LA Chargers vs Las Vegas Raiders NFL Preview

The NFL Playoffs don’t officially start until next weekend, but the Week 18 Sunday Night Football Game in Las Vegas is, for all intents and purposes, a “win-or-go-home” scenario, creating a pseudo-playoff atmosphere.

With identical 9-7 records, the LA Chargers and Las Vegas Raiders both need one more victory to punch a ticket to the postseason. The Chargers are listed as a 3-point road favorite on Sunday night (8:20 p.m. ET kickoff) with an over/under 43.5 points at Wager6.ag, where you can receive a 200% Cash Bonus.

These two AFC West divisional rivals met back in Week 4 of the regular season in LA in a game the Chargers dominated from start to finish, winning 28-14 as a three-point favorite. The Bolts are three-point favorites once again, despite the venue change. The Chargers beat a Denver team playing with a second and third-string QB last week at home, 34-13, snapping an ugly two-game losing streak that saw them drop games to Kansas City and lowly Houston, a brief slide that caused them to be in the “must-win” situation they find themselves in tonight.

As for the Raiders, they have been dead and buried multiple times this season, but somehow, some way, have battled through the firing of their popular head coach and the incarceration and arrest of their best wide receiver, and find themselves still alive for their first playoff game since 2016. They have done so by pulling off three wins in the last three weeks and while that kind of streak is impressive no matter who the opponent is, keep in mind the three wins over Cleveland, Denver and Indianapolis came by a total of nine points.

As for Sunday night’s match-up in Sin City, there’s good reason to expect a high-scoring affair as we have two defenses that rank near the bottom of the league in points allowed per game, yards allowed per play and red zone efficiency. We also have two quarterbacks – Derek Carr of the Raiders and LA’s Justin Herbert – playing at a high level right now.

The Raiders have gone over the total in 14 of their last 21 games as an underdog, and during their two seasons at Allegiant Stadium the team is 8-1 to the over when playing a winning team, with an average of 58.5 points scored per game. Meanwhile, the Chargers have been printing money for their “over” backers, going over the total in five games in a row and six of their last seven. LA has also gone over in 13 of their last 19 road games.

With all of that said, we are primed for a Sunday Night Football shootout in the desert as two teams with a playoff berth on the line will be using every last trick in the playbook to try and win this game. Let’s go over the 49.5 points in Sunday Night’s Chargers vs. Raiders game.