Easily the Raiders most impressive win of the season. And not just despite their two turnovers in the first quarter, but in part because of how they responded to them.
They kept believing in themselves and fought their way back into it to tie it up in the second quarter. Then got a takeaway of their own along with two big scores and stole the momentum to pull out the 27-20 victory.
Ballers
DE Chandler Jones
It was Jones’s coming out party. He had a half-sack coming in and exploded with three sacks. But he did a lot more than just put up sacks.
Jones looked to have ended the first Chargers possession with a three-and-out when he made the tackle in Justin Herbert’s scramble to stop it short of the first down. The Chargers ran a successful fake punt to give themselves a few more plays, but couldn’t pick up another first down and punted anyway.
The next Chargers drive didn’t yield a first down. They went for it on fourth and two and Jones again made the stop on the Herbert scramble to stop it short of the sticks.
His first sack ended the Chargers’ next possession, forcing them to settle for a field goal. And he would have two more sacks before the end of the first half while getting the pressure around the edge that led to a fourth sack. He later had a batted ball on third and 12 to force the Chargers to go for it on 4th and 12.
WR Davante Adams
The Raiders’ first scoring drive began with Adams making a catch on a zero route in the left flat and running for 12 yards. It moved into LA territory when Adams got open for a 19-yard catch to the 44-yard line.
Off the takeaway in the third quarter, Carr threw the ball for Adams on the first play. The ball was inside and low with Asante Samuel in his face and Adams still made the catch for the 31-yard touchdown.
The next time the Raiders got the ball, Adams got open on the flea-flicker. The safety opted to cover Mack Hollins deep so Carr launched it for Adams and the result was a 45-yard touchdown.
The final Raiders scoring drive had Adams make a three-yard catch on third and two, and a 16-yard catch. Carr threw for him for the touchdown, but the ball was knocked down and the Raiders settled for a field goal to take a 27-13 lead.
With the Chargers having pulled it to a one-score game at 27-20, Adams made a 15-yard grab to give the Raiders a fresh set of downs to burn more clock. That was his final catch to give him 177 yards and two touchdowns on eight catches.
RB Josh Jacobs
Jacobs averaged 5.5 yards per carry in this game. And it wasn’t because he broke one while getting stopped for short yardage on most of the others. He was simply earning every yard all game long.
It didn’t start great or Jacobs. He fumbled a catch in the first quarter which he and the Raiders were lucky didn’t end up yielding any points for the Chargers.
Things got going for Jacobs in the second quarter. With the Raiders at the LA 29-yard-line, Jacobs broke a tackle in the backfield and took a run for nine yards. He got the ball again on the next play and it looked very much like the one he broke last week to beat the Seahawks in overtime. The only difference was he had just 20 yards to the end zone this time.
The Raiders’ third touchdown off the flea-flicker was set up by Jacobs having made a savvy run for 13 yards on the previous play. With the defense now preparing for him, Josh McDaniels called for the okeydoke and it worked like a charm just as it had last week. Paydirt.
On the next drive, Jacobs had runs of six, nine, 15, and nine to put the Raiders in scoring position and they took a 27-13 lead. Jacobs would finish with 144 yards and a touchdown on 26 carries.
CB Nate Hobbs, S Duron Harmon
Hobbs’s return was noticeable. He is the Raiders’ top cornerback every time he steps foot on the field. And he brings energy on every play.
He began coming up big for the Raiders at the end of the second quarter when he had tight coverage to force an incompletion on third down.
On the second play of the third quarter, Austin Ekeler took a screen pass and picked up good yards. But at the end of that run, Harmon punched the ball out. And after exchanging hands a few times — mostly Raiders defenders — it was Hobbs who finally fell on it to give the Raiders possession at the LA 31. The Adams touchdown pass followed.
After the game, Hobbs was asked about the fumble recovery and he was told it was Harmon. “Of course,” he responded.
With 2:48 left in the game, the Chargers lined up in 4th and nine needing a touchdown to tie it. Herbert went deep for DeAndre Carter, but Nate Hobbs was right there in tight coverage and Carter couldn’t make the catch, essentially ending the Chargers’ chances of tying the game up.
LT Kolton Miller, LG Dylan Parham, C Andre James, RG Alex Bars, RT Jermaine Eluemunor
The entire Raiders offensive line deserves credit for their work in this game. They gave up no sacks and no run stops for negative yards.
Several times, Derek Carr had all day in the pocket to find his receiver. And it was a big reason he had four passes over 30 yards and a 19-yard completion.
DE Maxx Crosby, DT Jerry Tillery
Crosby and Chandler Jones were both getting good pressure around the edges. Helping those pressures lead to sacks was Tillery. The former Chargers’ top pick was clearly energized to face his old team.
The first play of the game saw Crosby get the right edge to hit Herbert’s arm as he threw to force a fumble. It was recovered by the Chargers.
Two plays later, on the first third down of the game for the Chargers, Tillery flushed Justin Herbert from the pocket and Jones made the tackle on the scramble short of the first down.
After the successful fake field punt, Tillery and Crosby made short work of their new set of downs. They both got pressure to force an incompletion on first down and then did it again on third down, with Tillery getting a good hit on Herbert as well.
In the third quarter, Matthew Butler and Clelin Ferrell shared a sack. That sack was made possible because Tillery kept Herbert from escaping the pocket.
As often happens, Crosby only got better as the game went along. Come the fourth quarter, on three consecutive plays, he had a QB hit for an incompletion, a tackle on a run which he chased down way out in the right flat. and a pressure on a short catch.
WR Mack Hollins
Early in the second quarter, the Raiders were driving and found themselves in third and nine from the Chargers’ 43-yard-line. Then Carr found Hollins for 14 yards. Two plays later Josh Jacobs took the handoff on the right side of the line and, behind blocks from Hollins and Jakob Johnson, went 20 yards for the touchdown.
Come the third quarter, the Raiders went up 24-13 and got the ball back after a missed field goal. On the first play, Jacobs went for 13 yards behind another Hollins downfield block.
The next play was the flea-flicker. It was the same set up as last week when Hollins was wide open for the score. Only this time Hollins drew the safety on his go route which left Adams in single coverage. The result was the same. Touchdown.
Had Carr seen Hollins wide open in the end zone on the first play of the fourth quarter, the Raiders would have taken a 31-13 lead. But he threw for Adams and the ball was knocked away so they settled for a field goal.
HC Josh McDaniels, DC Patrick Graham
They catch plenty of grief (including from myself) for their performances, so it’s only fitting they be recognized when things go right.
McDaniels made some pretty great play calls on offense and a week after the defense saw some serious lapses in coverage, to give up 34 points, they came out in this one and had their best performance of the season.
Honorable Mention
S Isaiah Pola-Mao — Came on the blitz several times, resulting in a sack, two QB hits, and a tackle for loss. He had six tackles in just 13 snaps. That’s efficient.
FB Jakob Johnson — Was doing his usual dirty work clearing potential tacklers from Josh Jacobs’s path. That includes the 20-yard touchdown run and a 15-yard run to set up the Raiders’ final score.
Busters
None
There simply wasn’t a performance that sunk to the level of a Buster. A respectable performance all around for the Raiders in this game.
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