The Oakland Raiders jumped out to an early lead and road it to a victory over the San Diego Chargers on Sunday. (Getty)
Final
Oakland Raiders 10-20-7-0 — 37
San Diego Chargers 3-3-0-23 — 29
The Oakland Raiders looked good on Sunday. Really good. A lot better than that final score would necessarily indicate.
The silver and grey jumped out to a big-time lead on the San Diego Chargers and never looked back, giving up points in the fourth quarter long after the game had been put out of reach.
Derek Carr finished the day 24-of-31 for 289 yards and three touchdown passes – to three different receivers – while Amari Cooper became the first rookie to record three 100-yard games in the first six games of the season since Mike Ditka.
Phillip Rivers threw a whopping 58 passes, completing 38 of them, for 336 yards, three touchdowns of his own, but two costly interceptions early in the game. The Chargers have now lost three straight.
Click here for a full box score of the game and read on for some of the best moments from the matchup:
Danny Woodhead Cut Into the Chargers Lead With a TD Run
The Chargers just won’t go away. This is a rivalry game, after all.
A Danny Woodhead TD and a two-point conversion made this a two-score game with six minutes left in regulation. It’s still interesting over here on the west coast.
The Chargers Got Their First Touchdown in the Fourth Quarter
Ladarius Green 31-yard TD on catch-and-run. Was untouched. Just need to do that about four more times.
San Diego finally found the end zone in the early stages of the fourth quarter as Phillip Rivers connected with Ladarius Green. It’s still a long hill to climb for the comeback though. Rivers has been picked off twice already and has been held to under 200 passing yards thus far.
Hey, Have a Touchdown Catch Too Michael Crabtree
Hope long-suffering Raider fans are enjoying this day in the sun _ no fan base deserves it more. It’s 37-6.
At this point, why not?
Michael Crabtree became the third Oakland receiver to haul in a touchdown catch as the Raiders picked up right where they left off, starting the second half with another trip to the end zone.
AC/DC Continues to Rock in Oakland
Derek Car and Amari Cooper play football pretty well together.
The Raiders QB found his rookie WR for a 52-yard strike as Cooper showcased some of that phenomenal speed and Oakland continued to dominate every facet of Sunday afternoon’s game.
Social media approves and the Oakland’s Twitter account has got puns!
It’s simple really. #ACDC
Derek Carr to Clive Walford – Touchdown
One of better drives you’ll see from Raiders in past few years considering the mix of run and pass.
That was a really good throw. Go back and watch it again, Oakland fans, because that was a really good throw.
Derek Carr padded the Raiders lead early in the second quarter with a bullet to Clive Walford. The reception was the first touchdown catch of Walford’s NFL career.
A Malcom Smith INT Led to a Raiders Touchdown Early in the 1st Quarter
That didn’t take long.
After Phillip Rivers pass was tipped, Malcom Smith hauled in the ball and set the Raiders up with fantastic field position in the opening minutes of the first quarter.
Oakland turned the INT into seven points. Latavius Murray just crossed the plane and the Raiders fans collectively lost their minds.
Game Preview
Rivalry games are fun, right? Rivalry games when both teams are looking to avoid three-game losing skids are even more fun.
Both of these teams have shown flashes of what they’re capable of this season, but in a division where the Broncos are still undefeated, the flashes aren’t quite good enough anymore. Someone needs to win and in a matchup where neither squad likes the other very much, we can all expect a pretty emotional matchup.
San Diego has history on its side heading into the game, winning six of the past seven against Oakland and Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers is 14-4 overall against the Raiders.
Oakland is coming off a bye week that was spent focusing, mostly, on the ground game and looks to expand the rushing attack this Sunday. The idea thee, of course, is to open up the offense so defenders can’t simply shut down Amari Cooper and, by extension, shut down the entire Raiders scoring potential.