Opponent Profile: Can Chargers Keep Raiders Winless?
By Dave Thomas
Coming off of a bye week, doesn't a meeting with an 0-9 Oakland squad sound like a piece of cake for the San Diego Chargers? If you think it is, think again.
In one of their tougher tests of the season, the Chargers scratched and clawed their way to a 31-28 victory over the Raiders in Oakland last month. Since that win, however, the Bolts have gone 0-3, including a 37-0 blowout loss in Miami a week ago this past Sunday.
Oakland, meantime, was dismantled this past Sunday by Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos (41-17) like a machine being torn down before it heads to its final resting place.
With that said, do the Raiders stand much of a chance of competing against the Chargers this coming Sunday when the two square off in San Diego?
Oakland Playing Spoiler Role
While the Chargers at 5-4 continue their battle for an AFC wild card spot and perhaps even the AFC West title (Denver and Kansas City are in first and second place at 7-2 and 6-3, respectively), the winless Raiders are just looking for that elusive first victory of the season.
The once-proud organization has been in a flat out downfall for a decade now since their 2003 run to the Super Bowl (Lost to Tampa Bay and Jon Gruden). While the Raiders have played some of the league's better teams tough this season, they have also been blown out by a number of them too.
As was evident in Sunday's blowout loss at home to the Broncos, Oakland's got issues on both sides of the ball. When you throw a first-year quarterback into that mix, it can quickly spell disaster.
Rookie QB Derek Carr tossed four touchdown passes in the first meeting with San Diego this season, but he look all to the role of a youngster in this past Sunday's game versus Denver in the Black Hole. For the season, Carr has thrown for 1,903 yards, 13 TD's and nine interceptions. His top target to date is wide receiver James Jones (463 yards receiving, three touchdowns).
When you have a young quarterback at the controls, a solid running game is essential, something the Silver and Black do not quite frankly have.
Although he has shown spurts of being a go-to back during his career, Darren McFadden (372 yards rushing on the season, 1,740 since 2008) has been more of a flop since coming out of Arkansas as a highly-regarded pick in 2008.
On the defensive side of the ball, Oakland turns to linebackers Miles Burris and Sio Moore (each with 61 total tackles), free safety Charles Woodson (two INT's) and defensive ends C.J. Wilson and Justin Tuck (each with two sacks).
While anything can happen on any given Sunday in the NFL, a Chargers' loss to the rival Raiders (Oakland leads all-time series 59-49-2) this weekend would all but doom their playoff chances, especially with a very challenging December schedule on the horizon.
For more Chargers news and updates, visit Chargers Central.
Dave Thomas has been covering the sports world since his first job as a sports editor for a weekly newspaper in Pennsylvania back in 1989. He has covered a Super Bowl, college bowl games, MLB, NBA and more. His work can be found on Examiner.com.
