Denver Broncos (0-3) at Los Angeles Chargers (2-2)
NFL Football: Sunday, October 6, 2019 at 4:05 pm (Dignity Health Sports Park)
The Line: Los Angeles Chargers -6.5 -- Over/Under: 44.5 Click Here for the Latest Odds
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The Denver Broncos and the Los Angeles Chargers meet in a week 5 AFC West division matchup from Dignity Health Sports Park on Sunday afternoon.
The Denver Broncos will still be looking for their first win of the year after falling to 0-4 on the year after a 26-24 loss to Jacksonville in their last outing. Joe Flacco has thrown for 1,076 yards, 5 touchdowns and 3 interceptions on 66.2% passing while Phillip Lindsay leads Denver in rushing with 213 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns and Royce Freeman has 189 rushing yards this season. Courtland Sutton leads Denver in receiving with 309 receiving yards and 2 touchdowns while Emmanuel Sanders has a team-high 23 catches for 298 yards and 2 touchdowns as well. Noah Fant and the aforementioned Lindsay each have 100+ receiving yards for the Broncos this season. Defensively, Josey Jewell leads Denver with 27 total tackles while Justin Simmons has 22 total tackles with both Jewell and Simmons logging a team-high 15 solo tackles this year. As a team, Denver is averaging 354 yards of total offense and 17.5 points per game while allowing 349.2 yards of total defense and 23.2 points per game against this season.
The Los Angeles Chargers will look to build some steam after getting back to .500 with a 30-10 win over Miami in their last time out. Philip Rivers has thrown for 1,254 yards, 7 touchdowns and 2 interceptions on 69.2% passing while Austin Ekeler leads the Chargers on the ground with 220 rushing yards and 3 touchdowns. Justin Jackson also has 142 rushing yards for L.A. this season while Keenan Allen leads the Chargers in receiving with 34 catches for 452 yards and 3 touchdowns. Ekeler also has 24 catches for 270 yards and 3 scores of his own while Mike Williams and Dontrelle Inman each have 100+ receiving yards for the Chargers this year. Defensively, Thomas Davis Sr. leads Los Angeles with 38 total tackles including 19 solo tackles while Desmond King II leads the Chargers with 2.5 sacks and Joey Bosa has 2 sacks for the Chargers this year. As a team, Los Angeles is averaging 403.8 yards of total offense and 22.5 points per game while allowing 331 yards of total defense and 18.5 points per game against this season.
Denver is 1-7 ATS in their last 8 games overall and 5-15-1 ATS in their last 21 division games while the under is 5-1-1 in their last 7 road games. Los Angeles is 4-1 ATS in their last 5 division games and 11-27-1 ATS in their last 39 home games while the under is 4-0 in their last 4 games against a team with a losing record.
You could make a case for Denver and the points as L.A.’s two home games have resulted in an overtime game against Indy in week one and a loss to the Texans in week 3. However, the Broncos aren’t a good football team, as there’s some solid talent but Denver just can’t get the pieces to gel and close the deal. It also doesn’t help that the Broncos have lost Bradley Chubb for the year so that dings their pass rush a lot and that can only help a Chargers offense that loves slinging it around to begin with. I don’t love this game, but if forced to pick, I’d lay the points with the Chargers as the Broncos need to show me something before trusting them with my hard earned money.
Chris’s Pick Los Angeles Chargers -6.5
AUTHOR: Chris Ruffolo
Mitch's Take...
