L.A. Chargers @ Buffalo
L.A. Chargers +7 -105 over Buffalo

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Posted at 10:00 AM EST. Odds are subject to change.

L.A. Chargers +7 -105 over Buffalo

1:00 PM EST. There might not be a more hated stock in the NFL right now than the L.A. Chargers. They were substantial favorites in each of their first two games and lost both outright, at home no less. Now they're 0-2, traveling across the country, and Justin Herbert is getting hammered from every direction. Meanwhile, Buffalo has been an ATM machine. The Bills have put up video-game numbers, jumped all over Detroit in prime time last week and were ahead 21-0 before some people had finished dinner. Sides were cashing, props were cashing, everything was coming up Buffalo. Now the hottest stock in the league is laying more than a touchdown against the stock nobody wants to own.

The Herbert criticism is particularly interesting because the list of excuses surrounding him over the years has been endless. He didn't have receivers. He didn't have protection. The offensive line wasn't good enough. The coaching was terrible. The organization failed him. At some point, the excuses run out. Herbert has all the physical tools in the world and has shown plenty of flashes of brilliance, but the market has finally reached the point where it doesn't want to hear any more of it. A Chargers team that entered the season with legitimate expectations has gone from respected to radioactive in two weeks. Nobody wants the Chargers this week. Nobody.

At the same time, Buffalo's offense has made it very easy to ignore what's happening on the other side of the football. The Bills can score with anybody, but their defense has been getting shredded. Detroit piled up yards against them last week after falling behind 21-0, and Buffalo has been vulnerable enough defensively that this is hardly the ideal opponent to be laying a huge number against. That's getting buried because Josh Allen and the offense have been so spectacular. When a team is scoring at will and cashing tickets everywhere, nobody spends much time looking for cracks in the foundation.

This is about as extreme a perception gap as we'll find. Buffalo has spent two weeks rewarding everybody who backed them, while Chargers bettors have been kicked in the teeth twice as big favorites. Now the market has gone from asking Los Angeles to lay substantial points to handing them +7½. That's a violent adjustment after eight quarters of football. The Chargers' stock might not have been this low in half a century, while Buffalo couldn't possibly be more popular. That's exactly when we're willing to buy the garbage everyone else is throwing away.

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Our Pick

L.A. Chargers +7 -105 (Risking 2.1 units - To Win: 2.00)

Miami +10 -110 over Kansas City
N.Y. Giants -2½ -110 over Tennessee
N.Y. Jets +6½ -105 over Detroit
Tampa Bay +100 over Minnesota
Early leans & analysis over