Raiders exit 2012 season how they entered it: Losing to Chargers

Before the game even started in San Diego, things were wacky. The clouds came and the rain started coming down. That rain got more and more heavy and soon it turned into hail. That's right, HAIL... in San Diego. It was going to be a weird day.

The first play of the game added to the crazy day as Chargers return man, Michael Spurlock took the opening kickoff and returned it 99 yards for the touchdown. It put the Raiders in a hole right from the start.

The field was soggy and the ball was muddy as Terrelle Pryor took the field for the first start of his career. Then to start his day already down 7 points added to already less than ideal conditions. Then again, the Raiders were not in an ideal situation.

"Every time the ball came up, the ball was muddy but you know, that's football, that's the NFL." Said Pyror. "I can't complain about it, it was definitely a first for me but when I first got the ball in my hands one time it was muddy and it was like ‘geez, this is what the NFL is about, it doesn't matter what the weather is you have to perform.' I was surprised by that but you know what, I had a blast with my teammates."

Things slowed down at that point and the Raiders offense was as bogged down as the turf. Two three and outs to begin the game and the Raiders were down 10-0 to the Chargers.

Then Terrelle Pryor had his best drive of the game. He drove the Raiders 80 yards on 12 plays with four first downs - three of them on third down - capped off by a back-shoulder touchdown pass to Darrius Heyward-Bey. It was the first Raiders touchdown since week 14 against the Broncos. And it put the Raiders right back in the game.

The touchdown drive was almost stopped short after Mike Goodson got into a scuffle with Chargers linebacker Takeo Spikes. The fight caused offsetting penalties and negated what would have been a first and goal at the one yard line off a pass interference in the endzone. But Pryor was able to score the touchdown anyway two plays later.

Phillip Rivers answered Pryor's drive with a touchdown drive of his own to put the Chargers back up 17-7. The Raiders had a chance to add a field goal before halftime but on a Pryor scramble, he opted to try and get a few more yards instead of running out of bounds to stop the clock and time ran out.

Pryor started the second half with a nice looking drive but it ended when he threw a high-arching pass intended for DHB that was intercepted in the endzone by Quention Jammer for a touchback.

A couple drives later, the Chargers took the ball off of a bad punt by Shane Lechler that gave them possession inside Raider territory and they drove for another touchdown in four plays.

Pryor would make it interesting when he drove the Raiders for another touchdown midway through the fourth quarter. It was set up by a perfect strike to Rod Streater that went 38 yards to the San Diego 3-yard line.

"Oh yeah, that one felt real good," said Pryor of the pass to Streater. "We knew Jammer would jump some routes... He was jumping everything so coach was like ‘pump and hold the safety to the left because this is gonna be open.' So I pumped and held the safety, just put a perfect ball and Streater made a play."

Pryor then finished off the drive when he rolled left off play action and ran into the endzone for the touchdown. It brought the Raiders to within two scores at 24-14.

The Raiders would block a punt late in the game and Pryor would complete two passes including a touchdown pass to a wide open Denarius Moore to bring them within three. With no timeouts left, their only hope was a successful onsides kick and the Chargers recovered to end the game with a 24-12 victory.

Terrelle Pryor was responsible for all three Raiders touchdowns in the game - Two TD passes, one rushing TD.

The Raiders finish the season at 4-12 while the Chargers finish at 7-9.

Oakland Raiders (4-12-0) San Diego Chargers (7-9-0)

Passing CP/AT YDS TD INT

T. Pryor 13/28 150 2 1

Rushing ATT YDS TD LG

D. McFadden 19 57 0 8

T. Pryor 9 49 1 9

M. Goodson 1 9 0 9

Receiving REC YDS TD LG

R. Streater 4 77 0 38

B. Myers 4 53 0 22

D. Heyward-Bey 2 13 1 9T

D. Moore 1 5 1 5T

D. McFadden 2 2 0 3

Fumbles FUM LOST REC YDS

D. Moore 1 0 1 0

Kicking FG LG XP PTS

S. Janikowski 0/0 0 3/3 3

Punting NO AVG I20 LG

S. Lechler 6 43.7 1 58

Kickoff Returns NO AVG TD LG

C. Francies 2 23 0 25

M. Goodson 1 15 0 15

Punt Returns NO AVG TD LG

D. Moore 4 6 0 19

M. Giordano 0 0 0 0

Defense T-A SCK INT FF

L. Houston 9-4 1.5 0 0

M. Burris 5-2 0.0 0 0

O. Gaither 4-1 0.0 0 0

B. Ross 4-1 0.0 0 0

J. Hanson 3-1 0.0 0 0

T. Kelly 3-2 0.0 0 0

M. Mitchell 3-1 0.0 0 0

M. Giordano 2-0 0.0 0 0

M. Shaughnessy 2-0 0.0 0 0

D. Bryant 1-2 0.5 0 0

K. Burnett 1-0 0.0 0 0

C. Chekwa 1-0 0.0 0 0

M. Huff 1-2 0.0 0 0

P. Wheeler 1-1 0.0 0 0

D. Ausberry 0-1 0.0 0 0

Passing CP/AT YDS TD INT

P. Rivers 13/17 151 2 0

Rushing ATT YDS TD LG

J. Battle 19 37 0 8

R. Brown 5 20 0 6

C. Brinkley 3 10 0 7

E. Weddle 1 6 0 6

P. Rivers 3 -3 0 -1

Receiving REC YDS TD LG

E. Royal 4 61 0 31

D. Alexander 1 34 1 34T

J. Battle 4 31 0 11

A. Gates 2 15 1 11T

M. Spurlock 1 7 0 7

R. Brown 1 3 0 3

Fumbles FUM LOST REC YDS

Kicking FG LG XP PTS

N. Novak 1/1 30 3/3 6

Punting NO AVG I20 LG

M. Scifres 5 37.7 0 58

Kickoff Returns NO AVG TD LG

M. Spurlock 2 58 1 99

Punt Returns NO AVG TD LG

M. Spurlock 2 7 0 10

Defense T-A SCK INT FF

E. Weddle 7-1 0.0 0 0

D. Williams 6-1 0.0 0 0

A. Gachkar 4-1 0.0 0 0

B. Bird 3-2 0.0 0 0

A. Cason 3-3 0.0 0 0

M. Gilchrist 3-1 0.0 0 0

C. Lynch 3-0 0.0 0 0

C. Liuget 2-1 0.0 0 0

C. Thomas 2-1 0.0 0 0

L. English 1-0 0.0 0 0

A. Garay 1-1 0.0 0 0

Q. Jammer 1-0 0.0 1 0

J. Johnson 1-0 0.0 0 0

T. Spikes 1-0 0.0 0 0

S. Wright 1-0 0.0 0 0

S. Phillips 0-1 0.0 0 0

K. Reyes 0-3 0.0 0 0