How the Raiders beat the Chargers (Chiefs Blueprint)

I went back and watched the raiders/chargers game from yesterday again. I watched the Chiefs game from yesterday again. And went back to look at the chiefs/chargers from week 1.

The Raiders did what you have to get against the Chargers. They got physical with them. They punched them in the mouth from start to finish. They controlled the LOS on both sides of the ball. 

*Their front 4 collapsed the pocket on countless occasions.  (Richard Seymour, Tommy Kelly, Lamarr Houston, Matt Shaughnessy. ) Which is key in disrupting the passing game and accuracy of Phillip Rivers.  Rivers loves to step into his throws. And when the pocket collapses on him. He is typically unable to escape and can not step into his throws, and begins to not falter in his accuracy. Rivers loves his 5-7 step drops. So if you can collapse the pocket in 4 seconds it takes him to get back. You can disrupt the Chargers passing game all day.

*Once the Raiders started getting pressure by collapsing the pocket, the Chargers when to their 3 step drops in slants and quick in routes. The Raiders were very physical in their man coverage. And swatted down a lot of those routes.

*The Chargers tried to establish the run with Tolbert but it didn't work out well. The Raiders were shutting down their run game. (Chargers only ran the ball 8 times) So the Chargers were forced into 2nd and 10, 3rd and 8.  Once the Raiders got into 3rd and 6 or longer they brought 6 people typically. And added in some twist on the DL. And continued to get pressure on Rivers.

*The Raiders occasionally played in Zone Coverage. But for the most part they just manned up on them. The Chargers got them on some deep in routes, some double moves and a couple of drags. But the offense was ineffective a majority of the day because of collapsing the pocket.

*Once the Raiders got up by 14. The Chargers abandoned the running game and passed over 50 times in the game.

*Although Gates is nowhere near 100%. He still looks good on the field. They seem to be running no more then 10 yard routes with Gates. And he doesn't have the typical speed he does when healthy but he can still make plays. He is one tough hombre.

*The Favorite Routes/ Reads go in this order.
*Malcolm Floyd IN Route/ Fly Route/ Slant if pressure is coming
*Antonio Gates Double Move
*Legedu Naanee- Drag Route/Fly Route
*Seyi Ajirotutu- Drag Route

Offensively

*The Raiders just ran the ball right at them. And physically dominated them every play, they drove them back. I remember Nantz saying that the Raiders only had 3 completions in the first half. So the run game was extremely effective.

*On the third downs in the first half, they used the shotgun with 4-5 wide. Once the Chargers got use to that and started bringing blitzes on third down. The Raiders exploited them with the screen game out of the shotgun on third down. Once the Chargers finally shut that down after the 4th try. The Raiders hit them with the Draw.

*The Raiders ran a lot of off tackle and in between the guards. They doubled the nose tackle Antonio Garay. And had their way in between the tackles, gashing the chargers for 3-5 yards a carry.  The Chargers did to the Raiders what I expect them to do against the chiefs. They ran a 5-3 front. And the raiders owned it.

*Shaun Phillips is a great pass rusher and he needs to be accounted for on any passing play. The Raiders tried to fool him with the play action a couple of times and he hurried Campbell's throws.


The biggest thing to remember is this. The Chargers are beat up. They have a lot of tough players. That are playing through injuries but they got beat up yesterday.

Injury Report going into the Raiders game.

After the game

MLB- Brandon Siler hurt his hand in the first half but came back in and played through it.

HB- Darren Sproles has "headaches" but that hit he took has to be a concussion.

NT- Antonio Garay had his ankle was rolled up on.  He came back in and played but struggled.

DE- Luis Castillo had Jammer smack into his knee that already had a knee brace on it, during the game and screamed in pain.

WR- Legedu Naanee was also hurt in the game.

Beating the Chargers comes down to this.
*If you fluster Norv Turner by jumping on them early. He will abandon the run and throw all game.
*Collapse the Pocket on Rivers
*Run the Ball on them. To keep the chargers off the field.
*Beat their blitz on 3rd downs
*Take advantage of their turnovers

In the first meeting
*The Chiefs were able to collapse the pocket in their nickel package. With demorrio williams/tamba hali at defensive end. And Glenn Dorsey and Wallace Gilberry at defensive tackle.
*The Chiefs got out to a 21-7 lead. And forced the Chargers to throw.
*The Chargers used the double move on Eric Berry and picked on Javier Arenas with the drag routes.