[biggatone]

Starting my season thread...here we go follow..fade..dont care, just watch the $$$

MNF!!!! BigTone is ready for some football...and The Raiders are my favorite pick this week. Several reasons:

1. This line is ridiculous. The Chargers and Raiders are pretty even to begin with if everyone's healthy, but San Diego is missing too many key players. If the public didn't love the Chargers every year for some inexplicable reason, Oakland would be -3.5 or -4.

2. As mentioned, something's up with Rivers. He's not the same quarterback anymore. I thought it was an injury last year, but he looked the same in the preseason.

3. Is Norv Turner still the coach? Then the Chargers will suck, just as they do every September and October. Turner does a terrible job in preparing his team for the beginning of the season; as you can see below, San Diego is 14-23 against the spread in Weeks 1-8 since 2007. I can't believe Turner still has a job. Seriously, what the hell is general manager A.J. Smith thinking?

4. The public is betting on San Diego. It's not a significant amount, but enough where Vegas can make some money back if it has a losing Sunday.

The Chargers don't have the defense to keep up with Palmer and all of his weapons. They ranked 28th versus the pass last year, and their secondary still stinks.

The Raiders have some pretty dynamic talent on offense - much more so than San Diego. Of course, there's Darren McFadden, who is healthy for the time being. McFadden has the potential to lead the NFL in rushing yards if he can stay on the field. He'll have no problems finding running room against the Chargers, who were 17th against the rush last year


5* Oakland -1

[Yaniv]

You convinced me.. let's go Raiders!!

[heywally]

I tend to agree as I have little faith in Norv's ability to tweak the offense to adjust for the undrafted rookie LT who has been installed because of the bad Gaither sign and no Matthews at RB. Gates good to go but he'll get double coverage and it'll come down to how well Rivers can click with Royal/Meachem, who he worked with minimally in the pre-season because of their injuries. Floyd could be a factor but caution, fragile, handle with care.

The Charger's D is a big wildcard as they have a new DC, some guys that are healed from injury (though Jammer was hurt in the pre-season) and a few new guys who look pretty good.

Raiders hurting at WR and have a good RB so they will run run run unless they get behind.

I expect the Charger's/Norv to play conservatively on offense to avoid mistakes.

I guess I like the under and maybe a teaser with the under and the Raiders.