Houston Texans vs Los Angeles Chargers NFL Sports Betting Guide
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These odds were taken from FanDuel Sportsbook on September 19, 2019.
Both the Texans and Chargers are a single play away from being 2-0, as well as a play away from being 0-2. Through the first two weeks of the season, both teams find themselves at 1-1 after narrowly winning their home contests and dropping a game on the road. For the Chargers, they find themselves adjusting to life without running back Melvin Gordon as he continues to hold out because of a contract dispute. Let’s take a deeper look at this Week 3 matchup between two playoff hopefuls to see where we can find an edge.
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Details
- Opening Lines: The Chargers opened up at -3.5 and the over/under opened at 49. The numbers have moved slightly in favor of the under and held steady at -3.5
- Current Line: Chargers -3.5
- O/U: 47.5
- Location: Dignity Health Sports Park, Carson, California
- Start Time: 4:25 pm ET
- Television: CBS
- Last Meeting: November 27, 2016 – Los Angeles defeated Houston 21-13 at NRG Stadium in Houston
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Overview
After Deshaun Watson led this Texans’ team downfield in the final minute of their Week 1 matchup against the Saints, their defense allowed Drew Brees to move the Saints into field goal position with just 37 seconds to work with. Wil Lutz drilled a 58-yard field goal as time expired to secure the win for the Saints in an otherwise great game played by the Texans. In Week 2, Watson was less efficient but his defense, led by JJ Watt, rose to the occasion in the final minute. With 36 seconds left on the clock, Texans safety Justin Reid stuffed Leonard Fournette at the line on a two-point conversion attempt that would’ve given the Jaguars the lead. The biggest concern for the Texans is their ability, or lack thereof, to keep Watson upright in the backfield. Through just two games, Watson leads the league in times sacked at 10.
Life without Melvin Gordon has been just fine for the Chargers, who ranks fourth in the NFL in total offensive yardage at 429.5 yards per game and 10th in rushing yards per game at 131. A large part of that production has come from running back Austin Ekeler who has 297 yards from scrimmage and four touchdowns while fumbling the ball just once. While there’s no reason to think this speedster’s production will slow anytime soon, this is the largest workload he’s been asked to carry in his career which the Chargers will surely need to monitor. Three of those touchdowns came in Week 1 for Eckler, as the Chargers beat the Colts in large part thanks to two missed field goals and an extra point by Colts’ kicker Adam Vinatieri. In Week 2, the Chargers were blanked in the second half and struggled to move the ball with any consistency in large part due to self-inflicted penalties that they will need to clean up to win moving forward.
Trends
- Texans are 4-0-1 ATS in their last five games following an ATS loss.
- Chargers are 1-4-1 ATS in their last six home games.
- Chargers are 0-3-1 ATS in their last 4 games in September.
- Chargers are 0-3-1 ATS in their last four games after accumulating more than 250 yards passing in their previous game.
- Under is 4-0 in Chargers last four games after scoring less than 15 points in their previous game.
- Under is 4-1 in Texans last five games after accumulating less than 150 yards passing in their previous game.
Bottom Line
This matchup highlights a change of the guard in the NFL at the quarterback position, with a dynamic threat in Watson and one of the most consistent talents we have ever seen at the position in Philip Rivers. If Watson can stay healthy, he has shown flashes of being an MVP-caliber player and if the Texans’ defense can hold up their end of the bargain, this Houston squad should be a threat for years to come. Here in Week 3, the Chargers return home, if you can even call it that, to the worst home-field advantage in the NFL to welcome in a Texans’ team that sees a division more wide open than it’s been in years. I think the difference in this matchup comes in the Chargers’ inability to stop the running game, where they rank 28th in the league allowing 148.5 yards per game. If Watson and running back Carlos Hyde can get going early, it could be a long afternoon for the Chargers.
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TJ Perun is a featured writer at BettingPros. For more from TJ, check out his archive and follow him @JohnnyCovers.