SD 17 OAK 10
Welcome in to the halftime post of the Raiders' TNF matchup vs. the San Diego Chargers where the Chargers have a one touchdown lead, 17-10 at the half.
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Latavius Murray, 12 carries, 66 yards, TD. We'd figure before the end of the season Murray would reach the 1,000 yard mark and this game was perfect given the Chargers' run defense is not that great. Murray becomes the first 1,000 yard rusher for the Raiders since Darren McFadden in 2010. He's running hard out there and credit to the O-line for opening up holes for him. Of course the highlight of the first half is when he burned the Chargers for a 22 yard run for a TD to tie it up at 7 a piece.
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Penalties. Though the Chargers have a slight edge for most penalties with 5 compared to the Raiders' 4, the Raiders are committing penalties at the most crucial times they need to extend the drive. The false start and holding calls are coming to them at critical and when special teams finally shows their bag of tricks, they get called for illegal formation.
Defense. The pass defense was awful in the 1st half, there is no denying that. Most of that is because there is no pass rush generated. Philip Rivers is taking full advantage of that with a lot of quick passes that turn into big gains and they are rarely running the ball. With Mario Edwards, Jr. being put on IR after the Green Bay game, the lack of depth is starting to show and that results in less opportunities for Mack to put pressure on Rivers.
Bottom Line
Like I said, the offense had their way against the Chargers back in Week 6. However, with the return of Weddle, Te'o, and Perryman, it's not translating into the same winning formula. I don't understand why Derek Carr is being put under center more than playing in the shotgun. A few plays in the shotgun would help. On defense, somebody has to make a play because Rivers is going to have all day to burn this defense if there's no pressure on the D-line. Let's see what happens.
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