Packers open up as MNF favorites against the Raiders in Week 5

According to DraftKing’s odds, the Green Bay Packers will be one-point road favorites for Monday Night Football next week against the Las Vegas Raiders. Remember, this is an early line and may change depending on the injury report this week.

At the moment, it’s uncertain who is going to start at the quarterback position for the Raiders, which certainly can change people’s predictions of the game. Early on Sunday morning, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported that the Raiders were going to start rookie fourth-round pick Aiden O’Connell — not Jimmy Garoppolo — at quarterback against the Chargers. Apparently, Garoppolo had not yet passed concussion protocols, which forced O’Connell — who was inactive last week when Brian Hoyer served as the team’s backup — into the lineup.

O’Connell had a rough first go of it, recording just 188 net passing yards on 39 pass attempts and seven sacks. For perspective, Garoppolo, behind the same offensive line, only was sacked four times in the first three games of the season.

The Raiders’ run game continues to disappoint too, as franchise tag running back Josh Jacobs only has recorded 166 rushing yards over four starts in 2023. After a poor defensive performance against the Lions, Packers head coach Matt LaFleur stated to the media on Friday that he believes that his defense can be fixed with schematic changes. If there’s any time to try stuff out, it’s after this “mini-bye week” in a game against a team that can’t buy a run game right now.

The Packers’ side of the injury report should impact the spread in this game, too, but the news should be mostly positive this week. LaFleur previously claimed that the team is going to try to get cornerback Eric Stokes (ankle) to practice this week and that they’re hopeful that running back Aaron Jones (hamstring) and Christian Watson (hamstring) will play their first complete games of the regular season against the Raiders.