Raiders Opponent HC Spotlight: Brandon Staley

After a close loss at home to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday Night Football, the Las Vegas Raiders will head back on the road to take on an AFC West opponent, the Los Angeles Chargers.

The Chargers narrowly avoided dropping to 0-3 on Sunday, defeating the Minnesota Vikings with a fourth quarter touchdown, 28-24.

The Chargers and Raiders have had quality games against each other in the last few seasons, and this Sunday could be another.

Coach Brandon Staley is entering his third season with the the Chargers, and that carries heavy expectations for the team. After a playoff collapse last season, the Chargers are looking to get back to the postseason and avoid another monumental loss.

The pressure is on Staley to deliver a postseason run with this talented Chargers team. The Raiders kept the Chargers out of the playoffs in Staley’s debut season after he decided to take a timeout that led to a game-winning field goal by Daniel Carlson.

Had they tied, both teams would have made the playoffs, but since the Chargers lost, they were eliminated, and only the Raiders advanced to the postseason.

Staley has a 2-2 record vs. the Raiders as a head coach, winning in his first season 28-14 and then 24-19 in the opening game of the 2022 season. He lost the aforementioned season finale and the most recent match-up.

Staley is a defensive-minded head coach, as he spent the 2020 season as the Los Angeles Rams’ defensive coordinator. Before that, he spent time with the Chicago Bears and Denver Broncos as an outside linebackers coach.

Staley is an aggressive, analytics-driven coach who is not afraid to go for it on fourth down. In 2022, Staley went for it on fourth down 29 times, the sixth-most in the NFL. However, they only converted 51.9 percent of those fourth downs, which ranked 16th in the NFL.

In 2021, Staley went for it on 34 fourth down attempts, the third-most in the NFL. The Chargers converted on 22 of them, which ranked fourth in the NFL.

The Raiders will see Staley and the Chargers twice this season, with this being his third go around. There will be urgency from the Chargers to win this season, so the Raiders must be prepared to play a focused team.

The Silver and Black return to the road next week in Inglewood, Calif., to play the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday, Oct. 1, at 4:05 p.m. EDT/1:05 p.m. PDT.

Please tell us your thoughts when you like our Facebook Page WHEN YOU CLICK RIGHT HERE.