Denver Broncos at San Diego Week 6 Betting Prediction

Denver Broncos at San Diego Week 6 Betting Prediction

Written by on October 12, 2016

The San Diego Chargers can’t seem to get a break from close losses. Last week, they looked on course to break from their slump against the Raiders, only to miss a late field goal and suffer a harrowing 34-31 loss to Oakland. With increasing pressure on head coach Mike McCoy and a mad fanbase that is rightfully upset about San Diego’s poor 1-4 start to the season, the Chargers will be looking to make amends when they host the Denver Broncos on Thursday Night. For the defending national champs, Thursday’s game will be just as important to them after they suffered their first loss of the season in Sunday’s defeat to the Atlanta Falcons. Read on below as we walk you through a brief NFL betting preview of this clash.

Denver Broncos at San Diego Week 6 Betting Prediction & TV Info

Where: Qualcomm Stadium, San Diego, California When: Thursday, October 13, 8:25 PM ET TV: CBS Radio: Denver / San Diego Live Stream: NFL Live NFL Lines: Denver (-3.5), OVER/UNDER 45

Why Bet on Denver?

Paxton Lynch’s first start at quarterback didn’t go as smoothly, as has been the case for most of his fellow rookies, as he completed 23 of 35 passes for 223 yards, a touchdown and an interception in 23-16 losing effort to the Falcons. Denver’s defense expectedly played well enough against the Falcons, but the Lynch-led offense couldn’t come up big in the end. Fortunately for the Broncos, Trevor Siemian, who started the first four games and led the Broncos to a 4-0 start, could be back on Thursday. Since passing for one score and an interception in Week 1 against Carolina, Siemian went on to pass for five scores and one interception in his next three games for a 110.2 QB rating, showing the kind of leadership that Denver so-much needs after last week’s performance. The offense will, as usual, get a strong support from Denver’s solid defense that is giving up 17.4 points and 301.0 YPG (185.6 passing, 115.4 rushing) per game this season. And above everything, the Broncos should particularly be encouraged by the fact that they will be facing a demotivated Chargers team that is struggling to win games this season and has now lost 10 straight AFC West games.

Why Bet on San Diego?

Scoring points and staying competitive in games has not been issue for the Chargers this season; the team’s biggest problem has been closing out games and playing good defense. Quarterback Philip Rivers has barely been to blame so far, given the strong numbers he has posted this season–completing 117 of 172 passes (68.0%) for 1,469 passing yards and 11 touchdowns against just three interceptions for a 108.4 passer rating. But with a defense that has allowed 26 or more points in all but one of its five games, it has become extremely difficult to win games even with the Rivers-led offense averaging a healthy 282 passing yards per game (4th-best in the NFL) and a solid 30.4 PPG scoring (2nd-best in the NFL). The onus will therefore be on San Diego’s defense to improve on their play, especially towards the end of the games when they tend to get complacent.

My Pick and Prediction

Even if Siemian gets to start on Thursday, he is likely to be banged up, and that should allow the Chargers a chance to frustrate him and the Broncos offense. More than that, the Chargers will be getting a break in terms of coaching, considering Gary Kubiak will be out of Thursday’s game and the Broncos will have their Special Teams coordinator serving as interim coach. If I was to pick a winner, I’d therefore have to lean on the Chargers here, believing that they will be able to rally up behind their home crowd and play slightly better defense to seal a victory. Final Predicted Score: San Diego 27, Denver 22 Writer’s Picks: San Diego (+3.5)