Los Angeles Chargers (5-10) vs. Denver Broncos (7-8)
Week 17 of the NFL season offers a number of great games, including this great battle in the AFC West when the Los Angeles Chargers travel to take on the Denver Broncos on Sunday, December 31, at the Empower Field at Mile High in Denver, Colorado at 4:25.
Denver has already defeated Los Angeles once this season, winning in L.A. on December 10, 24-7. The Broncos were 3.0-point underdogs in that contest with the total set at 46.0. Denver comes in as the favorite (-3.5) in this contest with the total set at 36.5.
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The Los Angeles Chargers (5-12, 5-9-1 ATS) lost their third straight game when they were clipped by the Buffalo Bills last Saturday, 24-22. The team has lost six of their last seven games, including the 17-point loss to Denver on December 10. Los Angeles is 3-4 (3-4-0 ATS) on the road this season, losing their last road contest in Las Vegas, 63-21.
A 14-point second quarter put the Bills on top by four heading into the half. Los Angeles cut the deficit to one early in the third quarter, and actually took the lead with three Cameron Dicker field goals in the fourth, but Tyler Bass kicked a 29-yard field goal with 28 seconds left in the game to give Buffalo the victory. The Chargers produced just 273 total yards of offense, but did maintain possession for 33:04. The Los Angeles defense held Buffalo to 16 first downs but gave up 335 yards.
“I think we went into this game thinking it was going to be a heavyweight fight, and we wanted to have a chance at the end for a knockout,” interim coach Giff Smith said. “We were going to play it a little close to the vest. Get points on the board and give ourself a chance to win, and that’s the way it went. Came up a little bit short.”
Dicker hit five field goals in the contest, including a 53-yarder. The kicker has connected on 24 of his 25 field-goal attempts and made all 35 extra-point attempts. Quarterback Easton Stick completed 23 of 33 passes for 215 yards. This was just his third game of the season, completing 66.3% of his passes for 651 yards and three TDs.
QB Justin Herbert is out for the season. LB Kenneth Murray, WRs Keenan Allen and Joshua Palmer, DT Nick Williams, and CB Deane Leonard are all listed as questionable.
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