The Chargers had a great opportunity to walk away with a win over the much improved Raiders in the last ever game that they will play in the Coliseum, but the Bolts couldn’t string together a game-winning drive in the final minute. Strange play calling (all deep passes) and looking desperate, the Bolts acted like they had only 5 seconds left on the clock. There was not one run play called, even with all three timeouts. Henry was open underneath and it seemed like when it mattered most to move the ball, the Chargers laid an egg. Rivers was getting all flustered as he was changing the plays constantly so it seemed. With the Raiders defense playing deep to prevent the long ball, the Chargers still chose to throw the ball deep and it was a disaster! 0 for 8 and an interception. Ouch! It was a shame because the Chargers only needed a field goal to win and a real championship caliber team would have easily marched into field goal range and get the win. It was not like the Raiders did not deserve the win, but the Chargers led late in the game and could not prevent the Raiders from taking a 2 point lead (missed extra point) setting up a possible game winning field goal but the Chargers final drive was a disaster.
Fans, media and the rest of general population went to Twitter to talk about Los Angeles’ 26-24 loss to Oakland on Thursday night.
A large reason why the Chargers failed to come out victorious over the Raiders on Thursday night was because of a pressured quarterback Philip Rivers. At right tackle, Trent Scott was forced to fill in for an injured Sam Tevi. But it wasn’t long until offensive tackle Russell Okung was knocked out of the game with a groin injury, which left them no choice to put in rookie Trey Pipkins, who was seen as a developmental player in his first year.
The Raiders wasted no time exploiting the inexperience and lack of talent up front, as Rivers was sacked five times and hit a total of 10 times. Scott had no answer since the first drive and Pipkins, who looked solid in the first half, had his share of ups and downs in the second half.
The interior part of the offensive line held up well for the most part, but guard Dan Feeney had his moments where he was beat badly.
Coming into the game, Oakland only had 15 sacks on the season and constantly struggled to generate pressure and that’s the reason why their pass defense ranked near the bottom of the league.
But when the depth on the offensive is a giant leap off a cliff in distance from the starters and no adjustments are made to the play-calling when the unit is struggling, it will only make them look like a top-5 unit, which was the case yesterday.
Coach Anthony Lynn said Tevi had surgery this morning to remove a small piece of cartilage in his knee. He is not done for the year, and Lynn said he’ll be back sooner rather than later.
As for Okung, his availability for their next game is uncertain. He had an MRI on Monday morning and he has a strained his groin.
Sitting at 4-6, Rivers under pressure is to blame for a good portion of their losses. But the inability to have success at addressing the offensive line has held them back from playing to their full potential for years, and it continues to show.
The Raiders hold on to beat the Chargers ?
(via @NFL)pic.twitter.com/Bjop6Nop09
— ESPN (@espn) November 8, 2019
Derwin sideline faces are everything pic.twitter.com/Iur8nr4JOD
— ♕ (@BoltsSquad) November 8, 2019