The Oakland Raiders (4-4) travel to Qualcomm Stadium tonight to take on the San Diego Chargers (4-4) in an AFC West division showdown.
This game is the first of NFL Networks' eight game regular season Thursday Night Football telecast.
Tonight's game also has huge AFC West division implications as both teams come in with a three-way tie with Kansas City (4-4) for the division lead.
Both teams are struggling coming into this game as well and didn't have much time to fix their problems this week since they just played four days ago.
The Raiders are coming into tonight's matchup playing in their third straight divisional game. They lost their previous two games at home to Kansas City and Denver.
Division wins are usually hard to come by, so taking care of business at home is usually key. That makes this road matchup even more important for the Raiders to get at worse a tie in the division with Kansas City after this week and not lose the tiebreaker to the Chargers since they have a chance to lose it against the other two teams.
The main problem with the Raiders is their run defense and the passing game. The Raiders come in with the 26th ranked overall defense in the league and give up 139.6 yards per game on the ground which ranks them 28th.
By not being able to stop the run, the Raiders have had a hard time stopping drives without giving up points.
This have failed when trying to play in games dominated by offensive production.
After starting quarterback Jason Campbell went out for the season, the Raiders traded for Bengals holdout Carson Palmer to be the new quarterback of this franchise. Unfortunately, Palmer didn't get the playbook down in his short week so the Raiders were forced to start back-up Kyle Boller against the Kansas City Chiefs. Boller struggled and threw three interceptions, so Palmer was put in the lineup before he was ready. Palmer threw three picks himself and the Raiders lost 28-0.
Palmer struggled in the next game four days ago against the Broncos and threw another three picks in the home loss.
The Chargers are coming in with their own set of problems as well.
San Diego has lost three straight games after starting the season 4-1. The quarterback play has been a major cause for concern for the Chargers too.
Quarterback Philip Rivers has thrown a league high 14 interceptions, which happens to be one more than he threw in all of last season. He's also been sacked 19 times.
The under-performing offense is angering Chargers fans.
San Diego comes in with the sixth ranked offense and Rivers' averages 294.9 pass yards per game, which ranks fourth in the league.
Their rushing attack is led by Ryan Matthews and Mike Tolbert who combined help the Chargers average 112.1 yards per game on the ground. The duo has seven touchdowns as well.
It's just the turnovers that kill San Diego.
Things to watch
Oakland's passing game will be under pressure tonight. The Raiders will be without top running back Darren McFadden for the second straight game. McFadden was ruled out with a mild foot sprain earlier this week.
Replacing McFadden is fourth year back Michael Bush. Bush has rushed for 333 yards on 79 attempts for three touchdowns on the year, however, he had a big game last week.
San Diego loves to blitz and send pressure with their seventh ranked defense and only give up 191.6 passing yards per game, which is fourth best in the NFL.
If the Raiders continue to struggle in the air, it could be a long night.
Another matchup to watch will be the Chargers running attack against the Raiders rush defense.
The Chargers could be without their main back, Ryan Matthews, as he missed Sunday's game against Green Bay with a groin injury and it hasn't been determined yet if he will play or not. If Matthews can't go, Mike Tolbert will once again get the nod in the backfield.
Whoever starts could have a big day on the ground for the Chargers. The Raiders are 28th in the league against the rush in giving up almost 140 yards per game. If the Chargers want to win and limit mistakes, I suspect they will bring a lot of attention to the ground game.
The Raiders swept the Chargers last season which ended a 13-game losing streak to San Diego. One of those games McFadden was injured and didn't play as well.
The Chargers will try to avoid a four game losing streak for the first time since 2003. Usually these mediocre starts are common for San Diego because they usually go on a hot streak in the second half.
These are just a few of the storylines going into this huge AFC West matchup on the first of NFL Network's Thursday Night Football coverage. Follow this quick hit throughout the game, as I will provide analysis and quick storylines throughout.
Justin Falk Robbie Eal Joe Callahan Bryan Allen Mark Cullen Baltimore Orioles
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