Los Angeles Chargers: Observations on big win over Raiders

The Los Angeles Chargers smoked the visiting Raiders for a 26-10 team victory, moving to 3-2. My thoughts on the big win for the Bolts…

Now that’s more like it, Los Angeles Chargers. A dominant defense joined forces with an unstoppable offense and special teams that weren’t awful for a big divisional win over the Oakland Raiders in Week 5, finally moving the Chargers to a winning record and second place in the AFC West.

Let’s dive right into some notes from the game.

Adrian Phillips was a huge part of the squad that contained Marshawn Lynch to just 31 yards on nine carries. Outside of a long of eight yards, the defense gave up no big rushing plays to the Raiders, in large part due to Phillips’ outstanding tackling (six tackles) in which he continually wrapped up Lynch one-on-one at the line of scrimmage.

Denzel Perryman had one of the best games he’s had in weeks, looking more explosive and powerful chasing down ball carriers. No. 52 tied for the team lead with seven total tackles.

Derwin James continues to show how important he is to the defense, even if this game didn’t have one of his signature game-wrecking plays. Multiple times on third down, James lined up over a defensive end and showed blitz, only to drop back and take away Carr’s safety option.

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With the Raiders’ quarterback confused and hesitating, Melvin Ingram and company were able to generate pressure and get to him three times.

The defense as an entire unit deserves loads of credit for taking away the three biggest strengths of the Raiders:

1. Marshawn Lynch: 31 yards
2. Amari Cooper: 10 yards
3. Jared Cook: 20 yards

Gus Bradley (finally) seemed to have the right game plan together to eliminate their best players while adding enough pressure to force Carr into some awful mistakes.

But, as good as the defense was, this one belongs to Philip Rivers. No. 17 completed roughly 81.5 percent of his passes, threw no picks and commanded the offense to 412 yards. Nothing exemplifies his brilliance more than watching Rivers take a snap over his head, spin around and find dynamic back Austin Ekeler for a 44-yard touchdown.

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I’ve never seen Rivers look so consistent throwing the ball on the move and making perfect reads on pressure from a line down its two starting tackles. He’s on another level right now, and would be in serious MVP consideration if not for Patrick Mahomes.

More tidbits

• Why didn’t the Raiders throw the ball at the one yard line? The Chargers were bailed out by that awful decision.
• Forrest Lamp was active for the first time this season, although (I believe) saw no snaps on offense. I’ll take anything trending in the right direction.
• Without watching tape to see how Jatavis Brown is playing every snap, I am happy with how many big plays he’s made the past two weeks in the absence of Kyzir White. His forced fumble, even if by just a fingertip, led to a Chargers touchdown that essentially put the game away for the Bolts.
• Ken Whisenhunt is getting more creative. Ingram with a rush at the goal line? Virgil Green on a screen? Mike Williams with a rushing attempt? I’m shocked.
• Although it didn’t result in points (Sturgis missed), the aggressiveness at the end of the half to go for any kind of touchdown or field goal and almost pull it off was a huge step forward for this coaching staff. It almost worked, and was absolutely worth it.

The Chargers sit at 3-2 on the year ahead of a trip to Cleveland next week to face the 2-2-1 Browns next week. We’ll see if the Bolts can continue to build off of this stellar performance in the win over Oakland.