The Week 6 schedule concludes with a Monday Night Football matchup between the two top teams in the AFC West. What are the NFL odds makers offering us in the battle between the San Diego Chargers and the Denver Broncos?
Peyton Manning and the Broncos try to stop their slide Monday night, as
they travel into San Diego to face off against the Chargers. The NFL odds makers have set the
spread rather close, as the Chargers are favored by only -1 or -2.
Let’s take a
look at some of the deciding factors leading up to this game, and decide what our early leans are. Have the odds makers left us any value, and if so, how can us bettors take advantage of it with their NFL picks?
Broncos’ skid
The
Broncos have had one of the toughest starts to the season of any team. They are
2-3, but they have played some seriously tough talent. They opened with a win
against the Steelers, but then they had two straight losses at the Falcons and
against the Texans. They followed those up with a win against the Raiders, but
lost last week to the Patriots.
While
the offense has been rather good for Denver, it is the defense that has been
having trouble keeping them in ball games. The Broncos are averaging giving up
almost 350 yards per game, and they have given up 27 points per game in their
four games not against Oakland.
Even
though Peyton Manning is well versed in playing from behind, he can’t do it all for
Denver. He can’t play defense. If the Broncos are to win this division and go
onto the postseason, they will need the Denver defense from last season to step
up for Manning.
Bolts stepping up
The
Chargers have been very consistent at not playing up to their potential over
their tenure with Philip Rivers and Norv Turner. It almost blew up in their
face last season, but even though they lost out on going to the playoff yet
again, Turner was retained.
This
season, it seems for now it was the right decision. San Diego is 3-2, and while
their offense hasn’t started to click just yet, their defense has been playing
much better than in previous years. They rank 5th in the NFL against
the run giving up only 74 yards rushing per game. They don’t have much of a
secondary, but their run defense has helped them defend the pass a little
better.
The
Chargers would love to get a win here against Manning. They are at home, and
they are in the week right before the bye. Ask any NFL player what a bye week
is like after a loss compared to after a win. Needless to say, both teams need
this game, and both are desperate for a win.
Injury update and analysis
The
Chargers aren’t dealing with a ton of injuries right now, which is great for a
team that could use some breaks. Corey Liuget did injure his knee in the
Chargers’ last game, and he is one of the Chargers best linebackers. His status
for Week 6 is questionable.
On the
other side for Denver, Keith Brooking left the game against the Patriots with a
concussion, which makes the Broncos also have a starting linebacker
questionable for the game this week.
Make
sure you check back throughout the rest of the week to get my NFL betting predictions on the
total and spread.