Kickoff: Sunday, 1:05 p.m. PT, SoFi Stadium
The Chargers were 9.5-point home favorites last week and lost by 12. Now they host an AFC West opponent that is 1-0, won its opener by 14, and has a rookie head coach who has already done the thing this staff has not: called a clean game. Week 2 is a chance for the Chargers to rectify an ugly opening lerformanc, or fall behind 0-2 before entering a gauntlet of the difficult season stretch.
Injury Report
Chargers
- QUESTIONABLEWR Ladd McConkey (ribs). Took the hit late in the third quarter last week, missed Wednesday and Thursday, limited Friday. Trending toward playing. Watch for a snap count.
- OUTS Elijah Molden (hamstring). Injured in Week 1. Did not practice all week.
- OUTOL Trey Pipkins III (knee). Did not practice all week. Reduces the swing option at left guard behind Kayode Awosika.
- QUESTIONABLECB Deane Leonard (abdomen). Limited all week after sitting out Week 1.
- IRLB Denzel Perryman. Minimum four games.
- CLEAREDOLB Khalil Mack (rest), OLB Akheem Mesidor (calf), WR Derius Davis (calf), DT Teair Tart (ankle), DT Dalvin Tomlinson (hamstring/rest), OLB Bud Dupree (rest).
Raiders
- DOUBTFULTE Brock Bowers (knee). Returned to limited practice Friday following a knee procedure, but Klint Kubiak said he would need to see significant improvement before clearing him. Plan on Michael Mayer getting the tight end snaps.
- OUTCB Darien Porter (foot). Did not practice all week.
- QUESTIONABLEQB Aidan O’Connell (personal). Not traveling with the team. Rookie Fernando Mendoza is the No. 2 behind Kirk Cousins.
- FULLRB Ashton Jeanty (ankle). Full participant all three days. No designation, no expected workload restriction.
Net effect: the Raiders lose their best offensive weapon and a starting corner. The Chargers are down a starting safety and a rotational guard, and their most important receiver is playing through ribs. Whether McConkey is on the field matters more than any other single line above, for reasons the next section makes clear.
What Week 1 Actually Was
Final: Cardinals 26, Chargers 14. Arizona outgained Los Angeles 393 to 268, held the ball for 37:31 against 22:29, won the turnover margin 2-0, and won special teams with a blocked punt. The 393 yards allowed would have been the second-highest total the Chargers defense surrendered all of last season.
The offense went 8 plays and 77 yards for a touchdown on its first drive, with Herbert hitting McConkey three times for 60 yards and Omarion Hampton finishing from 8 out. Then Hampton fumbled at the Arizona 30. Then Harbaugh went for it on fourth-and-goal from the 3 with 1:55 left in the half instead of tying it at 10, and Dante Stills got home for a 10-yard sack. Then Simi Fehoko blocked a punt in the fourth quarter to set up the McBride touchdown that made it a two-score game. The Chargers put up 151 yards in the first half and scored 7. They scored 7 in the second half too. Rushing total: 81 yards, 29 of them Herbert scrambles.
The most useful number from the game is a split. Per John Daigle at Establish The Run, Herbert posted a 69% success rate and 10.3 yards per attempt with McConkey on the field. Without him: 5.3 yards per attempt and a 28.6% success rate, 28th and 29th in the league on the week. One receiver leaving the game should not collapse an offense that was sold all summer as a schematic upgrade. That it did is the actual McDaniel storyline heading into Week 2, more than any single play call.
Harbaugh’s word for the second half was “sloppy.” Rashawn Slater’s was “uncharacteristic.” Week 2 will go a long way to suggesting if this is a trend, or if it was an abnormality.
The Raiders: What Kubiak Built
Las Vegas beat Miami 27-13 at home. Cousins went 21 of 30 for 160 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions, including a pick on the first drive of the second half that briefly let the Dolphins back in. The offense did not need him to do more. Jeanty carried 23 times for 102 yards and caught six passes for 45 more with both of his touchdowns coming through the air. He led the team in rushing and receiving. Jack Bech caught the other score. Dylan Laube’s 50-yard kickoff return set up the touchdown that answered Miami’s only real push.
The defense produced three sacks (Maxx Crosby, Nakobe Dean, Kwity Paye), an interception from rookie safety Treydan Stukes, and a fourth-quarter Jeremy Chinn forced fumble recovered by Quay Walker. Miami’s pass rush never reached Cousins, and by the Dolphins’ own account the Raiders line looked like a top-five unit for one afternoon. That is a Week 1 read on a bad opponent, not a season grade. It is still a better Week 1 tape than the one the Chargers put out.
The staff. Klint Kubiak was hired February 9 after coordinating Seattle’s Super Bowl offense last season. He calls the plays. Offensive coordinator Andrew Janocko, 37, followed him from Seattle and has been with him through Minnesota, New Orleans, and Seattle; Kubiak has described the operation as collaborative rather than one voice. Rick Dennison, the longtime Kubiak family lieutenant, coaches the offensive line. Rob Leonard was promoted from defensive line coach and run game coordinator to defensive coordinator, continuing a Raiders pattern of keeping the DC in-house. Last week was his first NFL game as a coordinator. Mike McCoy, who coached the Chargers from 2013 to 2016, is the assistant head coach.
Two new play-callers on the other sideline is the mirror image of what the Chargers have. The difference after one week is that one pair executed.
Rookies and the Second Read
Mesidor is off the report after a calf issue and will get his second game. Tuipulotu is not on this week’s report at all, which should mean a fuller rotation than Week 1 and a cleaner read on how O’Leary intends to deploy the third rusher. The Raiders line handled Miami’s rush without incident; Crosby and company were the story on the other side. Chargers pressure rate against Cousins, who has never been a mobility answer to a bad pocket, is the swing variable of the game.
Slaughter starts at center for the second time. The fourth-and-goal sack came up the middle. That is not a verdict on him (it’s on Trey Pipkins), but it is the play the Raiders’ interior defensive line will have watched most.
An Aside About Pants
Dockers announced Harbaugh as its new brand ambassador Monday, one day after the Cardinals loss. The fall campaign is called “The Everyday Uniform,” built on the premise that when something works, you stick with it. Harbaugh grills, takes an ice plunge, keeps bees, works out, and does karate, all in khakis. It is his second Dockers spot; the first, in 2014, had Sarah Harbaugh delivering a PSA about “dad pants.”
The timing writes its own joke. The Chargers’ problem last week was not sticking with what works. It was that what worked stopped working the moment McConkey went to the locker room.
What to Watch, in Order
- McConkey’s snap count, and Herbert’s efficiency when he is off the field. If the split from Week 1 repeats, the problem is structural.
- Early-down rushing. 81 yards with 29 from the quarterback is not a McDaniel offense.
- Pressure on Cousins. Three sacks against Miami’s line is the Raiders’ bar; the Chargers need to clear it.
- Jeanty in the pass game. Six targets last week with Bowers out. With Molden also out, the safety coverage on him is worth tracking.
- Fourth-down decisions. Harbaugh went for it from the 3 and it cost 3 points. The community will have opinions.
- Special teams. The blocked punt was the game. JK Scott and the protection unit are on notice.
Follow Along With StormCloud
Kickoff is 1:05 p.m. PT. This thread is live for the full game. Drop your reactions, snap count observations, and anything the broadcast misses in the comments below. We’ll be in there with you, and the post-game breakdown will pull from what this community flags during the game.
An 0-2 start with Buffalo, Seattle, and Denver waiting is a different season than 1-1. Bolt up.
Justin Herbert’s new footwork has made a huge difference. And the new blocking system and IOL has been a big differentiator. Thank goodness we are rock solid at tackle.
Not ready for prime time.
Harbaugh is a fraud.
Never saw this coming. This team was way over hyped and our talented roster is not very talented or well-coached. Very disheartening.
Jesus. Herbert is going to check out of this shit and I can’t really blame him
Now you know why he only throws to Ladd.
Thus offense looks like they are learning the plays in OTAs
Laborious is how I would describe the offense at the moment. Everything seems so hard for them. I thought McDaniel would bring in the easy buttons for Herbert. It feels like Herbert is not at all comfortable in this offense(yet).
Defense looking a bit better but 2 drives they have been bailed out by Raider receiver mistakes.
Not getting good vibes about this game so far. Still 0-0 though so everything still possible!