The Las Vegas Raiders didn’t need a pretty answer on Sunday. They needed the right one.
After the Los Angeles Chargers spent the first half taking Ashton Jeanty out of the picture and forcing Las Vegas into a bare-bones rushing attack, the Raiders had a choice once the game tightened in the third quarter: keep forcing the pass, or trust the ground game anyway. Klint Kubiak and his staff made the call that mattered most.
That decision helped turn a shaky stretch into a 2-0 start for the first time since 2021, with the Raiders now sitting in position to open the season 3-0. It also showed how quickly coaching can change the feel of a team. Two weeks in, the difference is obvious.
The Chargers did their part early. They came in determined to shut down the Raiders’ run game, and they largely succeeded in the first half. Las Vegas managed just 25 rushing yards on 11 carries before the break, the kind of number that used to sink this team last season.
Then came the start of the second half, and the kind of sequence that has haunted the Raiders in years past. Their first possession after halftime ended in three straight incompletions and a three-and-out that burned only one minute. Los Angeles took the opening, answering with a seven-play, 74-yard touchdown drive to move ahead about halfway through the third quarter.
That’s where the Raiders did something different.
Instead of letting the Chargers dictate the rest of the night, Las Vegas answered with an 11-play, 74-yard drive of its own. And this time, the offense leaned into the run game rather than running away from it. Seven of those plays were runs or short passes that functioned like an extension of the ground attack.
It wasn’t flashy. It didn’t need to be.
The Raiders had only run the ball 11 times in the first half, but they doubled down after the break and finished with 18 rushing attempts in the second half. That approach helped put Las Vegas ahead for good and, just as importantly, drained the clock. The touchdown drive took nearly half the third quarter off the board.
That’s the kind of possession that changes a game without looking like much on the stat sheet. Even when the runs are only producing small gains, they still force the defense to honor them and keep the clock moving. Against a Chargers offense that then had to chase points in a hurry, that mattered.
On the other sideline, Los Angeles had gambled that the Raiders would abandon the run after the first failed series of the second half. Instead, Las Vegas stayed patient and made the Chargers pay for assuming the offense would become one-dimensional. The result was a drive that asked Justin Herbert and the Chargers to answer quickly, and against a defense that looks like one of the better units in the league, that’s a tough ask.
The numbers won’t make the run game look pretty. The impact was there anyway. Kubiak’s staff understood that on Sunday, and that was the biggest decision they got right.
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The question now is whether Koonce can sustain that level when the opposition gets tougher up front. The Raiders have been searching for help to lighten Crosbys load, and Koonces tape offered reason for optimism, but there is still a noticeable hurdle when he goes against top offensive linemen. Until he starts finishing those rushes more consistently and getting home faster in those matchups, the pass rush remains more of a work in progress than a finished answer. [Read more 🡒]