an elite quarterback, but he is talented and he can win football games when there is talent around him.
He still does not come close to Justin Herbert. Herbert is in an elite tier of quarterbacks that are the cream of the crop in the NFL. These are the MVP candidates. The ones that every other team in the league would build a franchise around. Then you have your next tier of quarterbacks, the very good quarterbacks who can win an MVP if everything goes right. Those are your Lamar Jackson, Kyler Murray, and Matt Staffords of the world.
Then there is the next tier, which is where Carr falls into. The difference between Carr's tier and Herbert's tier is large and just about every Raiders fan would even admit that... at least we hope.