The LA Chargers have had some of the worst injury luck in the sport. No team in the league has had to deal with the laundry list of injuries that the Bolts have had to deal with yet the team is still in the playoff hunt with a 6-5 record.
Not only have the Chargers had to deal with injuries to the roster but the team has also had some pretty bad luck when it comes to other teams' injuries. Key players always seem to return against the Chargers. It happened in Week 12 with Marquise Brown and Kyler Murray on the Cardinals. It happened in Week 10 when the San Francisco 49ers got a myriad of players back from injury.
It looks like it is going to happen again in Week 13 against the Las Vegas Raiders. Two key players returned to practice on Thursday, shifting the entire dynamic of this game between the AFC West rivals.
Both Nate Hobbs and Josh Jacobs are practicing this afternoon #Raiders
— Heidi Fang (@HeidiFang) December 1, 2022
Josh Jacobs and Nate Hobbs playing is bad news for the LA Chargers.
Early on in the week, it seemed like the Chargers would be catching a break with Jacobs, who was not expected to practice at all this week. Jacobs has been the best running back in the sport over the last two months and he has a dream matchup this week against a terrible Chargers run defense.
With most of the Raiders' pass-catchers being hurt, Jacobs has become a big focal point of the offense and having him play in this game undoubtedly hurts the Chargers' chances. Vegas only gave Jacobs 10 carries in the Week 1 matchup against the Chargers and that certainly will change in this matchup.
Defensively, Nate Hobbs is a big boost for the Raiders. Without Hobbs, the Raiders don't really have anyone to cover Keenan Allen effectively in the secondary. While Allen is elite and will still put in work, having Hobbs back to stick on Allen is going to make it tougher for the Chargers' offense.
Now the Raiders can focus on throwing more at the likes of Austin Ekeler and Joshua Palmer to slow down their impact in the passing game. Without Mike Williams, having Hobbs back in the fold is huge for the Raiders.
MUST-READ: Predicting every game for the other teams in the AFC playoff picture
Luckily, Derwin James and Bryce Callahan returned to practice on Thursday as well, dispelling some of the injury concerns with the Bolts this week. However, Chargers fans still cannot like the fact that the Raiders are lucking out by getting two key members of the team back for this game.