Raiders easily handled by the Chargers in 20-6 loss
By Brad Weiss
The Oakland Raiders looked pretty fired up at the start of their matchup with the Los Angeles Chargers, but once again faded in the second half.
The Oakland Raiders played host to the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday, and looked sharp early, before falling to their divisional foe by the score of 20-6. Oakland had no answer for Chargers running back Melvin Gordon all game long, and in the end, Los Angeles held the Silver and Black without a touchdown.
It was the second game in a row that the Raiders failed to score a touchdown, and they have not scored one since October 28. This team has reached a new level of ineptitude, and you can be sure there will be wholesale changes to this roster before the team takes the field in 2019.
Oakland got out to a fast start to the matchup, faking a punt on their first possesion, and putting a field goal on the board. However, the Bolts scored ten straight to close out the first half, as Philip Rivers hit Keenan Allen for a touchdown with 0:24 seconds left in the second quarter.
Los Angeles scored on their first possession of the second half as well, as Rivers hit Melvin Gordon for a 66-yard touchdown strike. That put the game out of reach, as Oakland mustered only another field goal the rest of the way. The game was sealed with a little over four minutes left in the fourth, as the Raiders tried to convert a fourth-and-5.
With the loss, Oakland falls to 1-8 on the season, and if the New York Giants win on Monday night, they will officially have the first overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft. The Chargers won their sixth straight game, and kept themselves in the conversation for not only a Wild Card, but first place in the AFC West.