Week 15 – Raiders vs Los Angeles Chargers (Thursday Night Football)
In their fourth primetime game of the season, the Raiders will welcome the Los Angeles Chargers to Las Vegas on Thursday Night Football. This game will come just four days after the visit from the Colts but will give the Raiders a chance to notch two AFC victories within a week.
In 2019 the Raiders got the season sweep over the Chargers by a total of 9 points with the date in Oakland being the closer of the two matchups. In both matchups the Raiders relied on turnovers to be the difference with Philip Rivers being incredibly generous with 5 INTs in those two games.
We don’t know who the Chargers starting QB will be after they drafted Oregon’s Justin Herbert with the sixth overall pick but have a veteran in Tyrod Taylor on the roster. They could opt to let Herbert essentially red-shirt for the whole season but in this day and age we are seeing rookie quarterbacks start from day one far more often.
Much like the Colts matchup, regardless of who the opposing QB is this is a game that the Raiders will need to win and absolutely should. The Chargers still have an imposing defense with stars at every level from defensive line to safety and the same can be said about their offense.
Last season their struggles started and ended with the offensive line and Rivers inability to evade pressure to make plays. The Raiders will be hoping that the Chargers will use 2020 as a training ground for their rookie QB and let him learn on the job by taking some lumps against division rivals.