Oakland Raiders vs. San Diego Chargers: Full Report Card Grades for San Diego
It was ugly, but they'll take it.
The San Diego Chargers moved to 6-4 on the year by edging past the Oakland Raiders 13-6 at home on Sunday. The win places the Bolts a game back of the Denver Broncos in the West and keeps their playoff hopes going in the AFC.
San Diego needed just 46 seconds to achieve their first touchdown since Week 8, but the Chargers visited the red zone just once thereafter and went 4-of-15 third down. Philip Rivers, the lifeline of the Chargers offense, didn't have the best day throwing the football, but his team came through nonetheless.
"QB Philip Rivers: "We found a way."
— San Diego Chargers (@Chargers) November 17, 2014"
San Diego's victory was fueled by a recharged defense that held Oakland to nine first downs. Manti Te'o and Melvin Ingram returned from injury and had an immediate impact from the first whistle. Ryan Mathews was also welcomed back and paced the ground game for San Diego.
Here's how the units graded out in Week 11.
Quarterback
1 of 10
Gutsy, courageous, valiant. Whatever it was, Rivers did enough to get the W.
A good number of his throws weren't just a hair off, they were completely off the mark at times. During the broadcast, Rivers was seen ripping into Keenan Allen for not being on the same page, but there was more than one occasion where the fault was his own.
What Rivers lacked in accuracy, he made up for in toughness. The Raiders battered and bruised the Chargers quarterback, almost knocking him down for the count not once but twice in the game. The first hit came low at Rivers' knees, which left him writhing in pain and hobbled for the rest of the afternoon. The second was a punishing hit to the back from Khalil Mack that left Rivers with sore ribs.
Playing through the pain, Rivers came through for the Chargers on their last drive, completing passes of 13 and 15 yards to pick up a pair of first downs and drain the clock. For that, my grade on the quarterback rose slightly.
Grade: C+
Running Back
2 of 10
Ryan Mathews returned to action for the first time since Sept. 14 and looked healthy coming off of the MCL sprain he suffered in Week 2. On 16 carries, he had 70 yards rushing and averaged a little more than four yards a carry.
The explosiveness San Diego lacked in its rushing attack was quickly realized when Mathews hit the hole, and in a supplanting role, Branden Oliver added a change of pace with 36 yards on 13 attempts. Mathews didn't see the typical 20-25 carries one might have expected, but that just goes to show San Diego's concern about overworking him in his first game back.
"His injured knee heavily wrapped, Ryan Mathews limped out of the locker room. Wore a brace during the game.Interested to see how he recovers
— Eric Williams (@eric_d_williams) November 17, 2014"
A nice burst from Mathews and 120 yards from this unit as a whole graded decently.
Grade: C
Wide Receiver and Tight End
3 of 10
Antonio Gates had only three catches against the Raiders, but his last was an unforgettable one, as it essentially helped win the game. The bobbled grab went for 15 yards and extended a key drive that drained what little clock Oakland had on its last series.
Malcom Floyd pulled down another pass of 20 or more yards, giving him 10 on the season. He and Rivers hooked up for a 22-yard score in the opening 53 seconds. Keenan Allen led the Bolts with eight catches for 83 yards and received an ample amount of tough love from Rivers on the sideline.
"Keenan Allen on animated chat w/Rivers "Just a lack of execution on the play. We come to the sideline, debrief about it & try to fix it"
— Marty Caswell (@MartyCaswell) November 17, 2014"
Eddie Royal chipped in a reception of 14 yards, and Ladarius Green added one of 11 yards (yes, he actually saw some playing time).
San Diego's receivers were limited by what they accomplished because of Rivers, but the few plays they did make were key contributions.
Grade: B
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Offensive Line
4 of 10
The group in front of Rivers contributed to the beating he took, and the revolving door at center didn't do him any favors.
Rich Ohrnberger, who has already been plagued by a bad back, injured his ankle in the first half, forcing rookie Chris Watt to assume snapping duties.
The offensive line allowed two sacks, and Rivers was hit in the pocket four times. The first sack was solely on Chad Rinehart, as Antonio Smith overpowered him inside, and the second was delivered by Khalil Mack. While it was King Dunlap who was responsible for Mack, I thought Rivers held the ball a lot longer than he should have, and you can't expect a guy to hold his block in pass protection any more than five or six seconds, especially when the quarterback starts to venture outside of the pocket.
Run blocking had its ups and downs on the afternoon. The 20-yard run by Mathews in the third quarter was set up perfectly by the line.
Still, offensive line play continues to hinder the Chargers, and Rivers is paying the price.
Grade: D
Defensive Line
5 of 10
The defensive line played a man down, as Sean Lissemore sat out with a quad injury, but his replacement in Ryan Carrethers played well (three solo tackles). That is, until he left the game with an elbow injury.
"Ryan Carrethers downplayed his dislocated elbow "I'm fine. I'll be sore for a few days."
— Marty Caswell (@MartyCaswell) November 17, 2014"
Kendall Reyes let a would-be sack slip through his fingers, but he and Corey Liuget did help collapse the pocket on a couple of occasions, forcing Derek Carr to get mobile. The D-line also showed some improvement in defending the run. Oakland had 114 yards rushing in Week 6 against the Chargers, but only 71 yards were garnered on Sunday.
Getting pressure on Carr was better this time around, and the D-line showed some life following its poor effort against the Miami Dolphins a few weeks back.
Grade: C
Linebacker
6 of 10
Getting Manti Te'o and Melvin Ingram back made all the difference in the world on defense, but who would have expected Kavell Conner to have the performance that he did? Conner led the team with nine tackles, one for loss, and added a sack working in shifts alongside Donald Butler. With Te'o back in the lineup, John Pagano was given the freedom to work in his linebackers depending on the situation.
"Chargers rotation at ILB: Donald Butler and Kavell Conner in base, Andrew Gachkar and Manti Te'o in nickel, Te'o in dime.
— Michael Gehlken (@UTgehlken) November 16, 2014"
Ingram had a massive impact on the pass rush, but he extended his range in making stops in the run game. Having Jerry Attaochu back from injury was again beneficial for Pagano, who mixed and matched his outside backers with Dwight Freeney and Jarret Johnson based on the scenario.
Attaochu's sack in the final minute moved the Raiders back nine yards and made it all that more difficult to manufacture a comeback.
Sunday's performance was one of the best of the year from this group, and the final grade highlighted that.
Grade: A
Secondary
7 of 10
Carr set a team record for rookie quarterbacks with four touchdown passes against the Chargers in Week 6, but it was a different story the second time around. The Raiders passing game was held in check for 162 yards, and no receiver had more than three catches on the day.
Andre Holmes, who blasted the Chargers secondary for 121 yards and a pair of touchdowns on Oct. 12, was limited to just two catches for 19 yards. Oakland's top two receivers, Kenbrell Thompkins and Mychal Rivera, were the benefactors of big plays that totaled 35 and 33 yards.
Rivera found space in zone coverage for a big gain in the first quarter, and if Shareece Wright had wrapped up properly, Thompkins wouldn't have managed his 35-yard gain. Aside from some minor mistakes, the secondary played up to speed. Wright, Eric Weddle and Darrell Stuckey defended one pass each.
A solid day of coverage provided some top marks in the secondary.
Grade: B+
Special Teams
8 of 10
It's not very often a punter decides the outcome of a game, but Mike Scifres easily earned himself game MVP.
Scifres was called on for nine punts, five of which he pinned inside the 20-yard line, and three of those were inside the 10. Credit the punt coverage team for getting down the field in a hurry, but Scifres was definitely in the punting zone.
"Tony Sparano on Mike Scifres: At one point, I honestly turned around and said 'this guy is legitimately swinging the game single handedly'
— Ricky Henne (@ChargersRHenne) November 17, 2014"
Nick Novak sadly had his streak of 32 consecutive made field goals come to an end when his missed from 48 yards, but he shook it off with a make from 52.
The one blemish on special teams is the missed field goal, but the effort by Scifres makes up for every bit of that.
Grade: A+
Coaching
9 of 10
Mike McCoy came through on his promise to get it back on track this week, however ugly the outcome was.
My one knock on his part was the clock management toward the end of the first half. The Chargers ran a poor version of the two-minute offense that amounted to no points. San Diego had just about 17 seconds to spike the ball and potentially have one more play before intermission, but the team opted to run down the clock and settle for a field-goal attempt.
Before that, McCoy was forced to take one of his timeouts to prevent a delay-of-game penalty and he used the other on a failed challenge. Those two lost timeouts would have been very useful in the final two minutes.
"Probably should be more upset about two timeouts given away (to avoid delay of game penalty & bad challenge) than clock management at end.
— UTKevinAcee (@UTKevinAcee) November 16, 2014"
I thought Pagano called a good game defensively. Carr was pressured, and Oakland's run game was shut down for the most part. Frank Reich played it pretty safe on offense with an emphasis on the run game and just a couple of shots down the field. With how well Floyd has been for the passing game, I would have expected the Bolts to go after the Raiders secondary.
Grade: C
Final Grade
10 of 10
| Positional Unit | Grade |
| Quarterback | C |
| Running Back | C+ |
| WR and TE | B |
| Offensive Line | D |
| Defensive Line | C |
| Linebacker | A |
| Secondary | B+ |
| Special Teams | A |
| Coaching | C |
| Cumulative Grade | C+ |
At this point of the season, San Diego will take the wins any way it can. Is it troubling that the Chargers could only muster 13 points against the winless Raiders? Yes, but try to keep in mind how the defense looked now that it's finally healthy.
The St. Louis Rams are next in line for the Chargers at Qualcomm Stadium before the brutal portion of the schedule unfolds. With tough games remaining against Baltimore, New England, Denver, San Francisco and Kansas City in the coming weeks, San Diego will need to get better in a hurry.
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