Charger Report

Film review shows Raiders dished blatant dirty hits as Chargers dominated

The Los Angeles Chargers eliminated the Las Vegas Raiders from playoff contention. The Raiders took several cheap shots at the Chargers in a losing effort.
Thomas Martinez|
Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

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Los Angeles ChargersLas Vegas Raiders

The Los Angeles Chargers beat down their AFC West division rival Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday. The Chargers sent Las Vegas home with a 31-14 loss and a playoff elimination before the start of December.

The game was close in the first half. The Chargers marched down the field on their opening offensive possession. Quarterback Justin Herbert suffered a broken left hand on the second-to-last play of the opening drive before throwing a touchdown pass to wide receiver Quentin Johnston.

Justin Herbert is tough and he returned to the game after getting x-rays, his hand cast, taped and covered with a glove. He ultimately only missed eight plays. The Chargers offense was not as successful for the remainder of the first half.

Offensive coordinator Greg Roman adjusted to Herbert's sudden limitations and a balanced attack broke down the Raiders in the second half. The gameplan and constant variation of pass protections and personnel groupings started to frustrate Raiders defenders.

Raiders edge rusher Maxx Crosby participated in a few dirty plays with the Chargers. Crosby leveled Chargers left guard Zion Johnson with a violent hit through his back and blindside on a Kimani Vidal run to the left.

Raiders linebacker Elandon Roberts appeared to attempt to hit Justin Herberts broken hand on multiple occasions. Roberts also hit Justin Herbert late on a rollout to the left.

Justin Herbert appeared to goad Maxx Crosby after several of the hits on himself and teammates were not flagged. Crosby reacted by shoving Herbert to the ground.


Herbert may have over-dramatized the shove from Crosby to draw the penalty flag. The shove to Herbert drew the 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, and the Chargers ultimately scored again to put the game on ice. Herbert was successful in finally drawing more attention to the way the Raiders defenders were playing.

The Chargers are no strangers to having a quarterback who is willing to engage with defenders on the field.

The Raiders handed out several cheap shots in their losing effort and were officially eliminated from playoff contention with the loss. There is no love lost between the two AFC West rivals.

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Thomas Martinez
THOMAS MARTINEZ

Thomas Martinez has covered the Chargers and the NFL draft since 2022. Born and raised as a Chargers fan, experienced the improbable Super Bowl run in the 94’ season as a child, survived Ryan Leaf, the Marlon McCree fumble and Nate Kaeding in the playoffs. He graduated from UC Riverside with a degree in Political Science and The University of Redlands with an MBA.

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