Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert waved goodbye to his bid for an NFL-record streak of 12 straight games without an interception last week when he was picked by Tampa Bay’s Jamel Dean.
The Bucs took other things from their LA trip, too, namely a 40-17 rout that invigorated their playoff pursuit.
The Chargers still are in the driver’s seat for a postseason trip under first-year coach Jim Harbaugh, but life doesn’t get easier Thursday. The 9-5 Denver Broncos visit the 8-5 Chargers in a meeting of AFC West rivals, and the Chargers are particularly seething after their top-ranked scoring defense faltered in a big way.
A look at a principal player in the “Thursday Night Football” clash leads today’s best bets, along with a pair of games in the NBA.
DENVER BRONCOS AT LOS ANGELES CHARGERS
Herbert built his bygone interception-less streak without routinely bolstering his passing yards. He has not exceeded 220 yards in the past four games and accomplished the feat just five times this season.
While a Week 6 victory in Denver marks one of those cases (21-for-34, 237 yards, one touchdown), the Broncos’ ‘D’ still poses big challenges for Herbert. The unit yields an average of 216.7 yards per game and has a league-best 49 sacks.
While this matchup should continue a recent string of competitive games on “TNF,” a Herbert Air Show isn’t likely to be a reason why.
Justin Herbert under 231.5 passing yards, -115 (BetMGM)
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OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER AT ORLANDO MAGIC
What a gas, this NBA Cup Final. Your stats don’t count, the outcome doesn’t affect your record, and you make some extra dough, win or lose.
To a man, the Oklahoma City Thunder may be $205,988 richer, although the Internet, if not history, shows something alarming about Tuesday’s Cup final loss to Milwaukee. OKC slumped to shoot just 33.7 percent overall and 15.6 percent from long range.
Even good teams endure slumps, of course. The Thunder still lead the Western Conference and boast Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the league’s third-leading scorer at 30.3 points per game. With Orlando’s two top scorers, Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner, out with oblique injuries, we like the Thunder to prevail and avoid losing consecutive games for the second time in a month.
Thunder -6.5, -110 (FanDuel)
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DENVER NUGGETS AT PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS
Nuggets guard Jamal Murray has been nothing if not consistently inconsistent this season, navigating hamstring issues while vying with Michael Porter Jr. for the role of second-leading scorer behind perennial MVP candidate Nikola Jokic.
Recent successes leave the Nuggets optimistic. Murray has turned a corner. Murray enters Thursday on the heels of consecutive 20-point efforts, including Monday’s season high-tying 28-point showing in a narrow win at Sacramento in which he scored 15 in the fourth quarter.
“Hopefully,” Denver coach Michael Malone said, “this can be a boost to his confidence and his overall spirit.”
Facing a Portland team that has lost six in a row by an average of 14.7 points figures to fuel the Murray moxie. Expect a steady hand that helps the Nuggets to their fourth straight win.
Nuggets -8.5 and Jamal Murray to score 20-plus points as part of same-game parlay, +215 (FanDuel)
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