What we learned in the Chargers’ 17-16 victory over the Oakland Raiders
Here’s what we learned in the Chargers 17-16 victory in Oakland on Sunday:
Lessons are being learned.
When the Chargers won their first game this season in New York last week, there was a sense of relief and of hope. The former was simply because of the win, but the hope? That came from how the team won. By being forced to come back in the fourth quarter, by being forced to execute down the stretch in a close game, the hope was the team had maybe shaken loose of some demons that had been with them for some time. While it’s just a week later, it seems like the lessons from New York have stuck. Down the stretch, it was the Chargers, not the Raiders, who were executing properly in the clutch.
I asked Keenan Allen about the late-game switch in the locker room following the win just as Philip Rivers walked to his locker nearby. Rivers heard the question and decided he’d answer, joking that the team used to win all the time.
It feels like it’s been a while, and even Rivers would admit this, that the Chargers could be counted on late in games. But coach Anthony Lynn and the players all said that when the team got the ball down one with four minutes to play, there was a universal belief that the team would score.
If the team hadn’t just had to pull out a close game, that belief probably wouldn’t have been there.
The offense is finding an identity.
During that final drive, the Chargers were backed up deep on their side of the field. They’d largely been predictable in these situations, handing the ball to Melvin Gordon for hard-fought, physical yardage in the hopes of shortening the conversion on second and third down.
But the Chargers changed up, using play-action to get tight end Hunter Henry open on a deep ball. Rivers delivered a perfect pass, Henry turned up field to gain a few more yards, and the Chargers were off.
The play worked, in part, because Gordon was successful on Sunday. While his per-carry average was modest, he was a major threat in the short passing game. And, he was durable.
Gordon gained 150 yards on 34 touches — a monster workload. For weeks, we’ve been waiting to know what the Chargers offense could make as their identity, and Sunday, they played with physicality that allowed them to strike on a handful of big plays.
Later in the drive, with the Raiders desperately needing a stop and the Chargers obviously running the ball, Gordon pounded through the line for chunks of yardage on each play, running out the clock and setting up the team’s game-winning kick.
If the Chargers can play with that attitude and physicality, they’ll have a chance to put Lynn’s vision for a running attack into consistent place.
There are reasons to be a little optimistic.
The Chargers defense continued to be greater than the sum of their parts, with unheralded pieces like Hayes Pullard and Trevor Williams making big plays. The group’s star, Joey Bosa, got the Chargers’ only sack, poking the ball out of Derek Carr’s hand in the first half — a play he’s starting to make on a regular basis.
The late-game execution was rock solid, and the offense is folding in a real playmaker in rookie Mike Williams, who made his NFL debut Sunday.
You can tell that Williams gives the offense a dimension it didn’t have — a big, physical target for Rivers to find. Williams’ only catch came in the second half on a crucial third down, with him breaking open on an “in route” against zone coverage. With Williams jumping to make the catch, Rivers had a huge area to throw the ball into with the big receiver shielding off the defense.
He’ll continue to be more and more involved as the week’s go on, and with the defense continuing to keep the Chargers in games, another playmaker is a much-needed boost.
The Chargers are still really flawed.
But while the good feelings are deserved after the Chargers’ second-straight win, the reality is this team is very much still a work in progress.
While the tackling, on the whole, was better, a breakdown in the fourth quarter led to a 47-yard scoring run on what could’ve been the game-winning score.
The team committed a few bad penalties — an offside on a third down extending the Raiders drive and another offside on a kickoff that resulted in a 20-yard change in field position.
Their play in the first quarter, where they’re being out-scored 50-7 by opponents, has been atrocious. And, while Nick Novak made the game-winning kick, he also missed a make-able one earlier in the game.
There are still plenty of mistakes that need correcting, but it’s a lot easier to do that when you’re starting to win games.
Twitter: @DanWoikeSports
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