A frustrated Philip Rivers has been chomping at the bit to get into a preseason game for the first time this year. Mike McCoy says that he'll get his shot on Saturday against the two-time defending NFC champion Seattle Seahawks in the dress rehearsal game for the real deal in two weeks.
QUARTERBACK ROTATION
Rivers has nothing wrong with him aside from the fact that he is up there in age now, but the Chargers have agreed to protect him from himself, more or less. They aren't going to be using him long, perhaps as little as just one drive before Brad Sorensen and Kellen Clemens take over to run the rest of the game. Still, it'll be nice to see Rivers out there for the first time this year, and we would be shocked if he wasn't efficient in his first game.
History would tell you that Russell Wilson will play about a half of football in this one, but the sample size is still awfully small. Pete Carroll knows that he can't afford to get Wilson into any trouble with Tarvaris Jackson still out injured.
That said, R.J. Archer should get a lot more time than usual in this one, which could be a troubling thought for live bettors, knowing that he was never all that great of an AFL quarterback, let alone an NFL quarterback in preseason games.
WHEN SEATTLE HAS THE BALL
So far this preseason, we've seen a nice balance of runs and passes for the Seahawks. They haven't tried to do anything fancy, attempting just a handful of throws any more than about 10-12 yards down the field, and many of their runs have just been right between the tackles.
In other words, the Seahawks are being the Seahawks.
The puzzling problem though, is that Seattle isn't running the ball well behind what is suddenly turning into a bad offensive line. Last week, if you take out a 12-yard run by Christine Michael, the tailbacks who are going to make this roster combined to run the ball 15 times for 17 yards. Live bettors need to keep tabs on this offensive line all game long for Seattle, knowing that at any point, things could go south in a hurry causing the ground game to get stuffed up.
WHEN SAN DIEGO HAS THE BALL
San Diego had trouble running the ball last week against Arizona as well in the preseason, totaling just 46 yards on 23 carries. The Seahawks' defensive line is very deep as well just like the Cardinals, and that could give more problems to a ground game which features a ton of running backs, but not necessarily a ton of quality running backs in 2015.
The lack of a running game has forced McCoy to put the ball in the air more often than he probably wants to. Last week against the Cardinals, the Chargers threw the ball 40 times, though it should be noted that there was only one negative play of those 40, an interception thrown by Sorensen.
If San Diego continues to play good ball-control and avoids losing huge chunks of yards to set the Seahawks up in good field position, it will have a real chance to pull off the upset in this game.
TREND TO TRACK
The Seahawks have been very un-Seahawk-like here in the preseason. They are 0-2 SU and 1-1 ATS. It should be noted though, that Pete Carroll remains one of the top coaches for bettors in exhibitions in spite of his transgressions this year.
Carroll is 26-12-1 ATS in exhibitions in his career, something which live bettors can't lose sight of, even knowing that Archer is going to play a huge role in this game.
BookMaker opened the spread for this Saturday game at -1 in favor of the Seattle Seahawks. The NFL odds total surfaced at 42.5. Minute-by-minute spreads, totals and props are available for this game using the live betting platform at BookMaker.
Load your betting bankroll from your smartphone or tablet with BookMaker’s new cashier feature! Depositing and withdrawing funds from your account has never been easier. BookMaker's live betting platform means you always have access to odds and lines to every sporting event. Click here and start wagering today! The game between the Seattle Seahawks and San Diego Chargers is scheduled for Saturday, August 29, 2015, at 8:00 p.m. ET at Qualcomm Stadium. The game will be broadcast on CBS.
