AFC West Is a Mess – December 14

For your Thursday night football entertainment, you get a dose of the AFC West. The Los Angeles Chargers travel to Las Vegas to take on the Raiders. Both teams are 5-8. The Chargers have lost four of their last five games. The Raiders have lost three straight and have won just twice in their last seven games. Hold on. I think I may have thrown up in my mouth.

The Chiefs lead the AFC West and they lost on Sunday to Buffalo. All the talk, of course, is about Kadarius Toney lining up offsides negating one of the coolest plays in recent NFL history. Chiefs TE Travis Kelce threw a cross-field lateral to Toney who went on to score. However, he lineup in the neutral zone, which cost Kansas City a win.

That play is an indication of just how bad the AFC West is. The division’s best team has lost three of its last four games. The only team with any semblance of winning is the formerly terrible Denver Broncos. The Orange Crush started the season 1-5, but the Broncos are 6-1 since. They are the only thing keeping the AFC West from being a complete disaster, which would be the NFC South.

AFC West Clash Tonight

The Chargers and the Raiders both have quarterback issues. Not long ago, the AFC West had some of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. Mahomes is still in Kansas City, but Derek Carr, formerly of the Raiders, is now in New Orleans. The Raiders jumped on the Jimmy Garoppolo train, but it derailed around the end of October. Jimmy G hasn’t played since going 10-for-21 in an Oct. 30 loss to Detroit.

Fourth-round rookie Aidan O’Connell will start again tonight in this AFC West matchup after one a decent performance against the Vikings last week. The problem for O’Connell and the Raiders is that they just can’t score. Last week, Las Vegas lost 3-0 to Minnesota in the lowest scoring indoor game in NFL history. Sorry, but teams don’t get any bonuses for not scoring.

The Bolts lost their $262.5 million quarterback, Justin Herbert, last week to a broken index finger. He’ll miss the rest of the season and backup Easton Stick will take over. Stick did okay – 13-of-24 for 179 yards – in place of Herbert last week, but the Chargers had the same problem as their AFC West rivals. They can’t score. LA lost 24-7 to Denver last week.

The Scoring Blues – AFC West vs. NFC South

Bettors looking at tonight’s game should be aware of just how bad the AFC West is. The Chargers and Raiders are the two worst teams in the division. Part of each team’s problem is a lack of scoring. The Chargers scored 30, 27, and 38 at midseason, but since have scored 20, 10, 6, and 7 points. That won’t win many games, but it might in the AFC West.

The Raiders rank 28th in the NFL in scoring (15.5). The Chargers used to be able to score. They rank 16th, scoring 21.7 points a game. Kansas City leads the AFC West with 22.5 points a game (11th overall) and Denver is second at 22.1 (13th).

If not for the NFC South, the AFC West would be the lowest-scoring division in the NFL. Carolina (15.2) ranks 30th, Atlanta is 24th (19.5), and Tampa Bay is 22nd (20.2). Only New Orleans (15th) scores more than 21 points per game (21.9). Those are some important numbers if you’re looking at totals tonight.

New Faces on the Leaderboard

A couple new faces entered the daily Sports Hub leaderboard. Another Sports Hub expert took the top spot and my boy Computer Picks even got in on the action and found himself in the top-5 yesterday. Today should be a good one. Our handicappers have been hard at work looking at tonight’s AFC West matchup. It might be a dud for fans, but for smart bettors there may be value somewhere.

So far, about a dozen cappers have found that value. That’s how many picks we currently have in our database for tonight’s AFC West clash between the Raiders and Chargers. There are also a number of NBA and NCAAB picks in the system. Those numbers will rise throughout the day and members can check at any time by logging into their accounts. Want more wins? See how our experts are betting.

Let’s see how they bet last night.

• The Hunter: Hunter Price is a newer Sports Hub expert who made just one pick yesterday. He made it count. It was a soccer pick and Hunter won $263 to lead all of yesterday’s cappers. Hunter has made one pick each over the last three days. One was a push and he won the other to give him $363 over the last three days.
• Soccer picks: Geovanny Araya is one of our leading soccer experts. He entered four picks yesterday and won two of them earning $225 to give him second on yesterday’s leaderboard.
• Fergie: No, not that Fergie, but Robert Ferguson. He’s a Sports Hub expert who nailed both of his NBA picks last night. With the wins and $200, Robert has now won 10 of his 15 picks over the last seven days and is up $450.
• New guy Newbury: Max Newbury is another relatively new handicapper to Sports Hub. He comes from WagerTalk. Yesterday, Max hit both of his college basketball picks to win $200. 
• Computer Picks: My guy Computer Picks was back at it last night with 18 picks. Most of them were on college basketball, but Computer Picks went 10-8. That’s not the greatest numbers, but CP did end up with a profit of $120.

Bucks, Slaps, Fingers & More

Milwaukee got some revenge for its in-season tournament loss last night. Giannis just had 64 last night. Just 64. The future of Draymond Green in the NBA is a bit murky. The AFC West clash between the Chargers and Raiders tonight will be missing a high-profile quarterback. There’s a lot going on in the world of sports.

Let’s check it out.

• Bucks get revenge: Yeah, so Giannis Antetokounmpo shot 20-of-28 from the floor last night as Milwaukee absolutely destroyed Indiana 140-126. The win made up for last week’s loss in the NBA in-season tournament semifinals. The 64 points by Giannis set a Bucks franchise record.
• Draymond suspended: After Draymond’s bitch-slap of Jusuf Nurkic the other night, the NBA decided to suspend him…indefinitely. Because of Green’s history of playing like a thug, the league will take its time figuring out its punishment for Green’s latest outburst. Should Green miss 20 or fewer games, he will lose $153,941 per game. If the suspension goes over 20 games, that number increases to $202,922.

• Herbert has surgery: The AFC West is a mess. One of the reasons is quarterback play. The Chargers will no longer have starting QB Justin Herbert. He broke the index finger on his throwing hand last week. Herbert will miss the rest of the Chargers dismal season. LA is 5-8 and tied with the Raiders in the AFC West.
• Losers: The Detroit Pistons lost their 21st straight game last night in a 129-111 loss to the Sixers. Detroit is now 2-22. The Pistons aren’t the only NBA team feeling the pain. Not to be outdone, the San Antonio Spurs lost for the 18th straight time last night in a 122-119 defeat at the hands of the Los Angeles Lakers. The Pistons and Spurs might have to join the AFC West!

Football Is Back – AFC West on TNF

It’s finally Thursday, which means we get the NFL back tonight. It’s not the greatest, but tonight’s AFC West matchup will tide us over until we get some late-season Saturday NFL action. Make sure you visit our Thursday night football picks page to get yourself ready for tonight’s action. There is a wealth of information there, including some of tonight’s best bets.

It’s not all about football tonight, either. There is plenty of other action in other sports tonight. If you’re unsure about betting tonight, just check out the Sports Hub picks database and see what our expert handicappers are betting on. They are the absolute best in the world at what they do. You can see that everyday right here in the Daily Report.

Let’s look at today’s schedule.

1. Thursday Night Football: The Chargers and Raiders square off in an AFC West battle tonight in Las Vegas. We’ve thoroughly hashed that out already. Even though the game might be a dud, there is some betting value. As mentioned, there are about a dozen picks in our database for the game.
2. Thursday night NBA: Tonight’s NBA action brings us an NBATV doubleheader. The Cavs and Celtics play the early game. Golden State, minus Draymond Green, will take on the Clippers in the nightcap.

3. Thursday night NHL: There are eight games on the NHL schedule tonight. Carolina is at Detroit in the ESPN+/Hulu feature game. The Red Wings are in fourth place in the Atlantic Division. Carolina is tied with New Jersey and Washington for fourth in the Metropolitan Division. 
4. NCAA men’s college basketball: There are 14 games on the college basketball schedule tonight. No. 7 Marquette and No. 23 Wisconsin both play non-conference games that they both should win. Marquette is a 24.5-point favorite over St. Thomas tonight. Wisconsin is a 20.5-point favorite over Jacksonville State.
5. Soccer: UEFA Europa League and UEFA Conference League are both in action today. A few other lower-tier leagues around the world have matches too. Check the database for soccer picks today.
6. Golf: Round 1 in the PGA Tour Q-School is underway at TPC Sawgrass in Ponta Vedra Beach, Fla. The event will conclude on Sunday.

Football is back even if it is an AFC West matchup of last place teams. We’ll take it as we get ready for a weekend filled with bowl games and more NFL action. Use the resources here at Sports Hub to have success tonight. Then, come back here tomorrow and see how you stacked up against our pros! See you then.