Los Angeles at Arizona

The San Diego Chargers might be in position to win the AFC West if not for the presence of Peyton Manning and a stacked Denver team. San Diego has a rejuvenated Phillip Rivers at QB with some strong targets. Rivers put up a career year last season, completing nearly 70% of his passes and finishing fourth in the league in passer rating (105.5). I expect continued offensive improvement in Mike McCoy’s second year. The Chargers have added rookie CB Jason Verrett and veteran CB Brandon Flowers to shore up a weakness in their secondary. The Arizona Cardinals are expected to finish in the lower tier of the NFC West. It’s not that they are a bad team. They just have Seattle and San Francisco with which to contend. The Cards offense has not been anything to write home about for years. Carson Palmer is a good, if not great quarterback. The Cards will live and die with their defense, which is very good. But, I expect the San Diego offense to find success in this game. The Chargers have travelled well covering their last four on the road to close 2013. And, the Cards have been a bit lame under the bright Monday Night lights where they are 0-4 ATS in their last four such games. Take the points in what should be a close game that could go either way.