A long, scenic trip across the country awaits the Philadelphia Eagles (2-1) as they travel to the claustrophobic confines of a soccer stadium to take on the winless Los Angeles Chargers (0-3) at the StubHub Center in Carson, Calif.
If you want to watch this one, tune in to your local FOX station at 4:05 p.m. EST.
The Game: Philadelphia Eagles at Los Angeles Chargers (-1.5)
O/U: 47.5
The History
Like a lot of the games this week, there’s not a long history of contests between the Eagles and the Chargers. Los Angeles leads the all time series 7-4.
They played their first game against each other on October 6, 1974. The Eagles won that one 13-7.
The Chargers have won the last two meetings between the two teams and both were close games. The then San Diego Chargers won 31-23 at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego on November 15, 2009 and 33-30 at Lincoln Financial Field on September 15, 2013.
PHILADELPHIA EAGLES (2-1)
Thanks to a miracle kick in the final seconds, the Eagles downed a suddenly dangerous New York Giants team last week in the final seconds. But don’t let that fact fool you. The game was tied before the kick and would have just gone into overtime. What should scare the Eagles is how many pass yards and touchdowns they surrendered in the fourth quarter. The Giants scored all 24 of their points in the final frame.
LeGarette Blount has yet to break out to his 2016 form in a green Eagles uniform this season. He did manage 67 yards and a touchdown last week as Doug Pederson had him split carries with Wendall Smallwood. Second year quarterback Carson Wentz didn’t light up the stat sheet, but he was efficient, completing 21 of 31 passes for 176 yards and a touchdown and spreading the ball around to six different receivers.
Here’s where the problem lies for Philadelphia. Even in holding the Giants out of the end zone for three quarters, they never put any serious pass rush against what has been a lackluster New York offensive line. The Eagles didn’t record a single sack and had only four tackles for a loss in the game.
LOS ANGELES CHARGERS (0-3)
As prolific as Philip Rivers was in the Chargers’ first two losses of the season, Anthony Lynn waited just a little too long to let one of the best quarterbacks in the game pull his ass out of the fire last week. Rivers tossed three interceptions in a lopsided loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, who have made an early case for being the best team in the NFL.
It was Rivers’ first bad statistical game of the year as Lynn still has no clue how to prepare a throw-first team or gameday coach a guy that’s probably a Super Bowl ring away from the Hall of Fame. Good hire, there, Chargers. Way to waste the waning years of Rivers’ career.
It’s difficult to judge the defensive performance from Los Angeles last week. The Chiefs controlled the ball and the clock when they had possession, but were given the short field many times thanks to turnovers. In spite of what turned out to be a solid ass kicking, the Chargers still racked up five sacks in the game and 8.5 tackles for a loss.
Lynn will have to, at some point, figure out what he has in Rivers and turn him loose. This is the game to do it. Keenan Allen, Travis Benjamin and Antonio Gates should have mismatches all day. The more Lynn lets offensive coordinate Ken Whisenhunt open it up, the easier it will be for Melvin Gordon to run the ball.
The Pick
Considering what the Giants did in the fourth quarter, Lynn would have to be a complete moron to come up with any gameplan that didn’t have Rivers picking this Philly team apart. This is a long trip to the west coast for the Eagles and a late start time for them. I think Los Angeles finally gets Lynn the first dub of his career. Chargers 27, Eagles 24
This week
Straight up: 1-0
Against the spread: 1-0
Last week
Straight up: 7-9
Against the spread: 6-10
Season
Straight up: 28-19
Against the spread: 22-25
To make a wager on any sport, go to the world famous Diamond Sportsbook by clicking here.
