The Chargers fell to 6-6 after a 27-20 loss to the Raiders.
Here are five numbers that tell the story of the Bolts’ dropping the Week 13 matchup.
22
The Chargers entered this game thin along the offensive line, with four backups: Jamaree Salyer, Will Clapp, Foster Sarell, and Brenden Jaimes at times in place of Zion Johnson, who was in and out due to a shoulder issue.
As a result, Justin Herbert was under duress all game. Herbert was sacked five times, three of which were by Chandler Jones, hit 14 times, and pressured a whopping 22 times.
Former Charger Jerry Tillery tied his career high with six pressures.
Herbert had to resort to his heroic ways to keep them in, finishing with 335 passing yards and a touchdown. Nonetheless, Joe Lombardi did not put together a good enough protection plan to allow him to succeed.
144
The run defense woes continued for the Chargers. Josh Jacobs had a field day, totaling 144 yards on 26 carries, including a 20-yard touchdown.
The same issues occurred: struggling to be physical at the point of attack, edges not being set, linebackers not being disciplined, and just flat-out poor tackling, especially in the second half. 12 missed tackles in the game.
177
Due to the Chargers’ inability to get pressure, Derek Carr had plenty of time in the pocket. Carr consistently found his top target Davante Adams, who accounted for 177 yards and two touchdowns.
Adams had his way, particularly with Asante Samuel Jr. Samuel allowed five receptions for 102 yards and Adams’ 31-yard score.
In his first season in a divisional rival’s uniform, Adams had 318 yards receiving and three touchdowns against Los Angeles.
7
For the seventh-straight game, the Chargers failed to score a touchdown in the third quarter.
Instead, they turned the ball over on their opening drive in the third quarter, as Austin Ekeler’s fumble set up Carr for a 31-yard touchdown pass to Adams on the next play, giving the Raiders the lead, 17-13.
After that, a missed field goal by Los Angeles resulted in another touchdown for Las Vegas on its following series, as Carr hit Adams for a 45-yard score.
When the third quarter was over, the Raiders were up 27-13—again, putting the Chargers in a position where they had to play catch-up.
You can blame injuries all you want, but the inability to find the end zone out of the tunnel stems from a lack of execution and offensive play-calling. Against the league’s worst defense, there needs to be more than one touchdown.
0
The Chargers had three trips to the red zone and capitalized on zero of them.
The first was a turnover on downs, as Herbert came up short on a scramble on 4th-and-2 from the Raiders’ 17, getting just one yard. Los Angeles’ two other red-zone appearances both resulted in field goals.
Facing a defense that’s bottom of the barrel in the red zone, finding the end zone was imperative for the Bolts.
