Tag: Las Vegas Raiders vs Los Angeles Chargers

Raiders DE Tyree Wilson leaves game vs Chargers with knee injury, doesn’t return

Tyree Wilson leaves opener with knee injury, doesn’t return

With Malcolm Koonce placed on injured reserve prior to the season opener, the Raiders were hoping Tyree Wilson would step up and help pick up the slack. Those hopes took a hit today.

The 2023 7th overall pick left the opener in Los Angeles early with a knee injury and didn’t return. He was officially ruled out early in the third quarter.

Wilson came into the came having been listed on the injury report with a foot issue. After a foot injury disrupted his development as a rookie.

Hopefully this knee injury isn’t too serious. With him out as well, it will be Janarius Robinson and Charles Snowden who will fill in opposite Maxx Crosby on the defensive line.

Watch: Raiders RB Alexander Mattison hurdles defender on incredible 31-yard touchdown

Watch: Alexander Mattison hurdles defender on incredible 31-yard touchdown

Not much was doing for the Raiders offense through much of the first quarter of their opener against the Chargers. They didn’t pick up a first down on their first two drives with a punt and a turnover on downs.

Three Zamir White runs in short yardage were stuffed for no gain or a loss.

Then the third drive, everything changed. Gardner Minshew found Davante Adams for 19 yards and then for another 11 yards. Then the early highlight of the game came from Alexander Mattison who took a short pass in the right flat and did this:

https://twitter.com/Raiders/status/1832881843168841771

Mattison looked like he was going to be stopped for a short gain. Then he posterized CB Asante Samuel Jr, hurdling him and without breaking stride, streaked up the right sideline 31 yards for the score.

Raiders inactives vs Chargers: All rookies

Rookies make up all Raiders inactives vs Chargers

Before we see who takes the field for the Raiders against the Chargers today. we see who will NOT be taking the field.

https://twitter.com/Raiders/status/1832850138106085634

The entire inactive list for the Raiders is made up of rookies. Four of which are drafted rookies. Along with safety Trey Taylor (IR) and CB MJ Devonshire (practice squad), that means only two drafted rookies will suit up today for the Raiders — first round TE Brock Bowers and third round T DJ Glaze.

The only other rookie who will play in this one is undrafted LB Amari Gainer.

Behind Enemy Lines: Previewing Raiders’ Week 1 matchup with Chargers Wire

We speak with the editor for the Chargers Wire to get the skinny on the Raiders first opponent of the 2024 season.

With the Raiders season opener against the Chargers less than 24 hours away, we spoke with Gavino Borquez from ChargersWire to learn a few things about the team the Raiders will be facing.

Q: Is there any concern Justin Herbert’s Plantar Fascia injury will limit him in the opener?

Gavino Borquez: Herbert was a full participant at practice all week, and there wasn’t any noteworthy concerns when he returned to the practice field. The injury that he sustained is no joke, so it’s worth monitoring how he holds up for the full game. It wouldn’t be surprising if they don’t incorporate as much designed quarterback runs as they were anticipating before he got injured so there isn’t much pressure applied to his foot.

Q: What I keep hearing is that, sure Herbert is great, but he has no receivers. Is that accurate or overblown?

Borquez: It’s a little bit overblown. When Keenan Allen and Mike Williams were both hurt last season, Herbert was still thriving throwing to lesser-known wideouts. Joshua Palmer is an underrated wide receiver, who developed good chemistry with Herbert. Ladd McConkey is a great route runner and I expect him to be targeted quite often. Quentin Johnston showed signs of improvement this offseason. I think Herbert will be OK.

Q: The Chargers had one of the league’s worst defenses last season in terms of yards and points allowed. What have they done to address that?

Borquez: Former head coach Brandon Staley played a big part of the Chargers’ defensive woes. Now that he’s gone, defensive coordinator Jesse Minter is the one they’re hoping to turn things around. Minter followed Harbaugh from Michigan after engineering one of the top defenses in college football. He is going to put his top playmakers in position to flourish. Oh, expect the blitz a lot.

Q: Every year the past few years the Chargers have entered the season with a good deal of hype. And every year, they fail to live up to it. Was the head coach what has been holding them back? And therefore does Jim Harbaugh’s arrival change that?

Borquez: Harbaugh has been a winner everywhere he’s coached. The Chargers have not had a winning head coach since Marty Schottenheimer. The hiring of Harbaugh was arguably one of the biggest moves the franchise has made. The former Michigan head coach has changed the culture in Los Angeles and it’ll be fascinating to see it all unfold starting on Sunday.

Q: Give me one under the radar player on each side of the ball we should be watching in this game.

Borquez: Offensively, tight end Will Dissly was signed to primarily serve as a blocker. Dissly’s presence should boost the run game. And we know that Harbaugh and offensive coordinator Greg Roman want to pound the rock.

Defensively, safety Alohi Gilman doesn’t get as much attention as he deserves because he’s overshadowed by Derwin James. Gilman has a knack for producing turnovers.

3 causes for concern for Raiders vs Chargers in Week 1

Raiders causes for concern vs Chargers in Week 1

There are some reasons for optimism if you’re the Raiders facing the Chargers Sunday. But there are also plenty of reasons for concern. There are a few.

Big loss on Defense

There’s no question this Raiders team’s strength is its defense. That defense is expected to carry them to a few wins this season. the most important part of that defense is the pass rush. And one of their starters was just lost to a knee injury.

Malcolm Koonce was expected to continue his scorching hot pass rushing that he displayed after Antonio Pierce took over midway through last season. He and Maxx Crosby were to be a dynamic one-two punch. Now the Raiders will have to hope either Janarius Robinson or Tyree Wilson can pick up the slack.

Quarterback comparison

This is going to happen a lot this year to the Raiders. But it’s especially true this week with Justin Herbert lining up behind center for the Chargers. Raiders QB Gardner Minshew makes up for his lack of elite physical talents with grit and moxie. While Herbert has all the physical tools to be an elite quarterback.

Outside of his injury shortened season in 2024, Herbert averages over 31 touchdowns to less than 12 interceptions per season. Minshew’s career high came in 2023 when he started 13 games and threw 15 touchdowns to nine interceptions.

At the most important position, the Chargers has a pretty extreme advantage.

Jim Harbaugh bonafides

Even if you remove Jim Harbaugh’s college football coaching, he still was a QB coach for two seasons with the Raiders (2002-03) head coach for four seasons with the 49ers (2011-14). He never had a losing season in San Francisco. He won the NFC West twice, went to the playoffs three times — winning at least one playoff game each time — made the NFC Championship game twice, and the Super Bowl once.

By comparison, Antonio Pierce’s NFL coaching experience consists of two seasons as a linebackers coach, and nine games as the interim head coach.

Harbaugh has the experience and is proven. Not having any recent NFL game tape of Harbaugh’s coaching style doesn’t help when trying to game plan against him either.

Raiders activate CB Sam Webb from practice squad due to depth issues

Depth issues at cornerback leads Raiders to activate CB Sam Webb from practice squad

Four cornerbacks isn’t nearly enough. That’s what the Raiders had available to them for the season opener against the Chargers. Mainly because injuries have depleted the depth at the position.

To help account for these depth issues, the team activated practice squad CB Sam Webb on Saturday.

Webb could be the next man up after the three starters, which means he could see the field a fair amount.

Nate Hobbs, Jack Jones, and Jakorian Bennett will start at the three cornerback spots. The two cornerbacks who were supposed to be behind them were Brandon Facyson and DeCamerion Richards. But both are injured and won’t play. Facyson is on IR and Richards was ruled OUT on this week’s final injury report.

They signed Darnay Holmes last week and typically you’d prefer to have a cornerback in the mix longer than that before throwing him on the field.

Webb is entering his third season with the Raiders, so he is well versed in this defense. Making it a no-brainer that he get the call up for this game.

TV broadcast map for Raiders vs Chargers in Week 1

Parts of the country where you can catch Week 1 game between the Raiders and Chargers

The Raiders and Chargers will open the season at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. Both teams have new coaching staffs and hope to use that to their advantage.

Well, technically, the Raiders have the same head coach and defensive staff as the last time they faced the Chargers. And trounced them 63-21.

Pierce simply had the interim tag removed and replaced the offensive staff, keeping Patrick Graham’s successful defensive staff intact.

Jim Harbaugh, on the other, hand rebuilt his entire staff from the ground up, including bringing in a familiar face in OC Greg Roman.

If you’re eager to catch the first game of the season for these two division rivals, here is the map to see if it’s in your area as laid out by 506sports.com:

If you are in one of the red zones, you are in luck. The game will air at 1:05 Pacific (4:05 ET) on CBS.

The other late game on CBS is the Broncos at Seattle (tan). For everyone else, there will be no late game on CBS. They will get either the Patriots at Bengals (dark blue), Jaguars at Dolphins (green), Texans at Colts (yellow), or Cardinals at Bills (light blue).

Raiders vs Chargers final Week 1 injury report: Malcolm Koonce, Jackson Powers-Johnson both OUT

Malcolm Koonce, Jackson Powers-Johnson both OUT for Raiders vs Chargers

The final injury report for the Raiders and Chargers is out and as expected, Malcolm Koonce (knee) is OUT. But he isn’t the only one. He will be joined by rookie guard Jackson Powers-Johnson (illness) and rookie fourth round CB DeCamerion Richardson (hamstring).

https://twitter.com/LeviDamien/status/1832169943477129399

Rookie fifth round pick Tommy Eichenberg (knee) is officially Questionable for the Raiders.

The Chargers will be without starting receiver DJ Chark for the game. Which means the starting receivers will be Quentin Johnston and Josh Palmer.

They also have a couple cornerbacks who are questionable, including starter Asante Samuel who was limited Friday with a shoulder injury.

3 Key matchups for Raiders in season opener vs Chargers

Keep an eye on these matchups as they could be the key to who wins this game.

With most season openers, there’s a lot of mystery. Each season brings new breakout players and new challenges. While some players just remain a force to be reckoned with.

Both teams have players who fall into the category of dominance. And in some cases, those players will be going up against players who still have something to prove. Those matchups could be the deciding factor in Sunday’s season opener in Los Angeles between the Raiders and Chargers.

DE Maxx Crosby vs T Joe Alt

Alt is the Chargers’ top rookie this year. They selected him with the fifth overall pick in April’s draft. And right away he will have one of the toughest assignments in the NFL — containing Maxx Crosby.

The Raiders will need Crosby to win that battle, especially with Malcolm Koonce out with a knee injury. This defense lives and dies by its ability to get to the quarterback, so this matchup is a big one.

DT John Jenkins vs RB Gus Edwards/JK Dobbins

The Chargers figure to run the ball a lot under Greg Roman. They haven’t named a single starter at running back, so either it’s a mystery or a true dual role. In either case, the man who will played the most outsized role in trying to contain the run will be Jenkins.

Jenkins is the team’s nose tackle. Stopping the run is his primary job. Whether he makes the actual tackle on a given play is not the most important detail. His job will be to be in his gap and not get overpowered to either make the stop or force whoever is running the ball to re-direct somewhere else.

T Thayer Munford vs DE Khalil Mack

Munford will face the former Raiders All Pro edge rusher the majority of the time in his debut as Raiders starter. Mack absolutely demolished the Raiders in their first matchup last season. He lit up former RT Jermaine Eluemunor and got Kolton Miller a couple times as well to put up SIX (6) sacks against them.

Mack has had some of his best games against the team that drafted him and then opted to trade him rather than give him a new contract. He will be rearing to go for this one and facing a new starter in Munford who has a lot to prove to keep his job.

Other matchups to watch:

TE Brock Bowers vs S Derwin James

WR Davante Adams vs Asante Samuel Jr

Raiders lose DE Malcolm Koonce to knee injury, will miss season opener vs Chargers

DE Malcolm Koonce suffered a knee injury in practice this week and will miss season opener vs Chargers

Thursday, Raiders edge rusher Malcolm Koonce left practice with a knee injury. And Friday head coach Antonio Pierce announced Koonce will miss Sunday’s game in Los Angeles against the Chargers.

Koonce came on strong late last season with eight sacks in nine games as the starting edge rusher opposite Maxx Crosby. Now the Raiders will look to one of the team’s reserve edge rushers to fill in at the last minute.

“When one guy’s (down), next man up mentality,” said Pierce. “The thing about it, Tyree Wilson, JRob [Janarius Robinson], those guys have had a lot of opportunities to play and we expect them to step up and play well.”

This is a significant loss for the Raiders. He and Crosby had formed a significant duo last season and were the primary factors in this Raiders defense stepping up and being among the best in the NFL over the latter half of the season.

Wilson was selected with the seventh overall pick in last year’s draft and has largely been a disappointment so far. They would certainly like it if he could start living up to that, but there’s been no indication he will. Janarius Robinson has looked much better, including dominating preseason play this year. Question is if it will translate when facing a starting offensive unit.