The Real Culprit Of the Raiders' Brutal Chargers Loss

The Las Vegas Raiders' Monday night matchup against the Los Angeles Chargers had the potential to be a stepping stone for the Silver and Black. After the loss in primetime, the Raiders must go back to the drawing board.

Mistakes Doom the Raiders

In Week 3, the Raiders travel to the Nation's capital to face the Washington Commanders on Sunday. First, Las Vegas has several things to clean up from its loss to the Chargers.

"As sensational and suffocating as the Chargers defense was, the Raiders were just as dreadful on offense. Geno Smith likely played his worst game since resurrecting his career with Pete Carroll in Seattle, throwing three picks and completing 24 of 43 passes for just 180 yards and a grimacing 37.0 passer rating. Brock Bowers was a non-factor throughout the majority of the game, and the running game was next door to non-existent," the Around the NFL Staff said.

"Despite a string of golden opportunities in the fourth quarter, the Silver and Black couldn’t take advantage. Perhaps most troubling and symbolic was one of their three field-goal drives. Trailing by 14 points with 7:30 left in the third quarter, the Raiders slowly cut their lead and decreased their chance of a comeback with a 19-play, 62-yard slog of a drive that ended with amake. When it all ended, they were still down by two scores without a touchdown in the game."

"Carroll turned 74 years young on Monday, but his offensive unit didn’t seem to have anywhere near the exuberance of Las Vegas’ ageless wonder of a coach. There was no energy, no urgency and little-to-no production. For the most part, Vegas’ defense was solid, but in a late Monday nighter at home, the Geno-led Raiders offense looked like it was up past its bedtime."

Following Monday night's loss, Carroll shared his thoughts on the state of the Raiders as they enter Week 3 with a 1-1 record.

Carroll noted that, despite the Raiders' shaky first-half performances over the first two weeks of the season, they performed better in the second half of both games. Their second-half improvement has been most notable on the defensive side of the ball.

"Couple of second halves here, just terrific D, and we're going to need that to play together. But we know we missed the opportunity, and there's so many different ways that we'll get better. And so we got to go back to work really quickly and get ready for this game coming up," Carroll said.