Week 1: San Diego Chargers @ Oakland Raiders (Monday Night Football)

[BlueNGold]

The Chargers begin what is most likely a do-or-die season for the duo of Norv Turner and AJ Smith.

Last season saw the team pull the complete opposite of what they'd done in previous years under Norv by starting the season fast at 4-1. But a terrible 6 game losing streak in the middle of the season all but killed any playoff hopes.

Philip Rivers had an off year for his standards, but gets two new toys in Robert Meachem and Eddie Royal to play with. However he did lose his #1 receiver in Vincent Jackson, but Malcolm Floyd should (hopefully) be able to fill that role.

And to no one's surprise, Ryan Mathews is injured and probably won't be able to go in this one. Speaking of injuries, LT Jared Gaither is out and his spot will be filled by rookie Mike Harris, so that should be juuuust great.

On the Raiders' side, they had quite the interesting year last year going 8-8. They made a huge splash in the middle of the season by trading for Carson Palmer, who now has had a full off-season to work with the team, so it should be interesting to see how he fares this year.

That wasn't the only big move the Raiders made though, as head coach Hue Jackson was fired at the end of the season and replaced with Broncos defensive coordinator Dennis Allen, who hopes to last a little longer than the past 6 guys have.

Aside from those two big changes, the change every Raiders fan wants to see is Darren McFadden actually staying healthy this year. All 4 of his pro seasons have been riddled with injuries, including last year when he was quickly making a case to take the crown as the top RB in the league but instead fell victim to a foot sprain that caused him to miss the remainder of the season. If he can finally avoid injury this year, it's possible the Raiders could finally make their way back to the playoffs for the first time in a decade.

All of these storylines wrapped into a big divisional game on Monday night with two teams who don't like each other should make for a damn good start to the season. Kickoff is @ 10:15 ET.

[psychraider32]

Rivers is going to have to clean up his play and throw less interceptions. I am going to go with the Raiders in the upset. Either way it will be a close game.

[iAM-IncReDiBLe-]

I don't see people mentioning Rivers in their top 5 QB lists anymore based off of one down season. Rivers is still elite an he will show it this season.

[rangerrick012]

The key is going to be getting pressure on Rivers to force him into mistakes and bad plays. If we can do that and control the ball on offense, then we win. If it turns into a shootout, SD wins.

[mestevo]

OL/DL play will decide this so I'd give the edge to Oakland, until he can prove otherwise though I'll take San Diego committing fewer mistakes than Carson Palmer makes on his own.

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[rangerrick012]

Quote: Originally Posted by mestevo

OL/DL play will decide this so I'd give the edge to Oakland, until he can prove otherwise though I'll take San Diego committing fewer mistakes than Carson Palmer makes on his own. Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

Palmer actually played well in both games vs SD last year - 42-63, 716 yds, 4 TDs/2 INTs. And that was without the threat of DMC on offense.

[chilli311]

I just pray that Rivers doesn't get killed this season. The O-line is in the worst shape that I can recall ever seeing.

[mestevo]

Quote: Originally Posted by rangerrick012

Palmer actually played well in both games vs SD last year - 42-63, 716 yds, 4 TDs/2 INTs. And that was without the threat of DMC on offense.

He hasn't really looked comfortable under this new system this preseason though


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