Major moves on line, total for Raiders-Chargers ‘TNF’ game
The Raiders will have to score more than they did Sunday to cover the spread against the Chargers on “Thursday Night Football” at Allegiant Stadium.
After getting shut out by the Vikings in a 3-0 home loss that was the lowest-scoring NFL game in 16 years, the Raiders have climbed to consensus 3-point favorites over Los Angeles.
The Chargers were 3½-point favorites over the Raiders last week on the look-ahead line at the Westgate SuperBook. But the book reopened the line Sunday night with the Raiders as 1½-point favorites after Los Angeles quarterback Justin Herbert fractured his right index finger in the Chargers’ 24-7 loss to the Broncos.
Herbert is not expected to play Thursday.
“We opened it at 1½ and quickly got bet on the Raiders,” SuperBook vice president of risk Jeff Sherman said. “We have to find that point where people are going to be willing to bet the Chargers. It wasn’t there, so we quickly moved it up and it has settled at three everywhere now.
“The market reacted to show Herbert is worth just short of seven points.”
Backup quarterback Easton Stick is expected to make his first career start for the Chargers after completing 13 of 24 passes for 179 yards and no touchdowns or interceptions in the loss to Denver.
The total on the game moved more than the spread, plummeting from 42½ last week to 33½.
“A lot of that big dip has to do with no Herbert, and compound that with the Raiders’ inefficiency on offense (Sunday),” Sherman said. “Who’s willing to bet the over?”
The total is the lowest for a Raiders game this season, undercutting the Week 9 total of 35½ that went under in the Raiders’ 16-12 win over the Jets.
The total is the lowest of NFL Week 15 and matches the Jets-Texans total of 33½ on Sunday that dealt under bettors a bad beat. The game was scoreless at halftime, but went over when New York exploded for 30 second-half points in a 30-6 win over Houston.
The Patriots-Steelers “Thursday Night Football” game last week featured the lowest total of the season and lowest total for an NFL game in decades at 30½. It went over in the first half of New England’s 21-18 victory.
The Raiders (5-8, 6-6-1 ATS) and Chargers (5-8, 5-8 ATS) are tied for the league’s worst over/under record at 3-10. They went under the total of 49 in the Raiders’ 24-17 loss at Los Angeles in Week 4.
The Chargers have scored only 13 points in their past two games, including a 6-0 win at New England, and 23 in their past three for an average of 7.6 points per game.
Each of the past nine meetings between the AFC West rivals have produced at least 41 points and averaged 49.4 points.
It’s been almost two years since the Raiders outlasted the Chargers 35-32 in overtime at Allegiant in January 2022 in a thriller that clinched a playoff berth and eliminated Los Angeles.
Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com. Follow @tdewey33 on X.