Raiders at Chargers recap
Marcus Allen Jersey , Final Score 26-10: to Chargers The Los Angeles Chargers received the ball first at home in
this one so the Oakland Raiders began the game on defense. They gave up two big
plays on the drive, a 17 yard pass to Keenan Allen and a 16 yard run by Melvin
Gordon. After that the defense settled down though and eventually ended the
Chargers drive with a Bruce Irvin sack on 3rd down. The sack forced a 49 yard
field goal attempt for LA that they successfully made for a 3-0 lead.The
Chargers one upped Bruce Irvin’s sack with a 3rd down sack of their own but
their’s forced a Raiders punt on Oakland’s first offensive drive of the game.
Their offense again got a big completion to Keenan Allen on their drive but the
Raiders defense came up with a big stop from Darryl Worley just outside of field
goal range to force the Chargers punt. After that it was the Raiders turn to get
on the board. They started off their drive with first down completions to Amari
Cooper, Jordy Nelson and Martavis Bryant followed by tough running from Marshawn
Lynch down to inside the Chargers 5 yard line. They couldn’t get any closer from
there though so they settled for a 23 yard kick from Matt McCain which tied the
game at 3.There wasn’t a single first down between the two teams over the next 4
drives in a row. Unfortunately it was the Chargers who finally broke the streak.
Then after finally getting a 1st down, they went 44 yards on a catch and run TD
to back up RB Austin Ekeler on the very next play. The big strike almost never
happened with Philip Rivers almost fumbling the shot gun snap, but instead the
play resulted in the Chargers retaking the lead 10-3.The very first play of the
Raiders drive was a big catch and run by Martavis Bryant, except he didn’t
secure the ball tightly and it was easily stripped away while he was running for
a turnover. The Raiders then gave up 11 yard reception to Keenan Allen and
another big catch and run to a Chargers running back, this time a 34 yard play
to Melvin Gordon who would have scored had he not tripped over himself at the
Oakland 10. Gordon made up for falling on his own with a 9 yard run to the 1,
followed by punching it in from there on 3rd down to make the score 17-3.Oakland
had 1:39 before the end of the half starting at their own 25 after a touchback
on the ensuing kickoff. They managed to get close enough to try a 57 yard field
goal attempt thanks to a couple of Seth Roberts completions and one to Jared
Cook. Unfortunately the kick was no good after falling just short.The Chargers
had 6 seconds before halftime after that with getting the ball at their own 47.
They completed one play for 10 yards before attempting a Hail Mary that was
knocked down incomplete, however Bruce Irvin idiotically committed a roughing
the passer penalty to give the Chargers a field goal attempt. Luckily the kick
sailed left, but that doesn’t make the Irvin penalty any less stupid. He
literally took two steps after the ball was gone before shoving Rivers to the
ground.Oakland got the ball first in the 2nd half but did nothing with it. Less
than nothing in fact, they lost 7 yards before punting on 4th and 17. The
Chargers started their first possession of the 2nd half at their own 26 after
the punt. They quickly got into Raiders territory with passes to Keenan Allen
and WR Mike Williams, along with a big 3rd and 11 conversion from TE Antonio
Gates down to the OAK 21. The defense did come up with the stop after that to
hold LA to a 30 yard field goal which made the score 20-3.Derek Carr and the
Raiders offense desperately needed to get things going on their next
drive
Bo Jackson Jersey , and it looked like they did thanks to a huge 3rd down conversion of yards to Jalen Richard down to the LA 25. They then got a
defensive Pass Interference penalty in the end zone shortly on their next 3rd
down play. Inexplicably they passed on 1st and goal from the one though and Carr
threw it directly to the Chargers LB Melvin Ingram for a gut wrenching
interception in the end zone. It was yet another bizarre, trying to do way too
much interception from Derek Carr.The Chargers started at their own 3 after the
interception but got out of the bad field position in just one play by going
deep on 1st down for a 54 yard completion to Tyrell Williams. They then got
another big completion a couple of plays later on a 2nd and 18 play to Mike
Williams for 26 yards and a 12 yard completion to Keenan Allen on a 3rd and 11.
Adding insult to injury, they got the touchdown on the next play to TE Virgil
Green despite Arden Key playing the screen well and just missing tipping the
ball away. Los Angeles missed the extra point though so the score was 26-3 after
the TD pass.Oakland showed they weren’t giving up down 23 with just over 9
minutes left in the 4th by completing a 47 yard pass to Martavis Bryant and
converting on a 4th and 4 with a pass to Seth Roberts. They then got their
touchdown a few plays later on a one yard pass to Jordy Nelson, a play that
never should have counted because about half of the Raiders team wasn’t set
before the snap. No flag was thrown so the touchdown made the score 26-10, but
the drive took 4:31 to score on because the Raiders showed absolutely no urgency
on the drive despite having been down 3 scores.Los Angeles then recovered the
onside kick attempt with 5:10 left in the 4th quarter. They converted a huge 3rd
and 6 to keep the clock rolling with the 16 point lead. They then had another
3rd and 6 later in the drive and converted that one too. That one allowed the
Chargers to kneel out the rest of the clock, Raiders lose 26-10. Marshawn Lynch
and Bruce Irvin helped win a Super Bowl in Seattle before becoming stalwarts in
Oakland.Sebastian Janikowski rewrote the record book for the Raiders before
booming long kicks for the Seahawks.Seattle defensive coordinator Ken Norton Jr.
and Oakland offensive line coach Tom Cable spent the past few seasons doing the
same job with the other team.When the Seahawks and Raiders kick off in London on
Sunday, it will be a reunion of sorts ??even though the game will be played
several thousand miles from home.“I’ve always enjoyed the most playing against
the people I like the most. There’s guys on the club, coaches and all kinds of
connections,” Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said. “There’s just connections across
the board. It just makes it fun. If you’re competitive and you like competing
against the best and your friends. I do. I just look forward to it.”Both teams
have more pressing issues than seeing old friends. The Seahawks (2-3) are
already three games back in the NFC West and the Raiders (1-4) have struggled
all season in the first year in Jon Gruden’s second stint as coach.“I just don’t
like to lose,” Gruden said. “I think we have work to do. There’s not enough time
in the day to do it. I’m depressed. I’m tired. I want to win. I want to do
better.”Here are some other things to watch:BEAST MODEThe Seahawks will finally
get a chance to tackle Lynch, who starred for the team from 2010-15 and helped
Seattle win a Super Bowl. Lynch was mostly off-limits at practice, although
linebacker Bobby Wagner recalls getting scolded by Lynch for hitting him as a
rookie and dislocating Lynch’s finger while trying to punch the ball out.There
will be no limits on contact Sunday.“Never got the chance to tackle
Marshawn
Lester Hayes Jersey ,” Wagner said. “Talked a lot of trash. We finally get to go against each other. So it’s going to be fun.”RUNNING AWAYAny question about
Seattle’s commitment to the run has been answered by the productivity of the
last three weeks. The Seahawks have seen a running back rush for 100 yards in
three straight games for the first time since late in the 2012 season. Chris
Carson had 100-yard games against Dallas and Los Angeles, and Mike Davis had 101
yards against Arizona.Most impressive was the 190 yards rushing against the
Rams, when Seattle averaged 5.9 yards per carry. Even more shocking, the
Seahawks got those yards on the ground without a single yard coming from
quarterback Russell Wilson. For the first time in his career, Wilson didn’t have
an official run play against the Rams.“We made a big turn. It’s taken us longer
than I would’ve wanted to get to this point, but we feel like we can play the
game that we want to play and the style we want to play it regardless of where
we’re going,” Carroll said. “We’ll find out, let’s go see if we can take it
across the ocean and do it as well, but that’s really important to us.”WEST
COAST GOING EASTThe matchup between the Seahawks and Raiders is just the second
in London between teams from the Pacific time zone. The Rams and Cardinals
played last year in an NFC West game, with Los Angeles rolling to a 33-0 win.
Take away that Los Angeles-Arizona matchup a year ago and teams from the Pacific
area playing in London are 2-3 all-time. Both wins belong to San Francisco,
beating Denver in 2010 and Jacksonville in 2013.Both teams opted to spend part
of the week at home, with the Seahawks leaving Wednesday and the Raiders on
Thursday.TARGETINGDoug Baldwin caught a dump-off pass from Wilson for a 1-yard
gain on Seattle’s second offensive play against the Rams. It was the only target
and only catch for Seattle’s leading receiver in each of the past four seasons.
Baldwin has been bothered by issues with both knees early in the schedule. He
missed most of training camp because of an unspecified issue with his left
knee
Ronnie Lott Jersey , then suffered a sprained MCL in his right knee in the season opener against Denver. Baldwin has just six catches for 42 yards and no
TDs in the three games he’s played.“It’s frustrating because I want to be more a
part of it. I want to be part of the party, too,” Baldwin said.FREQUENT
VISITORFew players or coaches have been part of more games in London than
Raiders offensive coordinator Greg Olson. He will coach his seventh game there,
having gone 3-3 on previous trips with Tampa Bay (2009, ’11), Oakland (2014),
Jacksonville (2015, ’16) and the Rams (2017).“He leads the league in London
trips, so he’s going to be my tour guide,” said Gruden, who added he doesn’t
believe he’ll have much time for sightseeing.___AP Sports Writer Tom Booth
contributed to this report___
