The Las Vegas Raiders greeted their Southern California fans Sunday with a complete performance and their first division win of the season by taking down the Los Angeles Chargers, 26-14.
With this win, Klint Kubiak is the first head coach (excluding interims) in franchise history to win both of his first games since Bill Callahan in 2002.
Both teams’ defenses got off to strong starts, preventing any scoring until early in the second quarter.
Rob Leonard sent pressure from all angles with five different players recording a quarterback hit in the first quarter. Chargers kicker Cameron Dicker doinked a 58-yarder on the first possession, which gave the Raiders offense good field position.
While the Raiders offense got the ball moving down the field, Tre Tucker slipped down on an in-route and Cam Hart nabbed an easy interception. Two possessions later, the Raiders got a turnover of their own from Hezekiah Masses in his first career start. He snatched away a bobbled pass intended for David Njoku and returned it for 29 yards.
Once again, the Raiders offense couldn’t capitalize on the momentum, halted at the goal line on four straight carries by Ashton Jeanty.
But in time, Tucker would redeem himself from his early blunder.
After the Raiders forced a third-and-out on the Chargers offense, Cousins hit No. 1 on two straight passes for 55 yards – the second being a 40-yard touchdown and the first score of the game.
In response, the Chargers leaned on a ground game propelled by second-year back Omarion Hampton. Six carries and 45 yards were enough for Hampton to get Los Angeles in the end zone and tie the game.
Cousins found Tucker on another deep ball for 42 yards, setting up Matt Gay to make a career-long 59-yard field goal to give the Raiders a 10-7 lead going into halftime. To amplify special teams play alongside Gay, All-Pro AJ Cole downed four of his six punts inside the 20-yard line in this outing.