Chargers rout hapless Raiders

The San Diego Chargers are in the midst of a disappointing season, entering this game with a 4-8 record.  Even in a “down year”, however, the Chargers had no problem with the woeful Oakland Raiders.  Phillip Rivers and LaDainian Tomlinson starred for San Diego as they dismantled Oakland with little difficulty en route to a 34-7 victory.

The Chargers scored the first 27 points of the game and appeared poised to head to the locker room with a halftime shutout until Justin Miller returned a kickoff 92 yards with just seconds left before the break to provide the Raiders’ only points of the contest.  A Nate Kaeding 20 yard FG got the scoring started for San Diego in the first quarter, with Tomlinson adding a 3 yard TD run later in the period.  Two Phillip Rivers TD passes in the second quarter—an 8 yard play to Darren Sproles and a 59 yard strike to Vincent Jackson—combined with another Kaeding field goal to put San Diego up 27-0 until Miller’s kick return made it 27-7 at halftime.

After a scoreless third quarter, Rivers added another TD pass to Sproles from 18 yards out to complete the scoring.  For the game, Rivers had a substandard completion percentage going 10/22 but picked up 214 yards with 3 TDs and no interceptions.  Oakland’s JaMarcus Russell could only manage 68 yards on 9/13 passing with two interceptions in one half of play.  He didn’t return to start the third quarter, reportedly suffering an unspecified ankle injury. His replacement, Andrew Walker, didn’t fare any better with 61 yards on 8/17 passing and 1 interception.

Despite the easy win, the Chargers are longshots to even make the playoffs.  They trail Denver by 2 ½ games in the AFC West and desperately needed a victory after a horrible showing at home last Sunday where they were simply outworked by Atlanta in a 22-16 loss.  The Falcons held LT to 24 yards—the second lowest total of his career—and in his postgame remarks after picking up 91 yards and a TD against the Raiders he sounded more relieved than jubilant:

"It was desperately needed but it was one win for us. We don't want to make it more than what it is. After the showing last week, I think we wanted to prove to everyone that that wasn't us," said Tomlinson, who's having the worst season of his career. "It's good that it was a short week. We got to show people who we are as a group."

And unfortunately for their fans, the Raiders once again showed “who they were as a group” as they reached double digit losses for the sixth straight year.  Cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha had some candid and critical comments about his teammates’ lack of focus and desire:

"It's clear that we're not close. We don't play good football, we don't play sound football. We've been undisciplined. You just wonder how many people care and how many people are upset."

Tight end Zach Miller pointed the finger at his side of the ball:

"I'm sick of losing, especially like that.  We never really got going on offense and when we did, penalties and interceptions and fumbles killed us. As an offense we were inept again."

San Diego has only three games remaining and will need some help from Denver to make the playoffs.  The Chargers will travel to Kansas City a week from Sunday and Tampa Bay on 12/21 before they finish the schedule against the Broncos at home on 12/28.  Denver plays a road game at Carolina and home games against Kansas City and Buffalo before the game with the Chargers.  Oakland will host the New England Patriots a week from Sunday, Houston on 12/21 and will conclude yet another miserable season on 12/28 at Tampa Bay.