Heading into Sunday the Oakland Raiders had never beaten the Los Angeles Chargers. The Silver & Black lost both the games the franchises played against one another back in 1960.
They’ll have to wait to get another shot in Los Angeles. The Chargers beat the Raiders 17-16 on Sunday in the Bay Area.
Raiders quarterback Derek Carr played despite having a broken bone in his back and his first pass may have shown a little rust. Carr and wide receiver Michael Crabtree were thinking different things; the ball flew right by Crabtree and was picked off by Chargers cornerback Trevor Williams.
The Chargers ran three plays, earned no yards, and watched Nick Novak badly miss a 48-yard field goal try.
On their next possession Carr started looking like his old self. He completed four straight passes, the last one a 23-yard touchdown to Crabtree to put the Raiders on top 7-0. That was easily the best offensive possession for Oakland in the 1st half.
On the other side the Chargers were on the struggle bus to move the ball at all. They failed to convert on their first three 3rd down tries and even turned the ball over on downs. On 4th and 3 from the Raiders 34 yard line Chargers Head Coach Anthony Lynn decided to go for it instead of trying a 52-yard field goal. Quarterback Philip Rivers’ pass towards Keenan Allen was incomplete.
On their last drive of the half, though, the Bolts got something going. Rivers hit Allen for 28 yards to jump-start one of their best efforts of the season. The Bolts got to the Raiders one yard line and on 4th down Lynn went for it again. This time it worked.
Running back Melvin Gordon leapt into the end zone to tie the game 7-7. With 1:42 left in the half the Raiders got a 39-yard kickoff return from Cordarrelle Patterson, setting them up to move into field goal range and Giorgio Tavecchio hit a 44-yarder to send the Raiders to the halftime locker room with a 10-7 lead.
The second half was not exactly a display of stellar offense. Carr took the Raiders to the Chargers 15-yard-line but then had a pass deflect off the hands of running back Marshawn Lynch and right to linebacker Hayes Pullard for another interception.
The Chargers turned it over when wide receiver Tyrell Williams had the ball stripped by Raiders defensive back Dexter McDonald. The Raiders gave it back on downs when they decided to go for it on 4th and 2 from the Chargers 41-yard-line and Carr couldn’t connect with Crabtree.
Rivers took advantage with another TD drive, finding Gordon for a 6-yard TD pass and a 14-10 lead. But as they have done so many times in the past the Chargers could not hold a late lead.
Oakland scored on a 47-yard sweep by wide receiver Cordarrelle Patterson, who now has six career rushing touchdowns and all of them are 30 yards or longer. The PAT was no good so the Raiders had a 16-14 lead and that extra point turned out to be huge.
After trading punts the Chargers took over at their own 8-yard-line with just more than four minutes to play. Rivers saw a matchup he liked: Raiders safety Karl Joseph on Chargers tight end Hunter Henry. Rivers found Henry for 34 yards and then again for 23 yards to get into field goal range.
Melvin Gordon ran four straight times to force the Raiders to use their time outs and then Novak made amends for his earlier miss with a 32-yard FG to win it on the final snap of the game.
Both teams are now 2-4 and the Chargers have their first 2-game winning streak since October of 2016 when then beat the Broncos and Falcons. Next week the Chargers go back to StubHub Center to face the Broncos while the Raiders host the Chiefs on Thursday Night Football.
