NFL Odds: Oakland Raiders Getting Almost 2 Touchdowns Against San Diego

Ezra Shaw/Getty ImagesHere come the San Diego Chargers. Since getting off to a poor 2-5 start, San Diego has rattled off four straight wins. Last week’s 36-14 win at Indianapolis was especially impressive.The Chargers trail Kansas City by one game for the top spot in the AFC West.The Oakland Raiders have been crushed by Pittsburgh and Miami the last two weeks, but perhaps a divisional matchup will get the silver and black going again.Oakland is a perfect 3-0 against AFC West foes 4 Brett Favre Purple jersey
this season, including a 35-27 win over San Diego on Oct. 10.NFL odds makers, however, expect Oakland’s recent struggles to continue, listing the Raiders as a 12.5-point underdog with the total set at 45.5.Lengthy winning streaks are nothing new for San Diego. The Bolts ended the 2009 regular season with an 11-game run. They appear poised for another lengthy run to conclude their 2010 regular season campaign.Philip Rivers saw his team-record streak of recording at least one touchdown pass in 23 straight games come to an end last week, but that’s okay with him given the result.It takes offensive balance to win the Super Bowl more times than not, and running back Mike Tolbert provided that balance last Sunday. The big bruiser broke the century mark for a second straight week while running behind what is perhaps the best offensive line in football.Rivers and the offense get most of the credit, but the San Diego defense has been downright dominant. The Bolts lead the NFLJets 6 Sanchez Jersey
in total defense (273.5 yards per game), and they rank second and third respectively against the pass (192.5 ypg) and run (81.1 ypg).Peyton Manning may go down in the record books as the best quarterback in NFL history, but the Chargers made him look plain bad last Sunday. They intercepted him four times, returning two for scores.In all, San Diego forced five Indy turnovers and didn’t give the football away.The Chargers have won 13 of its last 14 meetings with Oakland. Seven of those wins have come by 13 or more points.Oakland must take care of the football if it is going to have any chance of upsetting the Chargers for a second time this season. Oakland forced three San Diego turnovers, while committing none, to steal the season’s first meeting and to snap a 13-game skid in the series.The Raiders, however, have not been doing a very good job of taking care of the football lately. They have committed three turnovers in each of their last three games after committing only two in their previous four contests.With Bruce Gradkowski likely out for the remainder of the season following another shoulder injury, the Raiders will likely go back to Jason Campbell.The former Redskins signal caller isn’t a guy who can put the team on his back the way Rivers has at times throughout his career. Campbell needs help from the running game.Oakland’s back-to-back blowout losses really don’t come as much of a surprise considering it has only rushed for a total of 77 yards the last two weeks.The Raiders rank fifth in the league with 139.7 rushing yards per game. They must get more production on the ground Sunday to have a shot against San Diego.It is worth 4 Brett Favre White jersey
noting that the Raiders are a perfect 4-0 against the spread in their last four games versus the AFC West.Jimmy Boyd cashed in big with the Chargers in Week 12. Make sure you check out his Week 13 NFL picks to see if he is riding the Bolts again.