When a pair of longtime West Coast rivals meet on Sunday, one will be assessing what went wrong after the opening week of the season, while the other will be plotting a continued path of success.
While the Chargers had a deep playoff run in mind when the season started, they did not perform anywhere close to expectations when they fell 26-14 at home to the Arizona Cardinals in their season opener.
Instead, it was the Raiders who got the jump on the season with a 27-13 home victory over the Miami Dolphins as they look to rebound from a 2025 season when they matched the most losses in franchise history.
The Raiders now visit the Chargers on Sunday at Inglewood, Calif., looking to end a four-game losing streak in the matchup and a seven-game losing streak in games played in Southern California. The Chargers have won seven of the past 10 games in the rivalry.
Without star tight end Brock Bowers, the Raiders turned the debut of head coach Klint Kubiak and quarterback Kirk Cousins into an efficient day that included 21 first downs on 290 total yards of offense.
“I thought our coaching staff did a great job, in Brock’s absence, of having a good plan,” said Cousins, who threw three touchdown passes, giving him 301 for his career, with two interceptions and no sacks. “… Just really the turnovers are really disappointing. Those are on me.”
After an ankle injury during the ramp-up for the season, Las Vegas running back Ashton Jeanty looked as spry as ever with 102 rushing yards and six receptions for a team-high 45 yards and two touchdowns. Jeanty had just two 100-yard rushing games as a rookie last season.
“That’s how we win games with our (offensive) line,” said Jeanty. “They are a pivotal part of what we do, and it’s no surprise to me.”
The Chargers added Mike McDaniel as their offensive coordinator in the offseason to pair with quarterback Justin Herbert, but there was no offensive flow outside of the opening drive of the season-opener.
Los Angeles went 77 yards in eight plays to kick off the season, ending the drive with an 8-yard touchdown run from Omarion Hampton. On their remaining nine drives, they had just one more touchdown.
In four possessions in the fourth quarter alone, the Chargers had a punt blocked, Herbert threw an interception and they turned the ball over on downs twice. Herbert was 17-of-27 passing for 209 yards.
“It’s on us to play better,” Herbert said. “It’s on us to go score points, make sure we are doing everything we can on third down and the red zone and limiting turnovers. We didn’t play the way we wanted to, and we are going to have to watch film to get better.”
Ladd McConkey had five receptions for a team-best 82 yards but did not play in the fourth quarter because of a rib injury.
“It’s not the start that we wanted,” Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh said. “It’ll be about our resolve and the way we bounce back.”
McConkey did not practice Wednesday, while defensive back Elijah Molden (hamstring), offensive tackle Trey Pipkins III (knee) and defensive lineman Teair Tart (ankle) also were out.
Bowers (knee) and cornerback Darien Porter (foot) did not practice for the Raiders.
