Chargers vs Raiders Pick & Preview: NFL Week 1 Betting Odds

The Las Vegas Raiders travel to take on the Los Angeles Chargers, at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, CA. Kickoff for this week’s game is set for 4:25 PM ET and will be televised on CBS. In a matchup between two AFC West teams, the Chargers are 3.5 point favorites at home.

Check out our free Chargers vs Raiders pick & preview for the NFL week 1 matchup.

Chargers vs Raiders Matchup at a Glance

Sport: NFL
Teams: Las Vegas Raiders at Los Angeles Chargers
Where: Inglewood at SoFi Stadium
Date: Sunday, September 11th
Betting Odds: LAC -3.5, LV 151 | LAC -183, O/U 52.0

Raiders Preview

The Raiders head into the season looking to make another appearance in the playoffs. Last year’s team ended the year with a 26-19 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals in the Wild Card round. For the 2021-2022 regular season, the Raiders posted a record of 10-7-0, good for 2nd in the AFC West.

This year, Las Vegas will be looking for an increase in offensive output, as last year’s unit averaged 22.0 points per game, placing them 18th in the NFL. Across the season, the Las Vegas offense surpassed 30 points in 6 of their games.

Last season, the Las Vegas Raiders finished below the NFL average in first quarter scoring margin at -1.18 points per game (22nd). The team led after the first quarter in 41.0% of last year’s contests.

Heading into the game, quarterback Derek Carr enters his 9th Season of his career. For the year, Carr started all 17 regular season games for the team. In terms of production, he threw for a total of 4804 yards, placing him 5th in the league.

Last year, the Raiders struggled on defense, ranking 26th in points allowed per game. On average, opposing teams scored 25.8 points per game vs the unit. Last season, opposing teams had no problem scoring efficiently vs Las Vegas as the defense ranked 24th in points per play.

During the 2021-2022 season, the Las Vegas Raiders gave up rush yards at a rate similar to the NFL average, ranking 19th in yards allowed on the ground. opposing teams surpassed 115 yards (league average) on the ground in just 47.0% of Las Vegas’s games.

Chargers Preview

The Los Angeles Chargers kick off the season, coming off a year in which they posted a regular season record of 9-8-0. Despite ending with an above .500 record, the team’s 3rd place finish the AFC West was not enough to make the playoffs.

Los Angeles heads into the season looking to once again have one of the top scoring offenses in the league, as their per game average of 27.9 ranked 5th in the league. Across the season, the Los Angeles offense surpassed 30 points in 7 of their games.

A large part of Los Angeles’s offensive success was their ability to move the ball through the passing game, as they ranked 3rd in overall passing yards. On the year, they finished with more passing yards than their opponents in 76.0% of their games.

Heading into the game, quarterback Justin Herbert enters his 3rd Season of his career. Herbert is coming off a season in which he started all 17 games for Los Angeles. In terms of production, he threw for a total of 5014 yards, placing him 2nd in the league.

Last season, the Chargers struggled on defense, ranking 30th in points allowed per game. On average, opposing teams scored 27.0 points per game vs the unit. This week, Los Angeles will face off against last year’s 18th rated scoring offense. In the 2021-2022 season, they allowed an average of 29.33 points per game to teams that finished in the middle third of the league in scoring.

In the 2021-2022 regular season, opposing teams averaged 6.7 yards per passing attempt. The defense ended the year ranked 12th in overall passing yards allowed.

Odds & Free Betting Analysis for this NFL Game

Looking back at the recent matchups between Las Vegas and Los Angeles, the Chargers have taken 3 of the last 5 contests. The over-under record in these games sits at 3-2-0, with the average scoring total coming in at 52.8 points. The Las Vegas Raiders have performed well vs the spread in recent games, going 3-2-0. The Raiders offense has averaged 26.2 points per game over the 5 most recent meetings with Los Angeles, compared to the Chargers at 26.6.

Going back to the 2021-2022 regular season, the Raiders put together an ATS record of 8-9-0. Similar to their overall ATS record, betting the Las Vegas Raiders on the road provided mixed results as they covered at a rate of 50.0%. In the 2021-2022 season, the Las Vegas Raiders played 5 games in which they were more than a 3.5 point underdog, going 4-1-0 ATS. In these games, the Las Vegas Raiders had a negative average scoring differential of -2.8 points.

Last year, the Los Angeles Chargers covered the spread in less than half of their games, going just 8-9-0 ATS. Like Los Angeles’s overall record vs the spread, their home ATS mark of 4-5-0 was near the league average. The Chargers inconsistent performance vs the spread came while being favored in 12 of their games.

The Las Vegas Raiders come into this season off a 2021-2022 campaign in which they finished with an over-under mark of 8-9-0. The Raiders accounted for less than half of the overall scoring in the 2021-2022 season at 46.0%. They also made up for 47.0% of the scoring in games that went over the posted over-under betting total.

When looking at their over-under, Los Angeles finished with a mark of 10-6-1. When playing at home, the Los Angeles Chargers finished the season averaging 30.67 points per game, a slight increase over their season average of 27.9. Overall, the team’s defense gave up an average of 27.0 points per game, similar to their home figure of 26.11.