What the Raiders Are Really Playing For vs. Chargers

The Las Vegas Raiders are set for another Sunday of exciting football. They will take on the Los Angeles Chargers in a rematch of their Week 2 matchup.

Fading Confidence in the Raiders

As the Raiders continue to lose games, especially winnable ones, few believe they will turn things around any time soon. Las Vegas hopes Greg Olson can help get their offense together, but he will have his work cut out for him with the Raiders' current roster.

Tom Blair of NFL.com is not a big believer in the Raiders' chances of beating the Chargers on the road on Sunday.

"One rule of thumb I generally try to abide by here is to not pick teams that struggle to play competitive football. Throw in a decent-to-good opponent, and, well, good night. I don't want to deny the memory of the Raiders' two wins and two one-point losses, but that quartet of games sure look anomalous next to the other seven outings this season, in which Vegas was outscored by a combined 127 points, or 18.1 per game," Blair said.

"The Chargers weren't exactly at their most crisp the last time out, getting stomped by the Jaguars, 35-6 in Week 11, but that is the outlier on their slate so far this season. Since then, they've had the bye to rest up and clear the cobwebs. The embattled O-line will have to account for Maxx Crosby, and there's the chance that a change in offensive play-caller could spark something for the Raiders, plus of course I could always get punished for my hubris, but let's not get too cute. Slot Jim Harbaugh's group for win No. 8."

Earlier this week, Raiders Head Coach Pete Carroll noted how much physicality Crosby draws from opposing offenses who spend all week adding ways to eliminate Crosby to their game plan. It nearly always includes more than one blocker being designated to Crosby on every play.

"Maxx [Crosby] has drawn attention all year long. I mean, there's not been a game where somebody thought they could single them, and there's a variety of ways, but there's only so many ways,” Carroll said.

“After a while, we've seen them all, and we really have, and we expect them again to give him respect and take care of business if they can, and he'll just do everything he can. There are ways we move people around, try to get him in singles whenever we can, but it's a long haul for him through these games because one after another, these guys are coming after him.

However, Carroll noted that Crosby fully understands what the double and triple teams he a sign of how highly opposing teams consider him.

“There's two guys sitting there waiting for him. There's four hands and two bodies and four eyes looking at him, and he has to deal with it. So, he's really good about it,” Carroll said.

“He knows that it's respect, and they're showing him, and he understands that, but he wants to get that freaking ball and the quarterback so bad that it wears him down during the games. But yet, he just keeps coming. You think he would wear out. He doesn't."

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