Las Vegas Raiders at Chargers 2023 Week 4: What surprised us

Week 4 of the 2023 NFL season brought another loss for the Las Vegas Raiders, and like clockwork, more bad decisions by head coach Josh McDaniels. It is clear through his first 21 games as the team's head coach that McDaniels is in over his head, and he may have blew two crucial wins early in the 2023 season.

On Sunday, the Silver and Black did everything they could to fight back from a large early deficit, but in the end, bad playcalling reared its ugly head once again. Sitting at 1-3, the Raiders are already in trouble of being an afterthought for the AFC Playoffs.

Here are some things that surprised us on Sunday afterrnoon.

Raiders at Chargers 2023 Week 4: Surprises

Offensive tackle play was atrocious

From the first drive on, the play of the offensive tackles was atrocious for the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday. Jermaine Eluemunor was consistently beat by Khalil Mack, and even when Kolton Miller had his chances to keep No. 52 out of the backfield he failed.

Eluemunor's play has been outstanding since he came to the Raiders, but you have to figure he is going to have a few clunkers every now again again. The biggest surprise was the play of Miller, who is considered one of the best left tackles in the game.

Defense actually held their own

The Raiders offense fumbled the ball away multiple times early in the loss to the Chargers, giving Los Angeles the ball in plus territory. Despite that, the Raiders defense clamped down in the second half, keeping the Chargers off the scoreboard while the offense feverishly tried to mount an improbable comeback.

For once, it was the offense that let the Raiders down and not the defense, which was impressive going up against a high-powered Chargers offense.

The poise of rookie QB Aidan O'Connell

For a young quarterback, I thought that Aidan O'Connell showed incredible poise after some early struggles, leading the Raiders back against Los Angeles in the second half. He made some huge throws, including a 4th-and-10 throw with the game on the line late in the fourth quarter, displaying the kind of grit that took him from a walk-on to a record-setting quarterback at Purdue.

We said it yesterday, O'Connell did enough to warrant the start in Week 5.