Welcome to Raiders Week, also known as Week 2, also known as Do-Over Week.
“I feel like more urgency,” Pro Bowl safety Derwin James Jr. said of the Chargers’ preparations, on the field and off, for their AFC West rivalry game Sunday against the Las Vegas Raiders, after they turned in a dud in their season-opening loss last Sunday to the Arizona Cardinals.
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“We were a little disappointed in ourselves in how we performed,” James added. “I feel like every guy looked in the mirror. Nobody was pointing a finger. That was the great thing about it, and everybody wanted to get it right and showed up with a sense of urgency to get it right. So, I just can’t wait for us to come out and play how we’re supposed to.”
The Chargers were supposed to win handily over the Cardinals. The oddsmakers made them 9½-point favorites. ESPN’s prediction model gave the Chargers’ chances to win nearly 80% But then they kicked the ball off and everything seemed to go haywire all at once in every facet.
Final: Cardinals 26, Chargers 14.
The Chargers can’t afford a repeat Sunday against the Raiders, winners of their season-opening game over the Miami Dolphins. They can’t afford to be passive in any way, shape or form, as they were for extended stretches against the Cardinals, particularly in the second half.
Again, the Chargers are expected to win, going into the game as 6½-point favorites over Las Vegas. ESPN’s prediction model favored the Chargers by 70.6%, as of Saturday. The Chargers have won four consecutive games over the Raiders, five of the past six and eight of the past 10.
Raiders Week means more to some Chargers than to others.
“I mean, every game is a big deal, man,” said outside linebacker Khalil Mack, a nine-time Pro Bowl selection who began his Hall of Fame-caliber career with the then-Oakland Raiders in 2014. “You treat every game the same, yeah, you treat every game like it’s the Super Bowl.”
Week 2 offers the Chargers an opportunity to play with the sort of efficiency that seemed to be missing in Week 1. In fact, their defense wasn’t so shabby after yielding a touchdown on the Cardinals’ opening possession, giving up another TD on a short field plus four field goals.
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It was the Chargers’ offense that sputtered in offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel’s debut. McDaniel said earlier in the week that it was not the “vision” he had for the offense in his first game after he was hired to juice up the offense and get more from quarterback Justin Herbert.
After a credible first half in which the Chargers had only three possessions, their offense failed to click. Herbert threw a third-quarter touchdown pass to Ladd McConkey to cut the Chargers’ deficit to 16-14, but they would get no closer after McConkey left the game because of a rib injury.
McConkey was listed as questionable to play against the Raiders.
The Chargers need more from Herbert, from McConkey’s replacement if he can’t play, from running back Omarion Hampton, from the offensive line and from McDaniel if they are to defeat the Raiders. A difficult stretch of games follows Week 2, starting with the Buffalo Bills in Week 3.
Starting the season 0-2 with the Bills, the Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks, the AFC West champion Denver Broncos and the Kansas City Chiefs next on the schedule would be suboptimal if the Chargers hope to repeat the 11-win seasons of coach Jim Harbaugh’s first two campaigns.
“We did a disservice in how we’ve been trained in football,” McDaniel said of the loss to the Cardinals, when Herbert passed for a modest total of 209 yards and the Chargers ran for another 81. “So, we’ve had to get back to the grind and make sure that doesn’t occur again. If there was a simple answer, that would be really easy.
“You have a division opponent (the Raiders) that doesn’t care about your problems, and neither do any of the people who are spending all the money to be season-ticket holders. No one cares. The good news is that I think we have the character and ability to respond.”
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CHARGERS (0-1) vs. RAIDERS (1-0)
When: 1:05 p.m. Sunday
Where: SoFi Stadium
TV/Radio: Ch. 2; 640 AM/103.9/89.3 FM (Spanish)