Raiders vs Chargers 2022 Week 13: Studs and Duds

Raiders vs Chargers 2022 Week 13: Studs and Duds

Raiders defense – Stud

The much-maligned Raiders’s defense came up huge against one of the better offenses in the NFL on Sunday. Much of the talk leading up to the game was about the Chargers missing a few offensive linemen and if the Raiders would be able to take advantage. We quickly found out that they would be able to take full advantage.

For maybe the second or third time this season, the Raiders defensive line was able to truly control the outcome of the game. The defense was able to harass Justin Herbert all game long and finished the day with five sacks and 14 QB hits. They also came up with a crucial turnover to help balance the turnover ratio and controlled the line of scrimmage in the run game.

The Chargers are not one of the better running teams in the NFL but the Raiders went even further and made the LA offense completely one-dimensional. Some of that came as a result of the score line but credit is deserved for keeping LA at just 3.2 yards per carry.

They limited Herbert to just one touchdown and in fact kept the Chargers’ offense out of the end zone until the 9-minute mark in the fourth quarter. Red zone defense has been the bane of the Raiders’ defense this year, but they came up big with several key stops inside the 20.

This was the first complete game that the defense played, and they came up with the game-winning stop after the offense was unable to close things out with about 5 minutes left. They gave up a couple chunk plays on the drive but came up with two huge pass breakups on 3rd and 4th down to end the Charger’s hopes.

The Raiders’ defense has been a key aspect of this winning streak and even in a game against Seattle where they gave up 34 points, they still came up with huge plays to swing momentum. They get a slightly easier task against a depleted Rams team in what will essentially be a home game down in LA on Thursday night and we can expect another dominant performance.