Rout by Raiders Shows Chargers Aren’t There Yet
The offensive line caved in to the rush, Junior Seau left in a rush, and the Raiders rushed by the Chargers.
Welcome back to reality.
Anybody still interested in playoff tickets?
In losing to the Raiders, 34-7, in front of 25,071 at the Coliseum Saturday, the Chargers (3-1) made it abundantly clear they still have some deficiencies.
“We got the ball run on us, we got the ball passed on us, we had problems protecting, we dropped some balls,” Charger Coach Dan Henning said. “Overall, it points up some weaknesses that we have to be concerned about.”
In three previous exhibitions, the Chargers made a nice progression. They started with a victory over the Dallas Cowboys, which isn’t much more difficult than beating your kid brother to the dinner table. Then they topped the Rams. That was nice but still not conclusive. But when the 49ers fell last week, the rumblings began to start. Was this a good Charger team. Maybe very good? Great?
It could be that sometime this week, the Chargers started believing in themselves a little too much. There’s no reason for that anymore.
“You get 60 guys coming in fat-cattin’ and that’s what you deserve,” quarterback Billy Joe Tolliver said. “There’s no excuse for a beating like that at this level. I don’t think we took the preparation as seriously as we should have this week.”
As if it wasn’t enough that the Raiders clubbed them in nearly every phase, Seau, the Chargers’ top draft pick, threw a temper tantrum in his first professional start and was ejected. He played two downs, took a few swings at Raider guard Steve Wisniewski and was gone.
“It was a lesson for him,” Henning said. “At any time (the referees) are capable of making a decision that can go against you. You can’t afford to lose your temper.”
Lost tempers, though, are preferable to lost games. The momentum the Chargers built in the first three games will now have to be rebuilt after the fourth.
But where do they start?
The weaknesses on the offensive line were exposed by an aggressive Raider pass rush, which kept quarterbacks Mark Vlasic and Tolliver running for their lives.
Vlasic, making his first start since November, 1988, began in pedestrian fashion but managed to settle down in time to complete eight of 14 passes for 169 yards and a touchdown in one half. Though shaky at times, he demonstrated his ability to throw the touch pass by hitting wide receiver Anthony Miller in stride for a 69-yard touchdown in the second quarter. At that point, the Raiders led, 14-7.
Tolliver took over on the first series of the second half with the Chargers trailing, 17-7. He wound up throwing a lot of passes with hands and helmets in his face and suffered a broken eardrum when he was hit by the Raiders’ Mike Wise while attempting to pass early in the fourth quarter. After completing his first pass, Tollivere missed seven in a row; he finished five for 16 for 95 yards.
A leaky offensive line helps put the quarterback situation in perspective. Because of Vlasic’s solid play through the first three weeks, there was speculation that he might push Tolliver out of the starting position. Henning said Saturday that he thinks Tolliver is still his starter for next Sunday’s regular-season opener at Dallas, but what may be more essential to the Chargers’ welfare is who lines up in front of him.
“When we’re struggling up front,” Henning said, “it doesn’t matter who’s in there for us.”
And now there’s a new wrinkle. The usually reliable defense stumbled through Saturday’s game and failed to put pressure on the Raider quarterbacks Jay Schroeder and Vince Evans. The pass coverage was spotty, and the Raiders’ running game ran the Chargers over.
“I have no explanation,” said Ron Lynn, the defensive coordinator. “Ill prepared individually and collectively. We were lethargic and listless.”
Said inside linebacker Gary Plummer: “We just didn’t have the intensity that we needed. It’s disappointing that our defense can allow that to happen, because we really have high expectations of ourselves.”
The Raiders (4-1) took full advantage of the Chargers’ defensive problems, increasing their lead to 24-7 in the third quarter with a 10-play, 80-yard touchdown drive. Greg Bell scored on a 27-yard run, bursting through the middle, cutting left and covering the last 10 yards with nobody nearby.
In the fourth quarter, Evans hooked up with wide receiver Stefon Adams for a 31-yard touchdown play, and then Jeff Jaeger connected on a 47-yard field goal to wrap up the scoring.
Big plays plagued the Chargers. The Raiders’ first touchdown drive was capped when wide receiver Mervyn Fernandez beat rookie cornerback Donald Frank and took a perfect looping pass from Schroeder. On their second touchdown, running back Vance Mueller was so wide open coming out of the backfield that he could have stopped for a swig of water during his 35-yard trot to the end zone.
The capper was that the Raiders’ leading rusher was Napolean McCallum, who finished with 88 yards on 15 carries. McCallum, you’ll recall, was part of the infamous trade that sent Jim Lachey away from San Diego and into the Pro Bowl for the Washington Redskins.
In return for Lachey, the Chargers got tackle John Clay and then McCallum. Both eventually were cut. And then McCallum had his best game of the exhibition season against the Chargers. Call it the trade that won’t die.
All told, the Raiders had 527 yards to the Chargers’ 278. Of those, the Raiders gained 267 yards on the ground, the Chargers 38.
The one highlight for the Chargers was Miller, who finished with seven receptions for 158 yards. But even that exposed a potential weakness. Miller caught 23 passes during the exhibition season. Four other Charger receivers caught a total of 19.
Other than Miller, Charger players and coaches couldn’t find many positives to talk about. Lynn finally came up with two.
“It didn’t count in the regular-season record,” he said, “and nobody got hurt.”
Charger Notes
Charger quarterback Billy Joe Tolliver said he doesn’t expect to miss any practice because of the broken eardrum. “It feels like something rattling around in there, which is probably the marbles in my head.” . . . Charger running back Ronnie Harmon suffered a bruised left thigh in the second half and did not return. . . . Running back Rod Bernstine, the Chargers’ second-leading rusher and third-leading receiver through the first three exhibitions, did not catch a pass or carry the ball Saturday. Veteran running back Darrin Nelson and rookie wide receiver Terence Cleveland did not play. . . . John Friesz, the Chargers’ rookie quarterback, played the final offensive series and was zero for three passing.
* SEAU EJECTED
Junior Seau makes an early exit in his Charger debut. C13B