Monday Night Football kicks off tonight as Phillip Rivers and the San Diego Chargers head to Oakland to take on their AFC Division rival Oakland Raiders.
After close examination of these west coast foes in the preseason it's clear the Chargers have ironed out some of their problems on defense. Rookie LB Marvin Ingram appears to be a solid pass rusher and the addition of Robert Meachem at receiver makes Rivers and the Bolts offense more of a threat through the air. If there is one area of concern for San Diego it would be at the running back position, where Ryan Mathews is now sidelined (broken collarbone) and replacement options Jackie Battle, Ronnie Brown and rookie Edwin Baker all carry some uncertainty.
Oakland begins 2012 with its usual host of questions: a new coach in Dennis Allen, a new offensive coordinator in Greg Knapp, new schemes and a few new faces. Knapp has brought in a more traditional “West Coast” scheme, so it will be interesting to see how it translates to Palmer at QB and especially McFadden out of the backfield. But all the offense in the world won’t help unless the Raiders defense improves from their 27th overall ranking last season.
We don't see solid defense being overly prevalent in this game, so you might consider a small play on the over. San Diego should prevail in a 31-28 or a 35-31 type of shootout. We'll be taking San Diego minus the point.
Good Luck!
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