Evan Silva’s Matchups: Chargers at Raiders

Thursday Night Football

L.A. Chargers @ Las Vegas

Team Totals: Raiders 18, Chargers 15

Probably without Justin Herbert (finger surgery) for the season’s remainder, the Bolts will presumably trot out 2019 fifth-round pick Easton Stick with UDFA rookie Max Duggan behind him. Carson Wentz’s successor at North Dakota State, Stick is a Chase Daniel type with plus rushing ability (4.62 forty) who ran for 29 TDs and averaged 9.6 yards per pass attempt over his final two college years but has dropped back to pass just 27 times in five NFL campaigns. Stick is playable only on single-game DFS slates with top WR Keenan Allen (heel) at less than full strength against a Raiders defense permitting the NFL’s seventh-fewest fantasy QB points. … As reported, the Chargers began Week 14 incorporating Josh Kelley and Isaiah Spiller more than normal, only to turn to Austin Ekeler as their clear-cut main RB as the game progressed. Ekeler wound up parlaying 15 touches into 100 yards and a touchdown on 72% of L.A.’s offensive snaps. The Raiders are hemorrhaging the league’s seventh-most fantasy running back points. With Herbert out and Allen hurting, Ekeler deserves to be the Chargers’ Week 15 offensive focal point.

Stick’s Week 14 target distribution: Allen 9; Ekeler 5; Gerald Everett 4; Alex Erickson 3; Quentin Johnston 2; Donald Parham 1. … Assuming Allen plays — and I’m betting he will after appearing on all but three of last week’s offensive snaps — Allen remains a confident WR2 starter after hauling in six of nine targets from Stick for 68 yards in last week’s loss to Denver.