Chargers Got Revenge, but Raiders Still Lead Series
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The Las Vegas Raiders, riding their first two-game winning streak of the season and out of a tie for the AFC West cellar with the Denver Broncos, would like to claim a bit of revenge against the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
The Chargers got the Raiders’ season off to a start on the wrong foot despite a 4-0 preseason record under new Coach Josh McDaniels, when Justin Herbert passed for 279 and touchdowns of one yard to Zander Horvath, 23 yards to DeAndre Carter and 18 yards to Gerald Everett in leading the Chargers to a 24-19 victory at Sofi Stadium in Los Angeles.
That was the beginning of the Raiders’ slide to an 0-3 start
The Chargers earned a bit of revenge because last season, Daniel Carlson kicked his second field goal of overtime from 47 yards to give the Raiders a 35-32 victory in the final game of the regular season to overcome three more touchdowns passes by Herbert.
Las Vegas earned a spot in the playoffs, while the Chargers were on the outside looking in.
“It was great to beat them this time, especially on their home field, after they knocked us out of the playoffs last season,” Herbert told reporters after the game.
The Raiders played in Los Angeles from 1982 to 1994 and Raiders Managing General Partner Al Davis at one time had hoped to have a stadium built for the Raiders on the site of Sofi Stadium, which is shared by the Chargers and Los Angeles Rams.
The Raiders will play the Rams there on Thursday Night Football next week on Dec. 8.
As has been written here before, the Raiders and Chargers have been rivals since they were charter members of the American Football League in 1960, with the Chargers having played in San Diego and Los Angeles over the years, with the Raiders in Oakland, Los Angeles and now Las Vegas.
Despite the Chargers’ victory in the first game this season, the Raiders hold a 67-57-2 lead in the all-time series, even though the Chargers have won two of the last three games after the Silver and Black won three in a row.
The Chargers won the first six games the teams played before Davis came to Oakland in 1963 as coach and general manager to lead the Raiders to victory in two of the next three games, and the Silver and Black took control with an amazing 19-1-2 surge between 1966 and 1977.
As mentioned before here on Raider Maven, the two greatest games for the Raiders came during the 1963 season under Davis and in the 1980 AFC Championship Game at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego.
As mentioned, the Chargers were 6-0 against the Raiders before Davis came to Oakland and the Silver and Black won, 34-33, the first time the teams played in 1963 at Balboa Stadium in San Diego, but the second game that season is one of the most memorable in Silver and Black history.
The Chargers built a 27-10 lead after three quarters as Tobin Rote passed for 284 yards and three touchdowns, and the capacity crowd of about 25,000 fans at Frank Youell Field began to file out of the makeshift stadium, which was there only because the Raiders needed a place to play before the Oakland Coliseum was finished in 1966.
However, quarterback Cotton Davidson threw a 40-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Art Powell, ran nine yards for another score and Mike Mercer kicked a 30-yard field goal to tie the score, 27-27 with 7:54 left in the game.
Following a Chargers punt, Davidson hit Powell with a 41-yard scoring pass to give the Raiders their first lead of the game, 34-27, with 5:35 left. After an interception by linebacker Clancy Osborne, the Silver and Black tacked on a two-yard touchdown run by fullback Alan Miller for the final points with 1:06 remaining.
Raiders fans who had left and were listening to the game on their car radios en route home, returned and Frank Youell Field was nearly filled again when the final seconds ticked off in the great victory.
The Chargers and Raiders have met in the playoffs only once, and AFC West champion San Diego was a heavy favorite in the 1980 AFC Championship Game behind future Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Fouts at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego.
The Raiders scored first when tight end Raymond Chester caught a deflected pass from Jim Plunkett and went 65 yards for a touchdown in the first quarter.
The Chargers got even when Fouts hit Charlie Joiner with a 48-yard scoring pass, but the Raiders scored on Plunkett’s six-yard run, his 21-yard scoring pass to running back Kenny King and fullback Mark van Eeghen’s three-yard touchdown run for a 28-7 lead late in the first half.
San Diego rallied, but Chris Bahr kicked field goals of 27 and 33 yards in the fourth quarter, and the Raiders held on for a 34-27 victory that longtime members of Raider Nation rank with the greatest in franchise history.
Chargers fans would rather forget it.
Two weeks later, the Raiders became the first wild card team to win the Super Bowl when they beat the Philadelphia Eagles, 27-10, in SB XV.
That might have been the Chargers’ best team, but they have never won the Super Bowl.
The Raiders' game against the Chargers on Sunday at Allegiant Stadium kicks off at 4:25 p.m. EST/1:25 p.m. PST. You can see that game on CBS.
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