Defense, second-half turnaround lead Raiders to victory – Orange County Register

The Chargers did things half right in Jim Harbaugh’s coaching debut, relying on their defense to hold the Las Vegas Raiders in check for a half while their offense prepared for a much better second half Sunday. Here’s what we learned, what we heard and what’s coming next:

DEFENSIVE DOMINATION

There’s no doubt the Chargers’ defense was well ahead of their offense during training camp and in three preseason games with mostly backups. That appeared to be the case again in Sunday’s 22-10 season-opener victory at SoFi Stadium.

In baseball parlance, pitchers were ahead of hitters at the start of the season. In football parlance, it’s a long season, but not that long. In other words, the offense doesn’t have much time to catch up and show the same kind of success and efficiency as the defense.

“It was a great performance, an inspired performance,” coach Jim Harbaugh said of the Chargers’ defense, which held the Raiders to 71 yards rushing on 22 carries, an average of 3.2 yards per attempt. “I really thought it was a stellar performance. The whole team was inspired by the defense.”

The Raiders went 5-of-14 on third down (35.7 percent) and 0-of-1 on fourth down. They gained 296 total yards, averaging a modest 5 yards per play. They fumbled the ball twice and Gardner Minshew II threw an interception, a deflected pass that Poona Ford intercepted late in the game.

Las Vegas’ lone touchdown came on a 31-yard pass from Minshew to Alexander Mattison in the final minute of the first quarter for a 7-3 Raiders lead.

POWER UP IN SECOND HALF

In fact, if you throw the first-half film in the trash, you’ll see that the Chargers were pretty efficient on offense. They had nine of their 11 first downs in the second half, three long drives of 60 yards or more and two touchdowns in the fourth quarter.

Additionally, the Chargers did not turn over a single ball or throw an interception.

In total, they gained 316 yards, including 176 on the ground. J.K. Dobbins ran for 135 yards and a touchdown on just 10 carries. He scored what turned out to be the game-winning touchdown on a 12-yard run on the first play of the fourth quarter, giving the Chargers a 16-7 lead with 14:55 left.

Did the Chargers simply wear down the Raiders on a 90-degree kickoff day? Was the Chargers’ patience rewarded in a game where they made only subtle adjustments to their offense in the second half, including playing no-huddle at times?

Both things could be true.

“It was hot, it was a hot day,” Chargers center Bradley Bozeman said. “You can definitely tell when you’re wearing a team down. I think we definitely started wearing them down, for sure. When you have that kind of heat, you can wear defenses down, especially when you’re running the ball consistently.”

“So I think we’ve exhausted them.”

Of the Chargers’ adjustments in the second half, quarterback Justin Herbert said: “Just being patient. You know, knowing that we have our stuff, we have the right guys on the field. We had to adjust. We had a few too many penalties in the first half, but I think once they adjusted, got the ball moving, I think it was a lot better. For us, just going out there, playing with confidence, playing fast, that’s what we have to do.”

TOO MANY PENALTIES

The Chargers’ offense was penalized five times in the first half, including four for false starts. Once they got back on track in the second half, Herbert was able to lead the Chargers to a field goal and two touchdowns and a physical, no-nonsense victory over an AFC West rival.

“There’s no excuse for the penalties we took early in the season,” Harbaugh said. “We’re going to work on that. Going from Week 1 to Week 2, I think that’s where we can make the most progress over the entire season in one week. So we’re really focused, laser-focused on getting better this week.”

WHAT COMES NEXT

The Chargers (1-0) hit the road to face the Carolina Panthers (0-1) on Sunday in Charlotte, N.C. The Panthers made a real mistake in their first game, a 47-10 loss to the Saints in New Orleans, a game in which Bryce Young’s first pass of the season was intercepted.

Originally published: September 9, 2024 at 10:23 a.m.