5 NFL teams on upset alert in Week 7

5. San Diego Chargers

The general consensus around the league seems to be that the San Diego Chargers are not a good football team in the 2015 season. Yet, they are favored by four points against the Oakland Raiders, a team many people think are better than their 2-3 record would indicate, in Week 7.

Part of the line being the Chargers’ favor is the fact that they are playing in San Diego. But as we saw when the Chargers and Pittsburgh Steelers played several weeks ago on Monday Night Football in Week 5, the Chargers don’t exactly have a tremendous home-field advantage; the crowd at that Monday Night Football game felt like it was largely comprised of Steelers fans even with it taking place in Qualcomm Stadium.

More important in terms of the action on the field, though, is that Oakland looks like they should be able to control the game flow in this matchup. The Chargers have been one of the worst rushing defenses in the league to this point in the year. With Latavius Murray seemingly back at or close to full healthy, that should allow the Raiders to come into San Diego and manage the game in their favor.

Philip Rivers is going to get his against a mediocre Raiders pass defense, but that’s likely all the Chargers will be able to do as Oakland has been stout against the run thus far and Melvin Gordon has been largely ineffective. Having such a one-dimensional offensive attack in a game where your opponent should be able to control the flow of the action is less than favorable. I think the Raiders should be able to travel to San Diego and make that four-point line in favor of the Chargers looks silly.

Next: No. 4 Pittsburgh Steelers