Raiders give Jesse Minter, Chargers zero credit for defense's dominant showing

The "Monday Night Football" game between the Los Angeles Chargers and Las Vegas Raiders was an absolute masterclass from Los Angeles' defensive coordinator, Jesse Minter.

Minter did a brilliant job taking away the deep part of the field, but that didn't deter Geno Smith from taking shots. The result was an ugly showing for Smith and a fairly easy 20-9 win for the Chargers.

Surprisingly, after the game, both Jakobi Meyers and Ashton Jeanty didn't give any credit to Minter's approach and instead believe Las Vegas simply beat itself on offense.

"Interesting: Both Ashton Jeanty and Jakobi Meyers said the Chargers defense didn’t throw anything crazy at them other than the emphasis of keeping everything in front of them in Cover 2," Levi Edwards of Raiders.com reported. "Both said postgame that they believe they beat themselves as an offense tonight."

Smith took several chances throughout the evening, so his awful decision-making was at least partly to blame, but Minter deserves plenty of credit for calling a perfect game, also.

Despite the defense the Chargers were playing, Smith didn't attack the short-to-intermediate areas of the field enough, something Raiders head coach Pete Carroll noted.

"I know that the picks are a big issue, but that's not my concern," Carroll said. "My concern is why we didn't get the bulk thrown and caught underneath, and we wound up taking those shots."

Even when the Raiders tried to dump the ball off to Jeanty, there wasn't much room to run, as Los Angeles' defense did a great job swarming to the ball.

That was just the latest great game that Minter has called and what the Chargers have put on tape shows a defense with elite talent and an elite play-caller, which is a deadly combination.

Unfortunately for the Chargers, they won't be able to enjoy their top-notch defensive coordinator for too much longer, as Minter will draw a ton of attention in the head-coaching cycle in 2026, and will almost certainly land a gig.

—Enjoy free coverage of the Chargers from Los Angeles Chargers on SI—

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