The Thursday Night Football game this week will be between the LA Chargers and the Las Vegas Raiders. They will face one another on Thursday, December 14th, 2023 with a start time of 8:15 PM ET. At this time of the season, everyone starts to wonder what the NFL playoff percentages and playoff implications are for each respective team. We will review that in this article for this game, one where the Raiders are favored at -3.0 (bet365). The Chargers vs Raiders injury report is a long one with big names on it that bettors will have to track in the days ahead.
NFL Week 15 Matchup: LAC @ LV
Away: LA Chargers
Home: Las Vegas Raiders
Game time: Thursday, December 14th, 2023 @ 8:15 PM ET
Stadium: Allegiant Stadium
LA vs Las Vegas Injury Report: Recent NFL Headlines
Confused by abbreviations? Injury-report codes are in the tweet below.
NFL Playoff Chances: Chargers vs Raiders
Neither one of these teams has any kind of realistic shot of making the 2023-24 NFL playoffs at this point. They each enter the game with 5-8 records.
Firstly, they are in a division where the KC Chiefs are the frontrunners at 8-5, a record that will be very tough for either LA or LV to track down. Also, Denver is ahead of each of them in the standings at 7-6. That almost shuts down the possibility of either team winning their division. Furthermore, the winner of the LAC vs LV game will only be 6-8, which will give that team only the smallest of chances of competing for a wild card going forward.
It is fair to say that the loser of this game will likely find itself mathematically eliminated at the end of Week 15. However, the winner will not be doing much to improve its chances. According to the New York Times interactive playoff calculator, the Chargers have less than a 1% chance of making the playoffs while Vegas is at 1% exactly. The winner of this game will be a fringe playoff hopeful at best.
The team's injury report for Week 15: Right-click/Open in the New Tab
Chargers vs Raiders injury report: NFL Week 15
The Las Vegas Raiders put defensive standout Maxx Crosby as a DNP on their injury report this week. He is listed with a knee injury. He did play last week despite appearing on the team's injury report. Furthermore, Crosby played well against Minnesota with 10 total tackles and two sacks.
Josh Jacobs, LV's RB1, also appears on the injury report as a DNP for most of the week. He has a quad injury and was DNP in practice on Monday this week as well. Crosby and Jacobs are two important players that Las Vegas backers will have to watch for this week. The team will update their injury report on Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday afternoon after practices on those days.
The LA Chargers had a long injury report following Monday's practice. DNPs included Keenan Allen, Justin Herbert, and Deane Leonard. Meanwhile, there were seven LPs, including Gerald Everett. Herbert, as the team's QB1, cannot be ignored. ESPN has him listed as doubtful and since this is a short week, then bettors should treat that as very doubtful. There just isn't a lot of time for the quarterback to improve ahead of game time on Thursday.
Chargers vs Raiders Injury Report: Betting Tips
With a game like this, the motivation should be pretty high. Indeed, the winner won't be looking all that much better for playoff hopes. However, the winner will avoid mathematical elimination, in all likelihood. There is a big benefit to avoiding mathematical elimination early as it keeps the team's next game relevant to the fanbase. Both of these teams should be under some pressure to keep their fleeting hopes alive with a win.
Easton Stick played QB last week for the Chargers. He had a 78.3 passer rating and a 37.5 QBR. The passing-completion percentage simply was not where it needed to be as he was at just 54.2% against the Broncos.
Aidan O'Connell doesn't look much better for the Lost Wages Raiders. The OVER/UNDER is coming in low accordingly at 33.5 for this game (bet365). It's hard to see where those points are going to come from. Bettors should take the UNDER for that point total with an expectation that this game should be a field-goal-or-punt fest.
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