San Diego Chargers at Tennessee Titans Preview and Pick
Posted by Jay Horne on December 24, 2009 · Leave a Comment
NFL Football Betting Preview
San Diego Chargers (11-3) at Tennessee Titans (7-7)
Friday December 25th, 7:30PM Eastern
Betus.com betting line – Tennessee -3, 47 O/U
The San Diego Chargers put their 17 game December winning streak on the line Christmas night when they meet up with the Tennessee Titans. The Chargers also own a 9 game winning streak heading into the showdown as one of the hottest teams in the AFC. However, the Chargers will meet a Titans team that has surged during the 2nd half of the season. Tennessee has won 7 of their last 8 games and is also holding on to slim playoff possibilities. The Titans would need a lot of help to make the postseason, but they still must win their final two games making Friday night’s battle a must win situation. However, the Chargers held off a similar emotionally charged Bengals team last week and they will be attempting to duplicate those results.
The Titans roll into the contest following a 27-24 overtime victory over the Miami Dolphins last week. QB Vince Young tossed 3 touchdown passes in the event while running back Chris Johnson eclipsed the century mark again with 104 rushing yards. Johnson still leads the NFL with 1,730 rushing yards this season and if he could put together 2 big performances could still reach the 2,000 yard milestone. Johnson also led the Titans in receiving last week with 55 yards and it is safe to say he will be a primary focus for the Chargers defense. However many believe that for the Titans to truly challenge the Chargers for a win, that Young will have to throw the football really well.
Young has completed just 56% which is far down from when he took over the leading role under center. Young has been able to control the football, but the Titans will need him to rack up a bunch of yards to keep up with the Chargers offense this week. Also, another big factor to the Titans success Friday will play out in the secondary. Tennessee will be battling one of the top passing teams in the league and they rank dead last in the AFC allowing 265 yards per game. The Titans have produced some turnovers out of their secondary with 19 interceptions this year which will be vital to helping slow down the passing attack.
However, the Titans secondary was nearly the downfall last week against the Dolphins. Miami’s Chad Henne racked up 349 yards through the air last week against the Titans defense, but just could not put the ball in the end zone. If San Diego has that type of success throwing the football, rest assured they will capitalize on the scoring opportunities. QB Phillip Rivers threw 2 picks in last week’s 27-24 victory over Cincinnati which is out of the norm considering how well he has played in recent weeks.
Rivers still compiled 308 yards and 3 scores through the contest despite the picks. For Rivers, he could be in for a big day if the Titans soft coverage allows WR Vincent Jackson and Antonio Gates to roam free. Gates and Jackson are among the top due combination in the league having both eclipsed the 1,000 yards receiving mark while also combining for 15 touchdowns. Considering the mismatches both receivers have on the Tennessee secondary along with Titans CB Nick Harper being questionable, these guys could have another big performance in the passing game.
Pick – Chargers +3
Cyber Monday sales strong during shopping blitz.(Microsoft Blog) see here cyber monday sales
Seattle Post-Intelligencer November 30, 2009 By late in the day, sales on what the e-retail industry calls Cyber Monday were up 11 percent from a year ago, according to Web analytics firm Coremetrics.
Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images A man looks at a Cyber Monday advertisement on his laptop computer Monday in Los Angeles. After a modest start to the U.S. holiday shopping season with Black Friday, online retailers were looking to Cyber Monday for a boost in sales. According to the National Retail Federation, Americans spent $41.2 billion over Thanksgiving weekend, compared to $41.0 billion a year ago. Click to enlarge Cyber Monday, the first weekday after Black Friday, traditionally is a big day for online shopping. Web retailers stepped up promotions and discounts, though online sales account for only about 10 percent of holiday shopping.
“Sales have been going well,” said John Squire, Coremetrics’ chief strategy officer. “In Cyber Monday 2008, sales picked up a little quicker in the afternoon than we’ve seen in Cyber Monday 2009.” The San Mateo, Calif.-based company likes to compare Cyber Monday sales to online Black Friday sales, to see how “cyber” the Monday actually is. As of about 5 p.m. Pacific time, Cyber Monday was about 13 percent ahead of Black Friday, Squire said.
Last year, Cyber Monday sales were about 50 percent ahead of Black Friday.
“I’m hesitant to say Cyber Monday will beat Black Friday to the same level this year,” said Squire, whose company represents about 500 retailers.
For Seattle-based Amazon.com, Cyber Monday was “looking out to be definitely one of our busiest days of the season,” spokeswoman Anya Waring said. “It’s a huge day for us from both sales and traffic perspectives.” However, neither Black Friday nor Cyber Monday are generally Amazon’s busiest days. The company’s biggest day comes in mid-December, usually on the last day that free shipping will get popular items to their destinations before Christmas, Waring said.
Nevertheless, Amazon sales on Cyber Monday were “exceeding our expectations” late in the day, she said.
The online retailer’s most popular items were TomTom and Garmin GPS devices, Apple iPod Touches, Samsung LCD HDTVs, various LEGO sets, Elmo’s Tickle Hands from Fisher Price, and Bakugan-related products, Waring said. Amazon also set up a special Web page, amazon.com/cybermonday, for special deals.
Product-comparison sites, such as Microsoft’s Bing Shopping, have grown in popularity in recent years. But at publication time, it was still too early to tell how big those sites’ piece of the Cyber Monday pie was, and Microsoft didn’t have any figures to share.
Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images FedEx workers in Miami sort through packages during last year’s Cyber Monday, on Dec. 2, 2008. As online retailers offer promotions on free shipping during Cyber Monday, shipping companies such as FedEx see more volume as the orders are processed and mailed Click to enlarge The Bing team plans to release some Cyber Monday information on Tuesday.
The biggest surprise of this year’s shopping blitz was sales on Thanksgiving Day, Squire said. Last year, sales on Thanksgiving were about 90 percent less than on Black Friday; this year was different.
“They’ve finished dinner, it’s 6 o’clock Pacific, and you have people going online and buying,” Squire said. “It’s Cyber Thursday, or Cyber Sunday. Maybe it’ll be just one big Cyber Week.” Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst at market-research firm NPD Group, told The Associated Press that this year saw the “graying of Black Friday.” Big promotions are being spread out over a longer period of time. web site cyber monday sales
From the AP:
The Monday after Thanksgiving is usually far from the busiest online shopping day of the year, but it is typically one of the 10 busiest. It was dubbed “Cyber Monday” by the National Retail Federation trade group in 2005 to describe the Monday after the Thanksgiving holiday.
The thinking was that shoppers who lacked broadband Internet access at home would wait until returning to work to look online. Now that most homes have broadband, that rationale has faded.
Retailers also have done a much better job this year of advertising their holiday deals, Squire said, driving more consumers online and into brick-and-mortar stores. Social networks such as Facebook and Twitter also have been driving promotions.
Forrester Research analyst Sucharita Mulpuru predicts online holiday sales will increase 8 percent this year to $44.7 billion, according to the AP.
