The Worksheet, a comprehensive fantasy football preview by Rich Hribar, breaks down everything you need to know about the Week 15 matchup between the Raiders and Chargers on Thursday Night Football.
Find a breakdown of every Week 15 NFL game in our Worksheet Hub.
| LA Chargers | Rank | @ | Las Vegas | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.0 | Spread | -3.0 | ||
| 15.25 | Implied Total | 18.25 | ||
| 21.7 | 16 | Points/Gm | 15.5 | 28 |
| 21.7 | 17 | Points All./Gm | 19.9 | 9 |
| 64.2 | 13 | Plays/Gm | 58.1 | 32 |
| 67.1 | 30 | Opp. Plays/Gm | 64.6 | 23 |
| 5.2 | 14 | Off. Yards/Play | 4.8 | 27 |
| 5.6 | 26 | Def. Yards/Play | 5.2 | 14 |
| 38.56% | 27 | Rush% | 40.00% | 24 |
| 61.44% | 6 | Pass% | 60.00% | 9 |
| 40.14% | 8 | Opp. Rush % | 44.88% | 25 |
| 59.86% | 25 | Opp. Pass % | 55.12% | 8 |
- Both the Chargers and Raiders are 10-3 toward the under in their games this season, tied for the highest rate in the league for games that have gone under the game total.
- Games in Las Vegas are 1-6 toward the under this season.
- The Chargers are averaging 0.96 points per drive over their past four games, 30th in the league.
- The Raiders are averaging 0.86 points per drive over that same span, 31st in the league.
- The Chargers are allowing 375.1 yards per game, 29th in the league.
- The Raiders are averaging 277.7 yards per game, ahead of only the Panthers (270.0), Giants (267.0), and Jets (266.8).
- The Chargers are allowing 4.5 plays per game that gain 20 or more yards, 30th in the league.
- Las Vegas is averaging 2.2 plays per game that gain 20 or more yards, tied with New England for the fewest in the NFL.
- The Raiders have allowed 2.2 passing plays per game of 20 or more yards, third in the league.
- 58.0% of the Raiders’ set of downs have reached third down since Week 8, 31st in the league and ahead of only the Panthers (62.0%) over that span.
- The Chargers have converted just 49.2% of their third and short plays (needing three yards or fewer), ahead of only the Giants and Jets.
Trust = spike production for that player
Quarterback
Easton Stick: Stick will make his first career start on Thursday after Justin Herbert suffered a fractured finger on his throwing hand that required surgery.
Drafted in the fifth round of the 2019 draft, Stick has thrown 25 career passes in the regular season, 24 of which came this past Sunday.
In relief of Herbert, Stick was 13-of-24 (54.2%) for 179 yards (7.5 Y/A) without a touchdown or interception.
Stick does have 251 career dropbacks in the preseason, completing 61.8% of his passes for 5.4 Y/A with four touchdowns and eight interceptions.
He did not run on Sunday, but Stick does have some mobility, rushing 28 times for 199 yards and five touchdowns in the preseason.
Stick is best used as a fantasy option for single-game DFS and 2QB gamers forced to fill a void.
The Raiders have only allowed 12.0 passing points per game (eighth) and limited Herbert to completing 54.2% of his passes for 167 yards when these teams played back in Week 4.
Aidan O’Connell: The Raiders have not declared a quarterback for Week 15 as Antonio Pierce suggested they are “still evaluating” who will start moving forward.
We will enter the week expecting to see O’Connell for a short week at home, but no matter who starts for the Raiders, that passer is only an option for 2QB formats and single-game DFS.
O’Connell is averaging 6.5 yards per pass attempt (24th) with four touchdowns and seven interceptions.
He has not thrown more than one touchdown pass in a game this season.
O’Connell has not been fantasy-relevant, logging one week higher than QB22 so far.
That includes 9.8 fantasy points scored against the Chargers in his first career start back in Week 4.
In that matchup, O’Connell did match a season-high with 24 completions, going 24-of-39 (61.5%) for 238 yards (6.1 Y/A) with no touchdowns and an interception. He added a 1-yard rushing score.
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Running Back
Austin Ekeler: Gamers who stuck with Ekeler in a good matchup were rewarded on Sunday.
Ekeler turned 15 touches into 100 yards and a touchdown against the Broncos.
There were rumors all week we would see more of Joshua Kelley and Isaiah Spiller.
Ekeler did have his lowest share of backfield touches (62.5%) since Week 1, but he played 49 snaps (72.1%) while Spiller (12 snaps) and Kelley (seven snaps) sprinkled in.
Ekeler rushed 10 times for 51 yards and his first touchdown since Week 10.
He finally contributed to the passing game, catching 5-of-7 targets for 49 yards. That was the most receiving points Ekeler has scored in a game since Week 8.
Ekeler ran a route on 80.8% of the dropbacks with Easton Stick in the game, drawing 20.8% of Stick’s targets, which was second on the team.
He takes a step of faith rolling over his output from a week ago given the loss of Herbert, but Ekeler has another matchup to keep the lights on this week with the upside that he can be a floor-based RB1.
The Raiders are allowing 4.39 yards per carry to backfields (25th) and 15.2 rushing points per game (25th) to running backs.
On top of their issues defending the run, the Raiders are also allowing 9.1 receiving points per game to backs (20th).
In total, they are allowing 138.9 yards from scrimmage per game to running backs, 27th in the league.
Raiders RB: Josh Jacobs left last week’s game with a knee injury.
The team listed him as a non-participant for Monday’s estimated practice.
It is a short week, and the team does not have much incentive to push Jacobs at this stage of the season.
We could see Zamir White get his first real extended action while Ameer Abdullah handles passing situations.
After Jacobs left on Sunday, White rushed two times for eight yards while Abdullah rushed one time for 12 yards, catching two passes for seven yards.
This is a run game that has been one of the worst in the league, however.
With Jacobs, the Raiders are 29th in the NFL in rate of runs to gain five or more yards (30.4%) while ranking dead last in explosive run rate (5.5%).
White would be a touchdown-dependent FLEX should Jacobs be absent on Thursday.
If you have faith in White elevating this rushing game, Los Angeles has allowed 4.06 YPC to running backs (14th) but ranks 19th in rushing points allowed per game (12.5) due to allowing eight rushing touchdowns to the position.
White is a former five-star recruit who was the top-rated player at his position leaving high school.
White tore his ACL as a freshman (after tearing his ACL in his other knee as a senior in high school) and then never got over the hump as the feature back at Georgia, playing behind D’Andre Swift in 2019 and then sharing work with James Cook in 2021.
White only topped out with a season-high of 169 touches over his three seasons at Georgia. He never materialized as a pass catcher, catching just 17 total passes through three seasons and conceding pass downs in each season.
Wide Receiver
Davante Adams: Adams secured 7-of-10 targets for 53 yards on Sunday against Minnesota.
He has finished inside of the top-20 scorers at wide receiver in just one of his past nine games, finding the end zone once since Week 3.
With O’Connell under center, Adams has a team-high 31.7% of the targets and 50.7% of the air yards, but 23.8% of his targets have been ruled inaccurate via O’Connell.
No wide receiver with as many targets as Adams has a higher inaccurate target rate.
As much as his ceiling has been limited, Adams has at least finished as a WR3 or better in four straight games through volume alone.
Thursday presents a positive matchup if you are still alive and riding out Adams as a floor-based WR2 in full-PPR formats and on the WR2/WR3 line in non-PPR leagues.
The Chargers are 30th in points allowed per target to wide receivers (1.94), allowing 8.9 yards per target (27th) and a 5.5% touchdown rate (28th) to wideouts.
When these teams played in Week 4, Adams pulled in 8-of-13 targets for 75 yards.
Jakobi Meyers: Catching 5-of-6 targets for 25 yards on Sunday, Meyers has now averaged 3.3 catches for 38.5 yards per game over his past six games.
With Aidan O’Connell, Meyers has 15.6% of the team targets with a target on 14.8% of his routes run.
Meyers is only a matchup-based option for single-game DFS.
Chargers WRs: Unfortunately, now that we are without Herbert, it is tough to trust any of the ancillary Charger pass catchers outside of single-game DFS.
Quentin Johnston ran a team-high 26 pass routes with Stick in the game on Sunday.
Johnston only had two targets from Stick but caught both for 79 yards, highlighted by a season-high 57-yard reception.
With Keenan Allen out, the Chargers should place on emphasis on giving Johnston all he can handle.
Josh Palmer was a full participant in practice to open the week and is expected to return to the field on Thursday.
The Raiders have been middle-of-the-pack against wideouts, allowing 7.7 yards per target (15th) and a 4.2% touchdown rate (14th) to the position.
Tight End
Michael Mayer: Mayer caught one of his two targets on Sunday for 14 yards.
Mayer has topped 27 yards once over his past seven games and has not had more than five targets in a game since Week 6.
A touchdown-or-bust fantasy option, the Chargers do offer some matchup appeal for Mayer.
Los Angeles is allowing a 76.3% catch rate (29th), 8.1 yards per target (27th), and a 4.1% touchdown rate (14th) to tight ends.
Gerald Everett: Everett was third on the team with four targets (2-15-0) with Easton Stick in the game on Sunday.
For fantasy, the Chargers tight ends have combined for eight TE1 scoring weeks, with seven of those games coming with a touchdown.
Everett has three of those games, all coming in weeks in which he found the end zone. He has not reached 50 yards in a game yet this season, leaving him as a touchdown-or-bust fantasy play himself.
The Raiders have allowed tight ends to catch 79.6% of their targets (31st) but have allowed only three touchdowns to the position.
When these teams played in Week 4, Charger tight ends caught 2-of-4 targets for nine yards.
