OAKLAND–On the Los Angeles’ Chargers’ game-winning drive, quarterback Philip Rivers found tight end Hunter Henry for a pair of 20-plus yard gains that help set up a Nick Novak chip shot field goal to ice the victory.
Raiders’ head coach Jack Del Rio said he knew the plays were coming.
“They ran exactly the plays that we know they run,” Del Rio said. “Including the tight end. Literally calling out the play on that.”
Yet twice, Oakland safety Karl Joseph was beat by Henry who amassed gains of 23 and 33 yards en route to a 90-yard receiving effort. After Sunday’s game, Del Rio expressed frustration with his defense for failing to hold the Chargers on their last drive, which ended up costing Oakland a shot at a victory.
“Guys that are responsible for that have to make the play,” Del Rio said. “It’s unfortunate we let the back get out a little bit, that we let the tight end get out a little bit. In most cases it was stuff we prepared for and repped.”
Del Rio didn’t limit his frustration to the defensive side of the ball, though, and he shouldn’t have, as Oakland actually played much better than it has over the last several weeks. The Raiders’ head coach was also upset with his offense, which struggled with alignment issues and penalties throughout Sunday afternoon’s contest.
With more than six minutes remaining and armed with a 16-14 lead, Oakland had an opportunity to put the game on ice with a long drive that could have eaten up the clock. Instead, the Raiders went three-and-out, and punted the ball back to the Chargers with over four minutes remaining.
Oakland never got the ball back.
“I saw an inability to line up properly, execute,” Del Rio said of his offense’s last drive. “We completed out for a chunk, it’s going to put us at second and short to start the drive. Instead, we line up at first-and-15. That led to a three-and-out. That was a factor in us going three-and-out. I know that hook and ladder went for about a yard short. Bottom line is that penalty hurt us right there. We didn’t have a bunch. We haven’t been penalized a bunch, but we had a couple really killers.”
After winning 12 games and tying the Kansas City Chiefs atop the AFC West a season ago, the Raiders are now 2-4 through the first six weeks of 2017 and tied with the Chargers in last place. All is not well in Oakland, as the Raiders are struggling to stay afloat.