Final Score: Chargers not electrifying, but still victorious over Raiders

The Raiders got the ball first but they only managed one first down before punting to the Chargers. They rumbled all the way down into the red zone with a drive that was greatly helped by Oakland penalties. However, the Raiders defense came up big and managed to keep the Chargers down to only kicking a field goal to make it 3-0.

That drive for San Diego featured 16 plays and took up over 9 minutes of clock so the Raiders really hoped to get something going on their next drive. Too bad they did their defense no favors by going 3 and out instead. Their responding drive took all of one minute and 34 seconds.

The Chargers started again to drive the ball but then they fumbled the snap shortly after passing midfield. Raiders LB Miles Burris recovered for the first turnover of the game. This time the Oakland offense wasn't so dormant.

A nice completion to Andre Holmes got a first down and then a 37 yard pass to a leaping Mychal Rivera got the Raiders to the Chargers 5 yard line. The next play Darren McFadden snaked through the middle for a nice TD run. The score gave the Raiders the lead at 7-3.

San Diego was poised to respond on their next drive but then Philip Rivers threw his first interception since Week 13. Eric Weddle got the ball right back for SD though on a circus catch interception. Then just 2 plays after that interception a TD run by Ryan Matthews gave the lead back to the Chargers 10-7.

Oakland got the ball back after that but didn't accomplish anything with it. They had to punt it but SD's impressive rookie Keenan Allen muffed it and the Raiders recovered at San Diego's 16.

Oakland got down to the Chargers 2 but could get no further. Sebastian Janikowski made the chip shot field goal to tie the score at 10 which is the score the first half ended at.

San Diego got the ball first to start the second half but only managed one first down (from a questionable penalty) before punting to the Raiders. Oakland looked like they had an easy first down but the ball was dropped by TE Jeron Mastrud resulting in a 3 and out with a punt back to SD.

Once the Chargers offense got back on the field they would not be denied. They put together a 12 play, 77 yard drive that culminated with Keenan Allen making up for his fumble with a wide open TD catch. With that score San Diego retook the lead 17-10.

The San Diego defense definitely was rejuvenated by the score and came out motivated. They got a lot of pressure to force a 3rd down incompletion by Matt McGloin who couldn't help but show his frustration. The Chargers drove down after the punt and got a 48 yard field goal to make the score 20-10 San Diego.

The Raiders Greg Jenkins did the cardinal sin for a guy who hasn't proven himself yet by fumbling the following kick off. It looked like he had recovered it and was down by contact, but the refs didn't see it that way. The Chargers came out of the pile with the ball at the Raiders 13. They settled for a field goal to make the score 23-10 thanks to a miscommunication by Rivers to miss a wide open receiver at the goal line.

On Oakland's next drive Andre Holmes really started heating up. Two plays in a row Matt McGloin hit him along the sidelines for big plays. The Raiders stalled once they got to the Chargers redzone though and they took the field goal to make the score 23-13. It was frustrating that they weren't aggressive enough to go for it on 4th and 4, there is nothing left to lose this year so why not?

The Chargers immediately got the ball moving down field again on their next drive. They once again just had to settle for the field goal though to make the score 26-13 with just 6:23 left in the game. Their inability to stop the Chargers from driving is disappointing, but at least they have held them to field goals on several drives.

Oakland wasn't ready to quit yet though. Again McGloin and Holmes worked the sidelines for a nice gain and then a great catch by Denarius Moore. After that there was a deep ball to Rod Streater for a TD except the refs called it incomplete because Streater let the ball go after going to the ground. The rule is stupid but it exists and until it doesn't bad calls like this one was will happen.

Oakland did keep the drive alive even after the non-TD by Streater but they just ended up using a ton of the clock and failing. They had one last 4th down attempt for a TD and McGloin got the throw to Reece despite heavy pressure, but the normally reliable Reece dropped it. The Chargers kneeled the clock out to win 26-13.