Raiders Escape Chargers on TNF; Go Above .500

Final: LAC 24 OAK 26

Well, that was a wild Week 10. And this is the game that started it all. Last Thursday, the Raiders pulled off another close call win, this time against the Los Angeles Chargers. Since Week 10 ended, there's a lot of implications to discuss here.

Let's overview quickly about this game. The Chargers man. They are a living enigma this season. They do good against good teams. But, against bad teams? Everything hits the fan. The defense got off to a really good start. Erik Harris was Philip Rivers' worst nightmare this game. Harris got two picks. The first one set up the Raiders for three points. The 2nd pick, he took it all the way to the house for six. To be honest, Harris could've had so many picks against Rivers this game. But of course, the refs gotta get in on the action by throwing flags. That was probably one of the few negatives this game outside of the offense's slow start and Daniel Carlson's missed PAT. Clelin Ferrell's hand placement on the LOS was an example of bad technique and placement. But despite that, Ferrell wrapped up a pair sacks. He, Maxx Crosby, and Benson Mayowa managed to get some push and get to Rivers.

The defense wasn't able to sustain the fast start due to the penalties and the Chargers scored 14 unanswered. The offense didn't help either. They had a pretty slow start, but they picked it up in the 2nd half when it mattered the most. I'm not going to dive in too much, but it all started with a near 5 minute drive before the end quarter capped off by Carr's TD pass to Alec Ingold. Both offenses were stagnant in the third quarter. But, the Raiders pulled it off with Josh Jacobs' 18-yard, game-winning rushing TD and Karl Joseph's INT on a 4th down stop. Just like that, the Raiders find themselves at .500 and well within the playoff hunt, let alone in the race for the AFC West.

As mentioned, Week 10 was full of upsets this week capping off with the Seahawks handing the Niners their first loss. The big headliner was Tennessee's upset win over the Chiefs in Patrick Mahomes' return. I've seen my share of meltdowns with the Raiders. The way Kansas City loss that will go down as the biggest "WTF happened" game of the year. They botched the snap on a field goal attempt after the defense gave them a 4th down stop. Intentional grounding was called. Tannehill lead the Titans to a game winning TD and a 2-pt conversion to make it a one possession game. Mahomes drove the Chiefs within field goal range, but the game-tying field goal was blocked. KC's loss is huge as the Raiders are now within one game from the division with win-less Cincinnati  and the Jets coming up on their schedule. Buffalo also had an upset loss to the Browns, but Pittsburgh won against the Rams to keep the Raiders one seed away from the last wild card spot.

Both the Bengals and Jets games have "trap games" written all over it. The Raider can't get caught up in the hype just yet. They need to take care of business against the two teams they should beat before the rematch against the Chiefs at Arrowhead. A lot of things can unfold the next two weeks. I'll see you guys after the Bengals game.

The Silver and Black Shitshow: Chapter 3 - "Bolted"

*Reader's Discretion Advised*

Last time on the Silver and Black Shitshow, the Shitshow showed how much they cared about their Bay Area fans, going out in the Bay Area in a blaze of glory in typical Raider fashion. They lay down to the Red and Piss Gold Fucks behind an undrafted rookie who hasn't played a single down. The 49ers may have won the last Battle of the Bay, but the Raiders won the war. Much to the dismay of us here in the Bay Area, those picks are planted for the seeds of Vegas as time winds down for the Raiders' 2nd tenure in Oakland. For who knows where they'll play in the 2019 season.

To ensure nothing disrupts the tanking process, the Oakland purge continues as Bruce Irvin is the latest victim to get the axe from the Tank Commander himself. It wouldn't be long until Brucie finds a home. The 2nd half of what was the Slash Bros. flocked over to the Dirty Birds' nest in Atlanta to reunite the Seattle ties with Dan Quinn. Poetic justice that the Falcons get stymied by the Cleveland Browns of all teams since they got Irvin.

In this chapter, the Shitshow travels back up to I-880 to battle against a red-hot divisional rival. Well, it's not the Kansas City Chiefs. The Chargers come to town and they are hot on Kansas City's tails in the AFC West race. I'm sure we were all expecting the Chargers to come in and put up a major ass whooping. Shockingly, it was not. The Shitshow actually competed against a much more talented team. The Chargers did all that they could to channel in the Chokers and choke this game away early on. But, the Chargers came to the realization that they have a playoff spot to clinch. The Chargers regrouped behind their trio of Rivers, Allen, and Gordon as they helped generate some scoring. Meanwhile the only thing the Shitshow can generate...is a 42 yard fake punt run by Johnny Townsend, the punter who can't pin a team deep. Yeah, that'll get the Black Hole excited! The offense had it's moments here and there, giving some hope. Then, proceed to put the entire Coliseum at nausea with stalled drives and Checkdown Derek eating a fistful of turf as he gets sacked 4 times by a Joey Bosa-less Chargers defense. Oh, but they still have a chance. 4th down and 5, they gotta convert to stay alive in the game. Checkdown Derek proceeds to throw the ball away like it was a third down play. If that isn't signs of a tanking team, I don't know what is. Even some more NFL vets who thought they were gonna help take this team to the next level don't want to be a part of this rebuild any longer. According to one unnamed player sums up the thought of the vets on this roster: "I gotta get the fuck outta here." Honestly at this point, who can blame them for wanting out of this dumpster fire?

Oh hey, at least the Giants beat the Niners on Monday Night. We're #1 baby! #1 in the draft let's not kid ourselves.

Raiders Stunned, Chargers Flip Final Minute Script

Welcome in to the full recap of the Raiders' Week 6 matchup vs. the LA Chargers where this loss is going to hurt. The Raiders had a 7-10 lead at the half, but they let the Chargers hang around as Los Angeles cashes in on a missed Tavecchio PAT to beat the Raiders 17-16.

Raiders lose again. The Chiefs just lost to the Steelers. Raider Nation, we are approaching a very wary Thursday Night matchup next week. I'm sitting here on my laptop typing this post and I'm still stunned. I said in the first half post that the Raiders are approaching dangerous waters if they let the Chargers hang around for too long. Well, that statement rang true by the end of this game. There's no excuses to lose like that. You can't completely fault the missed PAT by Tavecchio or the bad snap by Jon Condo. When this team had too many opportunities to put the Chargers away and didn't capitalize on none of them, I'm sorry they deserved to lose this game.

(+)

Marquette King, 4 punts, 59 yards. Well, the Raiders can always rely on Marquette King to be consistent night in and night out. Every time Oakland's offense stalled after 3rd down, King was able to come through with a booming punt and pin the LA Chargers inside their own end zone.

TJ Carrie, 8 tackles. There's not a lot of positives to take out on the secondary, but Carrie had a solid game today. Carrie made a couple of nice open field tackles and he made a big pass defense early on when the Chargers went for it on 4th down.

Nicholas Morrow and Xavier Woodson-Luster. Five tackles from Morrow and six tackles by Woodson-Luster. Like the secondary, the linebacker corps has a lot of uncertainty. Morrow and Woodson-Luster capitalized on their opportunities behind a very short handed linebacker unit. They held their ground matching up against a good running back like Melvin Gordon.

(-)

Stalled drives. It didn't have to come down to the final seconds if the Raiders put together a string of good scoring drives. The only positive from the offense is that they gave Marshawn Lynch more touches. But one too many stalled drives and it didn't help with a pair of turnovers from Carr. I don't know how or why Todd Downing is holding this offense back with conservative and simplistic playcalling. I made a bold prediction Downing is a better OC than Musgrave. But I gotta take the blinders off after this 4-game skid. He has no idea how to maximize the talent on the offense and this is taking us back to the days when Greg Knapp or Greg Olson were calling plays. Soft and predictable.

David Amerson. How many times did David Amerson elect to go for the big hit rather than making a tackle today? A couple of times today. Granted, he's not a good tackler, but at least slow the receiver down to draw help from your teammates. Amerson gave up so many big gain catch and run plays that could've been short gainers. Wrap up or draw him out of bounds!

Karl Joseph. No question that Karl Joseph is the only good player on the Raiders secondary. But, he's gonna have some bad games. This was one of them. He got beat by Antonio Gates. He got beat even worse by Hunter Henry, especially on one specific pass play. King pinned the Chargers deep into their own territory. Then on the first play, Rivers passes to Henry. Joseph stops covering and Henry made the catch over his head. That was one of the many catalysts that lead to the Chargers game-winning field goal. 

Penalties. There's not much of a difference as the Raiders committed 5 penalties compared to Chargers committing 4 penalties. But how many of those penalties were momentum killers? How many of those penalties were questionable? Exhibit A: Carr lofts a pass to Amari Cooper for a big gain, but a phantom holding penalty on Gabe Jackson wiped it out. Exhibit B: Two Chargers defenders jumped into the neutral zone, false start called on Donald Penn when he didn't even flinch.

MVP

Marquette King, 4 punts, 59 yards

King did his thing today. Whenever the offense stalled, M.K. boomed it deep into the Chargers own territory. Too bad those efforts were for naught because the defense gave up big yardage.





Conclusion

There is no jinx here in this now 4-game skid. There are internal problems on this Raiders team. From the players, to the coaching staff, to Jack Del Rio, everybody's held accountable at this mess! There's no way around it. Was going 12-4 last year a real sham? Because more and more it looks like it. It's like this team just doesn't have it yet to be one of the elites, let alone, a Super Bowl contender. The whole offense is not being the well-oiled machine like we imagined it to be. Secondary is an issue. Linebackers are the equivalent of Russian Roulette, you never know who's starting. But hey, we might finally have the answer at Linebacker because rumor has it, the Raiders are interested in NaVorro Bowman. I'd take him than what the Raiders have now at Linebacker. Next game against Kansas City on Thursday Night is not looking good. And you can bet, the Chiefs will be amped up on Thursday for losing against the Steelers today. Do the Raiders want to be great? They have to earn it against the Chiefs on the Thursday. I'll see you guys for a potential double-header on Thursday. Because Lakers basketball is coming back and I will have a Regular Season preview up in about a couple of hours. I'll see you guys later. 

Week 6: RAIDERS vs. LA Chargers 2nd Half Open Thread and Discussion

The 2nd half of the Raiders-Chargers Week 6 matchup. As usual, leave a comment below and share your thoughts on the game.

Q4

LAC 17 OAK 16

I haven't done this awhile...

Stay tuned for the full recap.

Q3

LAC 7 OAK 10

This is a quarter with so many missed opportunities. The Raiders were putting together a nice opening drive of the 2nd half and then a tipped INT in the red zone just killed all kinds of momentum. Defense forces a fumble, then the Raiders almost gave it right back to the Chargers. Luckily enough, the defense is holding its ground. Nicholas Morrow and Xavier Woodson-Luster are providing some unsung contributions in the linebacker position as they're doing a solid job containing Melvin Gordon. At some point though, the Raiders have to put the nail in the coffin. This is gonna be an ugly fight to the finish heading into the 4th.

Week 6: Must Win - RAIDERS vs. Los Angeles Chargers 1st Half Open Thread and Discussion

This is the open thread of the first half of the Raiders' Week 6 matchup vs. the LA Chargers. Leave a comment below and share your thoughts on the game.

Q2

LAC 7 OAK 10

It seems to me that it's going to be the Raiders vs. the Chargers and the Refs based on what I saw on the first half. The positive here is that Oakland was able to get out of this slow first half with a lead. The offense is playing safe out there and understandably so to protect Carr. They did a nice job establishing the run against the Chargers' poor run defense and they decide to go with quick, short and intermediate routes to ease Carr in. With that gameplan, they got a score with Carr finding Crabtree for an early 7-0 lead. To think, the Chargers could've lead at this half, but Nick Novak missed a field goal and they failed to convert on one of their two fourth down plays. The defense for the most part did its job minus the Gordon TD late in this quarter. TJ Carrie is standing out early on, making a couple of big 3rd down plays. The secondary needs any positive right now at this point. Anything would be great. Slow, safe first half, but the Raiders need to open it up a little bit in the 2nd. They are in dangerous waters if they're letting a 1-5 Chargers team hang around. 2nd half open thread will open up shortly.

Q1

LAC 0 OAK 7

Wow, that was a very questionable call to end the quarter. False start on Penn? He didn't flinch one bit. Okay, back to the overall summary of this quarter. I thought we were gonna be off to another shaky start after Carr threw a pick. I was thinking "this is where the Chargers" score a TD. But, they missed a field goal. Raiders get back on the field and they put together a very methodical drive to establish the run and ease Carr with easy completions, culminating in a TD to Crabtree. So far, so good, but there's a lot of work to do. But, I'm still stunned on that call. Chargers jumped big time.