Oakland Raiders: Studs and duds from win vs. Chargers, Week 10

The Oakland Raiders never make winning easy but moved to 5-4 with a primetime win over the Chargers. Studs and duds for the Silver and Black in Week 10.

Jon Gruden and the Oakland Raiders, despite the perceived odds and severely tempered expectations, are now 5-4 on the 2019 NFL season. With a Thursday Night Football win over the Los Angeles Chargers, the Raiders are very much alive in the AFC playoff race and, prior to the Chiefs’ Week 10 game as they’ve not had their bye yet, are just one game out of the AFC West lead.

The win on Thursday in Week 10 didn’t come easy, of course. After jumping out to an early lead thanks to some defensive playmaking, Derek Carr and Philip Rivers (or perhaps more aptly Josh Jacobs and Melvin Gordon) traded blows in a back-and-forth game. In the end, it was a Jacobs touchdown run late that sealed the win at home for Oakland.

We could be about to see a run from these upstart Raiders as they took care of business at home for the second straight week. But looking back at Thursday Night Football, these are the studs and duds for Oakland in the win.

Stud: Erik Harris, DB

Erik Harris has had a long journey to this point in his NFL career but he had the night of his life against the Chargers in Week 10. The defensive back was absolutely all over the field in coverage and made some incredible plays, highlighted by a monster pick-six that set the tone early at home for the Raiders.

That pick-six was just one of two interceptions for Harris on the night, including three passes defensed on the night. Moreover, Harris almost had a hat trick of picks against the Chargers had one not been nullified by an offsides penalty. Regardless, his playmaking on the back end of the defense was huge for Oakland in making a run to 5-4 on the season.

Dud: Secondary penalties

Considering that the Raiders secondary was able to turn Philip Rivers over three times on Thursday night, it’s hard to totally bury that group on defense. Having said that, they made things far dicier than they should’ve been in the fourth quarter by accruing a handful of holding and defensive pass interference penalties.

Now, it’s worth noting that you could construe some of the calls that were made as soft. However, by the letter of the law, they were penalties. When your team is playing at home and in position to win the game, you can’t make mental errors and play so undisciplined in coverage. For the Raiders to shore things up down the stretch, the secondary must be more consistent, particularly late in games.