Busters
RT Jermaine Eluemunor, LT Kolton Miller
Six sacks. One shy of the NFL single-game record. That’s the game Khalil Mack had against his former team. Most of them came against Eluemunor from the right tackle spot, but not all.
The first sack, Mack was initially lined up on Eluemunor, but went inside on the stunt and Greg Van Roten didn’t switch up to stop him.
The next sack was the strip variety, and it was Miller who was driven back into the pocket to give up the hit on O’Connell as he looked to throw. Next possession, Eluemunor gave up a tackle for loss to begin a three-and-out.
To begin the third quarter, Eluemunor gave up a strip sack. The Raiders recovered, but two plays later, on third and one, Miller was flagged for a false start. Then on third and six, Eluemunor gave up another sack. Yes, he gave up two sacks on three plays.
Next drive, Miller gave up a pressure that led to a sack. Then on third and one, he gave up a run stuff for a loss, forcing the Raiders to go for it on fourth and two. It was only a roughing penalty on the Chargers that allowed the Raiders to get a field goal out of that drive.
The next drive was killed when Eluemunor gave up another sack. Then on the final drive for the Raiders, Eluemunor was driven back again by Mack to give up a batted ball that put them in third and ten.
LB Divine Deablo
It seemed like every time the Chargers made a play, it was Deablo who was missing the tackle or out of position.
Their opening drive, for instance. Deablo was blocked on a 51-yard run and out of position on an 11-yard run that put them in scoring position at the 24 and they finished off the drive with a TD.
The next scoring drive to begin the second quarter, he missed a sack when he had Justin Herbert in his clutches but let him go because he thought he had released the ball. Herbert then escaped and threw for an 18-yard completion. The next play, Deablo misse the tackle on a catch that went for six yards.
The first down saving tackle by Nichols late in the game should’ve been stopped by Deablo, but he missed the tackle on Herbert’s scramble.
QB Aidan O’Connell
Not easy making your first NFL start. And O’Connell had all the rookie jitters in this one. He fumbled three times. Only one of them was a legit strip sack. One was him just losing the ball. Another he was just bumped in the back, which should be enough to cause the ball to come loose. Two of those fumbles were lost.
Then he threw the interception that killed the Raiders chance of tying up the game. It was first and goal and he should’ve thrown that one away rather than take that chance. He also nearly got Davante Adams seriously injured when he threw behind him. Adams went back to get it and fell on his shoulder. I asked Adams after the game if he feared it was much worse than it turned out to be, and he said he absolutely thought the damage was more severe, so that was a pretty lucky break.
CB David Long Jr
The first Chargers scoring drive probably never should have happened. Maxx Crosby got the strip sack on Justin Herbert, but it was wiped away because Long lined up in the neutral zone at the snap. I mean, it wasn’t even an offsides. He just lined up wrong. And a big sack and possible turnover was a first down a the Vegas 14-yard-line instead.
Long also gave up the touchdown pass in the second quarter to put the Chargers up 17-7.
DT Jerry Tillery
Stupid thy name is Jerry Tillery. Much like the Chargers’ opening drive TD shouldn’t have happened if not for a boneheaded penalty, the same could be said of their second TD drive.
The Chargers got the ball off a fumble to start in Vegas territory. On second down, Herbert took off running and was forced out of bounds after just three yards. That would’ve set up third and three at the 29, but Tillery has a thing for his the QB on his former team and hit him way late and out of bounds. It tackled on 15 yards and got Tillery booted from the game. The Chargers then lined up in first down at the 14-yard-line. They scored three plays later.