{"id":372403,"date":"2025-09-16T10:25:12","date_gmt":"2025-09-16T10:25:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/372403\/"},"modified":"2025-09-16T10:25:12","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T10:25:12","slug":"what-we-learned-from-tampa-bays-los-angeles-wins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/372403\/","title":{"rendered":"What We Learned from Tampa Bay’s, Los Angeles’ wins"},"content":{"rendered":"

FULL BOX SCORE<\/a><\/p>\n

Grant Gordon’s takeaways:<\/p>\n

Chargers defense collects INTs, stands strong for victory. \ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeffDaiyan Henley<\/a>\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff was added to the Chargers\u2019 injury report on Monday morning, deemed questionable to play with an illness. He sprung to life at kickoff Monday night, picking off \ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeffGeno Smith<\/a>\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff on the game\u2019s first play from scrimmage and setting the tone for a splendidly opportunistic evening for the Bolts defense. Los Angeles piled up three interceptions, sacked Smith just as many times and held Las Vegas to a meager 218 yards. In a game that likely should\u2019ve been a wider win for L.A., the Chargers\u2019 offense waned late, turning it over on downs on their 43-yard line, going three-and-out and fumbling on first down over their first three fourth-quarter drives. The Chargers defense, in turn, didn\u2019t allow a point after any of those failed possessions. Truly, a scary elbow injury to \ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeffKhalil Mack<\/a>\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff was the only real blemish to a defensive masterpiece. Three Chargers had sacks, three had interceptions and eight had pass breakups. They stymied the Raiders from the first play to the last.\u00a0Raiders offense looks sleepy in late-night loss. As sensational and suffocating as the Chargers defense was, the Raiders were just as dreadful on offense. Geno Smith likely played his worst game since resurrecting his career with Pete Carroll in Seattle, throwing three picks and completing 24 of 43 passes for just 180 yards and a grimacing 37.0 passer rating. \ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeffBrock Bowers<\/a>\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff was a non-factor throughout the majority of the game and the running game was next door to non-existent. Despite a string of golden opportunities in the fourth quarter, the Silver and Black couldn\u2019t take advantage. Perhaps most troubling and symbolic was one of their three field-goal drives. Trailing by 14 points with 7:30 left in the third quarter, the Raiders slowly cut their lead and decreased their chance of a comeback with a 19-play, 62-yard slog of a drive that ended with a \ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeffDaniel Carlson<\/a>\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff make. When it all ended, they were still down by two scores without a touchdown in the game. Carroll turned 74 years young on Monday, but his offensive unit didn\u2019t seem to have anywhere near the exuberance of Las Vegas\u2019 ageless wonder of a coach. There was no energy, no urgency and little-to-no production. For the most part, Vegas\u2019 defense was solid, but in a late Monday nighter at home, the Geno-led Raiders offense looked like it was up past its bedtime.\u00a0Herbert, Chargers take early, impressive lead. Just like that, \ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeffJustin Herbert<\/a>\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff and the Chargers are alone in first place of the AFC West, having dispatched two divisional foes and emerged from Week 2 as the division\u2019s lone victor. It\u2019s still early, but all wins count the same, and Herbert — aside from the offense\u2019s dismal fourth quarter — has been excellent. He tossed a pair of touchdowns on Monday — one to old pal \ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeffKeenan Allen<\/a>\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff for a 10-3 lead and a 60-yarder to \ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeffQuentin Johnston<\/a>\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff, who\u2019s quickly erasing any first-round-bust takes — for five in two games with no interceptions. Failing to salt away a win in the fourth quarter on three fruitless drives that added up to 11 plays for 29 yards and a lost fumble (credited to Herbert, though it seemed to be \ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeffOmarion Hampton<\/a>\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff) is troubling. Still, though, Herbert is playing arguably the best ball of his career and flourishing in a second year with offensive coordinator Greg Roman. Meanwhile, the Chargers have become one of the most impressive NFL squads through two weeks.\u00a0Still waiting for first-round RBs to take off. Anyone expecting a showcase of the 2025 NFL Draft\u2019s two first-round running backs was sorely disappointed. \ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeffAshton Jeanty<\/a>\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff and Omarion Hampton were each held in check, just as they were in Week 1. Like the rest of the Raiders\u2019 offense, Jeanty, the draft\u2019s No. 6 overall pick, had little production to speak about. He was corralled to the tune of 43 yards on 11 carries (3.9 yards per carry) as the Raiders attempted 43 passes to 19 runs. Jeanty was targeted four times by Geno Smith, but had just one yard on three catches. Through two games, the popular preseason pick for Offensive Rookie of the Year<\/a> has just 81 yards on the ground. Hampton, the 22nd pick of the draft, has 72 yards through two games. On Monday, he was held to less than 50 yards rushing in back-to-back games for the first time since his 2022 freshman season at North Carolina, per NFL Research. There\u2019s little reason to think much brighter days aren\u2019t ahead, but so far, the draft\u2019s first-round RB duo has been anything but dynamic.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Next Gen Stats Insight for Chargers-Raiders<\/a> (via NFL Pro): Geno Smith became the only quarterback since 2016 to attempt at least 10 downfield passes (over 10 yards) without a completion. He was 0 for 12 with three interceptions on such attempts.\u00a0<\/p>\n

NFL Research: Pete Carroll lost on his birthday for the first time after previously going 3-0 (including college). One of those wins was a 42-13 victory for Carroll\u2019s Seattle Seahawks over Jim Harbaugh\u2019s San Francisco 49ers. Harbaugh now leads the all-time series (including college and playoffs) against Carroll, 7-6.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FULL BOX SCORE Grant Gordon’s takeaways: Chargers defense collects INTs, stands strong for victory. \ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeffDaiyan Henley\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff\ufeff was added…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":372404,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[90,1227,7,253,393,262,6,609,10944,250,17981],"class_list":{"0":"post-372403","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-analysis","9":"tag-around-the-nfl","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-houston-texans","12":"tag-las-vegas-raiders","13":"tag-los-angeles-chargers","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-no-minute","16":"tag-regular-season","17":"tag-tampa-bay-buccaneers","18":"tag-what-we-learned"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115213495416152311","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=372403"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372403\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/372404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=372403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=372403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=372403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}