How do you handicap the Chargers?
"You have to look beyond the traditional offensive and defensive stats in order to handicap the Chargers," Bryan Leonard, a professional handicapper for Footballwinners.com, said. "San Diego has played the weakest schedule in the league. We will venture to say that Kansas City, Jacksonville, Seattle, Arizona, Oakland and St Louis will all be sitting on the sidelines come playoff time. The Chargers continue to make mistakes that keep themselves out of the end zone. Turnovers and penalties have killed this team."
He's right. When they were down 3-0 midway through the first quarter and driving, Philip Rivers threw an interception in the Rams end zone. The next series, the Rams went 80 yards in seven plays to score a touchdown, going up 10-0.
"Chargers are a really easy cap -- they stink on the road, and they are a juggernaut at home," Patrick Donovan, aka "The Sports Boss", said in an e-mail. "Let's look at their splits: Home: 2-0 SU and ATS, outscoring their opponents 79-13. Road: 0-4 SU and ATS, outscored by their opponents 103-78, and they were favorites in all those games laying 4.5, 5, 7, 9.