
The Los Angeles Chargers have everything in their favor heading into their matchup against the Las Vegas Raiders.
It shouldn't be much of a surprise, but the Los Angeles Chargers are quite healthy after their bye week and heading into their Week 13 matchup against the Las Vegas Raiders. Let's take a look and then discuss.
Chargers Injury Report
Will play
Tre Harris, WR
Out
Omarion Hampton, RB
Unspecified
Otito Ogbonnia
Okay, I have a few thoughts here.
First, I don't know what the heck "unspecified" is supposed to mean. I'm going to assume that it means the team isn't bothering to give Ogbonnia any sort of status because he's not playing. In fact, he hasn't played for well over a month now.
Second, I suppose I understand Hampton missing this game. He just returned to practice a few days ago and needs time to get into NFL shape before being throw back into NFL action. That being said, this always felt a little bit like the team was babying his injury/recovery and I was hopeful that meant he would come flying out of the chute the moment he was legally allowed to. I guess, instead, it'll have to wait.
Raiders Injury Report
Will play
Maxx Crosby, DE
Tyler Lockett, WR
Tre Tucker, WR
Out
Michael Mayer, TE
Questionable
Jordan Meredith, C
Adam Butler, DT
Darnay Holmes, CB
Zamir White, RB
Both the Chargers and Raiders have suffered a number of injuries along their offensive lines this season and Meredith missing this game would again make things worse for the Raiders. They would essentially have 4 interior linemen for 3 starting positions and depth, which could be disastrous and (at the very least) all but assures that they don't have starting-caliber players along the offensive line.
Butler isn't the most important player on the Raiders defensive line, although he might be the 2nd most important behind Crosby, and his potential absence might be the difference between the Chargers running game having a big day or not.
I don't think Michael Mayer missing this game is a huge deal, he's a backup TE behind Brock Bowers.
No more excuses for Los Angeles
One thing that I can't help but thinking about this week is how meaningful this game could be if things go south for the Chargers. It would definitely take the team from potential championship contender to absolute pretender in the eyes of the rest of the NFL.
More than anything, though, it would be a loss without an excuse. The Chargers are about as healthy as they're going to get, they've had two weeks to prepare and they're playing against a team that has been struggling all season. If Jim Harbaugh's boys drop this one, there's no hiding the fact that this team is bad and clearly missing expectations.


