Another Step Back: What We Learned From the Raiders’ Latest Loss

RAIDERS VS. CHARGERS POSTGAME REACTION PODCAST

If you want the full breakdown of Sunday’s loss and where the Raiders go from here, don’t miss the latest episode of the Silver & Black Sports Network Podcast. It’s an audio-only edition — I’m on the road for Thanksgiving and had some technical issues with the video — but the analysis is all there. From the offensive line problems and confusing personnel decisions to the defensive trends that are becoming impossible to ignore, plus what a staff overhaul could look like, it’s a deep dive into everything that went wrong against the Chargers. Listen to the full episode above and get caught up before Week 14 kicks off.

RAIDERS DROP 10TH STRAIGHT AFC WEST GAME IN LOSS TO CHARGERS

RECAP

The Raiders lost 31–14 to the Chargers, dropping to 2–10 on the year as another AFC West loss (their 10th straight within the division) added to a brutal six-game skid. Offensively, Vegas managed only 156 total yards while being bottled up most of the game — the line collapsed under LA’s pressure (allowing five sacks), and the run game never materialized (31 rushing yards). Geno Smith tossed two touchdowns to Brock Bowers, but sacks and poor protection killed any chance for them to mount a real comeback attempt.

Defensively, the Raiders just couldn’t tackle or stop the Chargers’ ground attack that racked up 192 yards, including a career-long 59-yard touchdown run by Kimani Vidal, which all but slammed the door shut on LA’s first drive of the second half, given Vegas’ struggles to string together drives and score points.

Despite a late Bowers TD giving a glimpse of fight, Vegas couldn’t match the Chargers’ physical dominance — the game shone a light on continued issues at the line of scrimmage, stagnant offense, and a defense that can’t consistently tackle well or get off the field on third down.

ANALYSIS

The offensive line struggled again. Even though Greg Olson showed a willingness to run the football, they only managed 31 total rushing yards on the day, and Jeanty was consistently hit right after he got the ball. The Raiders averaged just 0.2 yards before contact on running plays. But they didn’t just struggle in the running game; the pass protection issues continued. The Raiders allowed five sacks on the day, pushing their four-game total to 25 sacks allowed, and they gave up 12 pressures on 20 drop-backs (48% pressure rate allowed), which is good for the second-highest pressure percentage faced in a game this season, per ESPN Research. I know a lot of people get on Geno for holding onto the ball too long or for not escaping pressure sooner, but it often feels like if the first read isn’t there, it’s a sack, which is a losing battle for a lot of quarterbacks out there. They need to address the offensive line in a big way in the offseason. Both from a personnel and coaching perspective.

Defensively, the Raiders had a poor tackling day and couldn’t get off the field on third down. According to PFF, the Raiders missed 18 tackles on Sunday against the Chargers. They also allowed the Chargers to convert on 12 of their 17 third-down attempts. During the broadcast, Jason McCourtey even noted that the rush and coverage were oftentimes too soft on third down for his liking, something Raiders fans have been saying for years about Patrick Graham’s defense on all downs. Long story short, the defense has played winning football at times, but they’ve also tackled poorly and given up way too many conversions on third downs on far too many occasions, too.

CRAZY STATS

There are a lot of them this week…

The Raiders have allowed four-plus sacks in four straight games for the first time since 2008.

The Raiders have fallen behind by 14-plus points seven times in 12 games this season (tied for the second-most this season with the Panthers)

Sunday’s loss to the Chargers marked the sixth straight game where the Raiders have gained less than 75 yards rushing (new franchise record), and it’s also the 10th time they failed to rush for 100 or more yards as a team.

*The results may have been the same with Olson calling the shots, but it seems like things behind the scenes ran smoother than they had with Kelly calling the shots. Keep scrolling for more on that below.

OFFICIALLY ELIMINATED

We’ve known for awhile that the Raiders weren’t going to make the playoffs this year, but yesterday’s loss made it official as they’re now mathematically eliminated from playoff contention.

They did rotate more of the younger guys in than usual in this game against the Chargers, but I’m real curious now that they have zero shot of a miraculous run to making the playoffs, if Pete and the staff start to change how thye divy up the snap counts and turn more to an evaluation phase rather than the approach we’ve seen in recent weeks.

MISS ANYTHING?

Catch up on some of our recent stories:

HOW DIFFERENT WAS IT WITH OLSON CALLING PLAYS?

After the Raiders fired Chip Kelly, reports surfaced that he called plays that weren’t installed on multiple occasions and that he often times left out critial elements like motions and more out when he did call the plays. Then some more conflicting reports surfaced that Pete Carroll was forcing his brand of football down Chip’s throat and that opposing defeneses oftentimes had their scout teams run offenses that resembled more of the kinds of things Shane Waldron ran when he was Pete’s OC in Seattle. The truth is, it’s probably somewhere in the middle and both sides are trying to do some damage control. But that’s all in the past, how did things actually look for the team with Oly calling the shots on Sunday vs. the Chargers?

They “communicated really well” and “had no problem functioning,” I’m not trying to turn something into nothing but reading between the lines that sounds like a shot at Kelly. It sounds like Pete’s saying things went smoother from play caller to QB, that’s a step in the right direction for sure. Geno seemed to agree, too.

But what about game flow? I get it, they only scored 14 points (one below their season average), and rushed for just 31 yards but Ashton seemed to like they way Olson strung things together.

I have other say I agree with Ashton on this one. We noted before the game that Oly loves his tight ends, and he did a great job scheming Brock open on multiple occasions on Sunday. He also mixed in some good PA looks, one fly sweep fake comes to mind, and he got Geno on the move on their two scoring drives, and tried to mix in more screen passes, too.

I’m not trying to give him a pass, but the reality is, that offensive line is bad, really bad. So any play caller is going to have a tough time working around that and he did put together an 82-yard scoring drive, which is good for their longest such drive in four weeks. They still lost, and it didn’t look consistenly great, but it’s a step in the right direction in what’s been a horrendous season on that side of the ball.

WHAT’S NEXT?

We’ll catch up with Pete Carroll at his weekly press conference today at 11:00 a.m.

So stay tapped in on Twitter (X) for updates on what Carroll has to say after the team was officially eliminated from playoff contention last night and and stay tuned for the next episode of the Silver & Black Sports Network Podcast dropping on Wednesday morning at 9:00 a.m. PT as we turn the page to the final meeting of the year with the Broncos.

Catch ya next time,