Raiders studs & duds from Week 1: Defense shines in loss

Stud - The Raiders defense … for the most part

The Raiders defense deserves a ton of credit for keeping this game close for as long as they did. The offense was struggling mightily all game long but for the most part, so was the Chargers offense and they have a much better quarterback under center.

The Raiders held Justin Herbert to under 150 yards passing and kept him out of the end zone until four minutes left in the fourth quarter when they were clearly gassed. They sacked Herbert once early in the game and the Chargers went with a quick passing game to try and negate the obvious advantage the Raiders had on the front line. 

The defense held up well against the run, also for the most part, and per Ted Nguyen of The Athletic, 129 of the Chargers' 176 rushing yards came on four plays, the longest of which was JK Dobbins’ 61-yard backbreaker late in the game. The other 23 carries between Dobbins, Gus Edwards, Derius Davis, and Justin Herbert only netted 47 yards which is excellent. Obviously, getting gashed like that is not ideal but if the offense did their part we can hope that would not have happened. 

Next up is a much more difficult task against former MVP Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry but there was a lot we saw in Week 1 to suggest the Raiders defense could be up to the task. Now let’s hope the offense shows up too!