Oakland, CA - After donning white jerseys for the first time since anyone can remember and being introduced by positions instead of individual announcements to exhibit team unity, the Oakland Raiders looked to make a statement early in the game when they hit the field first. Oakland’s Johnnie Lee Higgins ran back the opening kick off to mid-field. The Raiders opened up with passes to march down the field. Initially, the Chargers looked caught off guard, but would manage to hold Oakland’s opening drive to a field goal attempt making it 3-0.

Oakland’s defense was aggressive and blitzed the seemingly hapless Chargers, forcing them to go 3-and-out on their first drive. After the Raiders posted a reciprocating 3-and-out, Oakland’s defense went back to work and worked over Charger running back LaDanian Tomlinson as Raider safety Gibril Wilson hit Tomlinson on their goaline, causing a fumble in the endzone as Charger quarterback Phillip Rivers fell on the loose ball and was touched down for a safety to push the Raider lead to five.

The Oakland Raiders remained aggressive by utilizing more passing plays compared to their last three games where they ran the ball the vast majority of the time. This time, Raider quarterback JaMarcus Russell finally connected deep to his safety valve tight end Zach Miller for a 63-yard touchdown to further put the Chargers behind the eight ball with a 12-0 score in the second quarter. Oakland continued to apply pressure with an interception by defensive back Chris Johnson and ran it back 13 yards to set up another Sebastian Janikowski field goal to make the score 15-0. Despite being able to points on the board and shutting out the Chargers in the first half, Oakland left too many points on the field. Twice in the first half, the Raiders failed to punch the ball into the endzone and had difficulty protecting Russell as he was sacked six times; many of them coming on third down. In fact, Oakland’s third down offense was woeful for most of the entire game.

In the second half, Oakland’s once interesting passing attack evaporated; causing it’s defense to spend a lot of time on the field and was exhausted by the 4^th quarter. Up until that time, the Raiders held the Chargers to a meager 3 points, but as with last week’s Buffalo Bills loss, Oakland was gassed as its defense gave up a Charger touchdown following a sack/fumble by JaMarcus Russell on his own 18-yard line.

The Raiders would manage to muster up one last offensive drive late in the game to tie the score at 18-18.  However, its special teams, who have been very good up until now, gave up a 67-yard return that automatically put the Chargers in field goal range. This time Charger kicker Nate Kaeding split the uprights, (unlike his two previously missed field goals), to go up by three with just under two minutes left in the game. Oakland’s offense once again looked non-existent as they would turn over the ball on downs. The Chargers would put the nail in the coffin on another run by Tomlinson (two on the day) to give San Diego a 28-18 lead to close the game.

The Oakland Raiders, by all accounts in the first three quarters should have won this game. Unfortunately because of a lack of play makers on offense, a conservative coach, or an overly-simplified play book, Oakland could not compete for four full quarters making them one of the best three quarter teams in the NFL. At least this time, defensive coordinator Rob Ryan did not play any soft zone defense that allowed the Chargers to amass 25 points in the 4^th quarter. They simply were out of gas because the offense couldn’t give them a break. At least the players played hard for embattled Lane Kiffin. And judging by lockerroom comments by the Raider players, they WANT to play for Kiffin.