Welcome in to the full recap for the Raiders' divisional road matchup vs. the San Diego Chargers where the Raiders get the win fresh off the bye as the Raiders beat the Chargers in San Diego 37-29 to snatch their first divisional win on the road since 2012.
First off, the scoreboard doesn't indicate that this was a close game. The Raiders had this game in the bag for the first half. The defense, offense, and heck let's just throw in special teams even though they're not doing much, were all dominated by the Raiders. The Raiders could've tacked on more points if it weren't for a combination of questionable and boneheaded penalties, which some lead to some Janikowski field goals. I was happy with the domination throughout the game and in the 4th quarter, the Raiders just took off the gas pedal. That put some bitterness on this win, but it is what it is.
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Defense. I'm not going to look at the defense that was in the 4th quarter, the defense did its job containing Philip Rivers and this Charger offense for the most part of this game. The INT by Malcolm Smith on the Charger's 3rd play of the opening drive just set the tone of the game and then to add insult to injury, D.J. Hayden managed to get his 2nd pick on Philip Rivers in his whole career. Am I mad at the lack of sacks this game? Not really, there's nothing the Raiders defense can do since Rivers has a quick release in his passing. However, they were able to exploit a really banged up Chargers O-line and apply immense pressure on Rivers. He just had no time throw in the pocket for the most part in this game because Aldon Smith, Khalil Mack, and Dan Williams brought the heat. Aside from the conservative 4th quarter, the defense played played pretty decent.
C4 package. I was looking at some comments the Raider Nation was making on social media before this game and somebody commented "C4: Carr, Cooper, Crabtree, and Clive (Walford) are gonna explode against the Chargers!" Well I'm about to apply this here for this full recap post because that just happened this game. Derek Carr completed 24-31 passes, 289 yards, and 3 TDs, Amari Cooper had 5 receptions for 133 yards and a TD, Michael Crabtree had 6 receptions for 63 yards and a TD, and Clive Walford had 2 receptions for 42 yards and a TD. Just looking at the statistics, this was Carr's most efficient game. I could be wrong though because I'm thinking about the game he had last year against the 49ers, but Carr had a 77% completion percentage this game. It was only a matter of time because last year, Carr burned the Chargers with 4 TDs and 300+ yards and now with weapons, he burned this game big time. What more can be said about Amari Cooper? 3rd game this year with 100+ yards and he made some outstanding highlights this game. A jump ball catch on a deep pass from Carr and the 52 yard catch and run to the house for a TD, just an amazing game for Cooper. And to round it out, Crabtree had a nice 25 yard run to the end zone, he definitely turned back the clock on that game before his achilles injury and Clive Walford needs to be utilized more. I understand he hasn't grasped the playbook, but he's learning and he had a nominal breakout game by hauling in his first NFL TD and making some nice catches on third down conversions. "C4" has a nice ring to it for these quadruplets.
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Penalties. I'm pretty sure that this felt like 2011 when the Raiders broke the record for most penalties in one season. 14 penalties for 136 yards. I don't if the bye week had anything to do with that, but that's what gets teams back into the game, especially a team like the Chargers who can still score TDs even if the game looks out of reach. Most of the penalties were questionable, especially a penalty on Aldon Smith and when the refs didn't catch Corey Liguet kicking Donald Penn during Reece's hard fought run to put the Raiders on the Chargers' 1. That should've been an offset penalty, but for the most part, these penalties need to be corrected. It's just unacceptable and it mars the domination the Raiders should've had this game.
Conservative playcalling. And this is the 2nd reason that teams come back against this Raiders team: playing it safe per se. There's a fine line between playing to win and playing not to lose and in that 4th quarter, Bill Musgrave and Ken Norton, Jr. started getting really conservative. You have all the momentum in the world after that spectacular first half performance and to just shut it down like that, you just can't do that. I'm sure this falls on Jack Del Rio as well since he's calling the shots. This whole conservative/prevent crap has to end. We haven't seen a dominating win by the Raiders since they dropped bologna on Mile High against the Broncos back in 2010. We're not saying run up the score or anything, but start and finish with domination the whole game on all three phases of the game: offense, defense, and special teams.
Conclusion
Overall, I'll take this win. Like I said, the scoreboard made it a lot closer than this should be, but the Raiders had the Chargers pounded into submission throughout this game. It's nice to get a win on the road, especially against a divisional rival and this was a big win because the Raiders basically keep 2nd place in the AFC West, so I'm not completely mad. It's the end result that matters. The Raiders return home next week against a very underrated New York Jets team. The Jets gave New England a run for their money this week for control of the AFC East and they shouldn't be taken lightly. Amari Cooper will take a trip to "Revis Island" and he will try to make his escape. That matchup vs. Darrelle Revis is going to be a good battle to watch and it's going to be a fun one. I'll see you guys next week for the game against the Jets.
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