By Tim Peterson
(Inglewood) – The Chargers broke open a tie game at halftime with two touchdowns in the third quarter and went on to beat Las Vegas 31-14 Sunday before 71, 018 at SoFi Stadium.
The Chargers drove 74 yards on 14 plays on the opening possession. Justin Herbert hit Quentin Johnston on a 10-yard touchdown pass to cap it and grab a quick 7-0 lead.
Early in the second quarter Herbert missed several plays with what was later revealed to be due to a fractured hand. He was replaced by Trey Lance. But Herbert returned and then was promptly intercepted by Kyu Blu Kelly at the Raiders’ two-yard line. But Geno Smith returned the favor as Tony Jefferson intercepted his pass off of a deflection. The Chargers took over at the Las Vegas 27 yard-line.
The Chargers went for it on fourth and one at the 18-yard line but Kimani Vidal was stopped for no gain with 6:32 left in the second quarter.
After the Chargers were stopped the Raiders marched 82 yards on nine plays. Smith hit Brock Bowers on a six-yard touchdown pass to tie it at seven with 1:50 left in the second quarter. The teams went into the halftime break tied at seven.
Vidal put the Chargers on top quickly when he got to the outside and was off to the races for a 59-yard touchdown on the Chargers’ first possession of the third quarter. LA went up 14-7 with 14:03 left in the third.
Later in the quarter the Hebert hit Ladd McConkey on a seven-yard touchdown pass in the corner of the endzone to cap an eight-play, 60 -yard drive as the Chargers increased their lead to 21-7 with 2:23 left in the third.
On the next possession the Las Vegas was stopped on fourth and one at its own 42-yard line and the Chargers took over there late in the third quarter.
Cameron Dicker kicked a 56-yard field goal early in the fourth to increase the lead to 24-7.
The Raiders responded with one last gasp as they put together a 13-play, 65-yard march. Bowers pulled down a remarkable one-handed grab in the endzone on a six-yard pass from Smith to cut the LA lead to 24-14 with 7:49 left in the fourth quarter.
The Chargers had one more drive left to ice it. They moved the ball down the field 68 yards on 13 plays. Jaret Patterson finished it with a two-yard blast for the final tally of the day.
For the Chargers Herbert completed 15 of 21 for 151 yards and two touchdowns with an interception. Vidal ran for 126 yards and a score on 25 carries.
Smith threw for 165 yards and two touchdowns on 18 of 23 completions for the Raiders with an interception. The Raiders only managed 31 total yards on the ground.
Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh said after the game that Lance had to come in after Herbert fractured a bone in his left hand during the game when he was hit on a scramble. Herbert was able to play through the pain as he came back to finish the game. He is set to have surgery Monday but the Chargers are hopeful that he won’t miss any games and will be monitored throughout the week.
The Chargers next game is next Monday night against the Philadelphia Eagles at SoFi.
“I’m treating it as if I’m playing Monday, ”Herbert said. “I think they were very hopeful for that, so I think that’s just something we’ll see tomorrow and get a feel for.”
With the win the Chargers improved to 8-4 on the season while the Raiders dropped to 2-10.
LV 0 7 0 7 14
LA 7 0 14 10 31
Loading ...
I believe there’s a good chance that both Pete Carroll and Chip Kelly will be gone soon, unless the Raiders can score some victories in the final weeks of the regular season. A few precious wins after such a horrible start would suggest the beginning of a turnaround that could continue next year.
How much more losing can Raider fans take? It might be a good business model for Mark Davis at the moment, but that will no longer be the case if the fans stop coming to Allegiant Stadium. A change in ownership might be the best thing that could happen for this once-great franchise.
Paying coaches a big wad isn’t going to dent ownership’s bank accounts the same as paying PLAYERS, you know, the guys who actually win the games. Signing Carroll and bringing in Kelly were part of the facade of trying to get good. Dear old Mark doesn’t give a rat’s furry behind about restoring the Raiders’ glory.
Chip Kelly was the highest paid coordinator in the NFL!
I see a direct parallel between the way the Clippers were run under Donald Sterling and the way the Raiders are presently being run by Mark Davis. Sterling was a close friend of old man Al, so the idea of letting those around you raise the equity of one’s investments surely got passed on to the younger Davis. The idea is to make a lot of noise and shuffling of people to present an effort at improvement, but to keep the bottom line of expenditures low. Then you can laugh at those spending big bucks, knowing their outlays are raising the worth of your neglected franchise. It’s at once both smart and disgusting.