The Raiders traded for wide receiver Davante Adams this offseason because they thought he could make game-changing plays for their offense and Adams did exactly that on Sunday.
Las Vegas trailed 13-10 at halftime, but they would quickly erase that deficit. One play after an Austin Ekeler fumble on the first drive of the third quarter, Raiders quarterback Derek Carr hit Adams for a 31-yard touchdown and the duo would hook up again for a 45-yard score a couple of minutes later. That pushed the Raiders to a 24-13 lead and they would go on to win the game 27-20.
Adams finished the day with eight catches for a season-high 177 yards and Carr was 16-of-30 for 250 yards and an interception that Bryce Callahan returned for a touchdown in the first quarter. Running back Josh Jacobs ran 26 times for 144 yards and a touchdown, which leaves him with a league-best 1,303 rushing yards on the season.
The Chargers didn’t score an offensive touchdown until Justin Herbert connected with Keenan Allen for a 35-yard score in the fourth quarter and they gave themselves a chance to tie the score by forcing a Raiders punt, but Herbert threw a pair of incompletions near midfield to put the kibosh on comeback hopes. Herbert was 28-of-47 for 335 yards while being sacked five times and being pressured throughout the afternoon.
The loss drops the Chargers to 6-6 and cost them a chance to make up ground in the AFC playoff race in a week that saw the Patriots, Jets, and Dolphins all lose their games. They will host the Dolphins next Sunday night and a loss in that game will leave the Chargers with almost no margin for error if they are going to advance to the postseason.
Las Vegas will move on to a Thursday night game against the Rams. A win would give them a four-game winning streak and a 6-7 mark on the year. That would likely keep some slim playoff hopes alive, but it’s more realistic that this late winning streak will have to serve as a building block for 2023 and beyond.
