Raiders Week 4 Preview vs. Chargers

The Raiders aren’t looking too hot coming into this Week 4 preview against the Chargers. They sit at 1-2, having lost a highly winnable game against the Steelers last Sunday night and after getting run off the field in Buffalo the week before that.

Raiders Week 4 Preview vs. Chargers

The Raiders have lost each of their last two games in Los Angeles against the Chargers. Despite this, the Raiders still know that Los Angeles is their home away from home. They played in Los Angeles from 1982-1994 and to this day remain the most popular team in the region. On top of that, fans from L.A. and Oakland tend to find it easier to afford to view the game at SoFi Stadium rather than at Allegiant Stadium.

One thing the Raiders have going for them this Sunday is that the Chargers still have not managed to establish a true fan base in Los Angeles like what they had in San Diego. Therefore, it’ll be the Raiders’ turn to have their fans take over a stadium after once again seeing Allegiant Stadium taken over on Sunday night by Steelers fans. Raider Nation, looking at how rough this Week 4 preview is about to be, we have to find the positives where we can.

This is a rivalry game, and although it is not as intense for the Raiders as their matchups with Denver or Kansas City are, there’s a lot at stake here. Looking ahead at this Week 4 preview, both teams are tied for second place in the AFC West at 1-2. These are the games you have to win if you want to be in the playoffs and to have a shot at lifting up the Lombardi Trophy.

The Chargers have one of the most explosive offenses in the NFL, with quarterback Justin Herbert last week passing for 40-46 for 405 yards and 3 touchdowns. Wide receiver and noted Raiders nemesis Keenan Allen is now the all-time leading receiver in San Diego/Los Angeles Chargers history.

The defense has been a sore spot all season despite the high-end talent, with high-priced cornerback J.C. Jackson potentially being the worst free agent signing in franchise history being a healthy scratch last week in Minnesota. Looking at week 4, it’s unknown if Jackson will be active for the Chargers.

The Raiders have a chance to get back in the win column, Let’s look at this week 4 preview to see some important matchups and look at how potentially the Raiders can break the Bolts.

Jimmy G vs. Turnovers

Currently, Raiders quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo leads the NFL in interceptions with 6 through 3 games. Last season, in 305 attempts with San Francisco, he only threw four the whole year. Maybe it’s a difference in the system he is in, but Jimmy has been nowhere close to as effective as he was with the 49ers.

Looking at the Week 4 preview, Jimmy needs to stop being reckless with the football. He hasn’t done a good job distributing the football, as only Jakobi Meyers and Devante Adams seem to get the football through the air. It’s beating a dead horse at this point, discussing how little the Raiders 2nd round pick Michael Mayer and starting slot receiver Hunter Renfrow get targets throughout the game.

Raiders head coach Josh McDaniels and Jimmy know they need to get others involved in the passing game in order to succeed. There have been too many times to count throughout any of the first 3 games where Jimmy has missed wide-open receivers just to throw the ball into congested coverage. A couple of these passes have led to superstar receiver Devante Adams taking unnecessary big hits over the middle.

If the Raiders are going to steal a win this Sunday, they need Jimmy to go out and win the game. The running game hasn’t been there all season which doesn’t help matters at all. That puts more pressure on the passing game to get things going. But the passing game outside of Meyers and Adams has been grossly ineffective as well.

At the very least, the Raiders need to play mistake-free football. Their opponents know if they force Jimmy to hold onto the football, he’s going to make mistakes. He isn’t good at improvisation. The Raiders need him to avoid making silly mistakes and just play his game, which is the short-intermediate passing game.

If he can avoid turning the football over, the Raiders have a good chance to win. If he goes back to what he’s been doing the last couple of weeks, expect a Chargers victory on Sunday. This is all based on whether he will be active on Sunday, as Jimmy is still in concussion protocol at the time of this writing. If he can’t start, expect 37-year-old journeyman backup Brian Hoyer to start in his absence.

Justin Herbert vs. Raiders Defense

Justin Herbert is currently playing like the best quarterback in the NFL. He’s the only quarterback without a turnover this season. He’s putting up MVP-level numbers through the first three weeks. Even though it’s early, that has to be scary for every team in the league.

The Raiders defense didn’t do the worst job containing the Steelers last Sunday night. They gave up 23 points but held the Steelers to a lot of field goals and managed to even force some punts. Remarkable if you consider that the week prior, the Bills trampled them for 38 points.

For his career, Herbert has absolutely insane statistics against the Raiders. Herbert has thrown for 1,859 yards, 14 touchdowns, and one interception. Herbert has a career record of 3-3 against the Raiders. The most notable game Herbert played against the Raiders thus far saw him lose to the Raiders in week 18 of the 2021 season in Las Vegas in a game that decided who made the playoffs that season between the Raiders, Steelers, and Chargers.

In this Week 4 preview, looking at the Chargers passing attack, it is a lot closer in terms of deadliness to what the Raiders saw in Buffalo rather than what they saw against Pittsburgh or even Denver. Even with star receiver Mike Williams out for the season.

The Raiders defense also still has failed to force a turnover this season, as they’ve been snakebitten at every opportunity. Dropped interceptions and penalties on crucial plays have absolutely devastated the Raiders’ defense all year, keeping them on the field for long stretches and eventually forcing them to fold.

Looking at this week 4 preview, the Raiders defense likely isn’t going to stop Justin Herbert. They might not even contain him and the Chargers passing attack. But they need to, at the very least, limit the big plays. The defense did give up a massive touchdown catch to Calvin Austin last week and to a Steelers offense with the least amount of 20+ yard plays in the entire league since 2020. The Chargers offense doesn’t have such struggles, with a passing attack rivaling that of Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs.

If the Raiders are going to win on Sunday, they need to hope and pray that Maxx Crosby can force pressure on Herbert all day. If the Chargers have a weakness, it’s the offensive line. To borrow a quote from the Disney football movie “Remember the Titans,” “you blitz all night. I don’t want them to gain another yard.”

The Raiders have to break out of the soft zone coverage defense this week that they’ve been playing because Crosby, so far, is the only man getting any consistent pass rush, and the way to beat the Chargers is to break through the offensive line and to sack Herbert. Otherwise, this defense is getting torched.

Josh McDaniels vs. Brandon Staley

A Week 4 preview featuring a battle of two extremely unpopular head coaches who may or may not be sitting on the hot seat. Not many weeks will you see that.

Los Angeles Chargers head coach Brandon Staley and Las Vegas Raiders head coach Josh McDaniels are opposite sides of the same coin, as both are often cited across the board by all football fans as coaches who aren’t exactly revered for intelligent in-game decision-making.

Staley is known as overly aggressive. A coach who has decided to roll the dice one too many times on 4th down deep inside his own territory and came up with snake eyes. Even during the win last week, Staley opted to go for it on 4th and 1 on his own 24, which failed and gave the Vikings prime field position with under two minutes to play.

McDaniels is passive but, at the same time, seems to have a tendency to want to prove he is the smartest coach in the room. Whereas Staley will always opt to go for a touchdown even when a field goal will win the game, McDaniels last week infamously opted for a field goal when the Raiders could have tied the game with a touchdown and 2-point conversion due to believing the team was down by multiple possessions.

Both coaches know that every game counts and every win is important. Both coaches know that their ownership groups likely will not tolerate much failure going forward. Staley is a defensive-minded coach, while McDaniels is an offensive-minded coach. The story writes itself.

Josh McDaniels needs to outcoach Brandon Staley, but more importantly, he needs to let Staley make his own mistakes. Rather than try to outsmart him, he simply needs to let Staley make his own mistakes and then be there to capitalize when it happens. The Chargers are going to be overly aggressive. Use that to your advantage. “Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake”-Napoleon Bonaparte.

Prediction

The Raiders have not showcased the offensive firepower to keep up with the Chargers. This is the best passing team that the Chargers have had arguably since the “Air Coryell” days in the late 1970s and 1980s. They seem to have bad luck in regular season games at SoFi Stadium, having lost in 2021 and twice in 2022 to both the Rams and Chargers.

While the Chargers arguably have the weakest defense out of the four opponents the Raiders have matched up with thus far, I still don’t think it will matter. I’m expecting to see a similar performance from Jimmy Garoppolo that we’ve seen all season long thus far if he’s active. If he’s not, then I expect the Chargers defense to come to life against backup quarterback Brian Hoyer.

The Raiders defense is not stopping Justin Herbert. This much-maligned unit hasn’t forced a turnover, and they’re facing the only quarterback who hasn’t turned over the football all season. This part of the Week 4 preview is quite literally the unstoppable force vs. the very moveable object.

Josh Jacobs, the Raiders star running back, had a season-high 62 yards last week against the 32nd-ranked rushing defense in the Steelers. If he and the Raiders’ run-blocking scheme wasn’t able to break the century mark against them, Looking at the Week 4 preview, I have no idea what he can manage against the Chargers’ defense that admittingly isn’t much better than the Steelers run defense on paper.

After writing up this Week 4 preview, I don’t expect the Raiders to have a good day at all on Sunday. While AFC West matchups are typically close, high-scoring affairs, I expect the Chargers to “Bolt Up” and come away with a convincing win similar to what the Bills did to the Raiders in Buffalo.

Final Score: Raiders 10 Chargers 38

See also: Raiders Week 3 Slay and Bomb