A large reason why the Chargers failed to come out victorious over the Raiders on Thursday night was because of quarterback Philip Rivers’ performance. But the players causing him to be under duress all night are to blame, as well.
At right tackle, Trent Scott was forced to fill in for an injured Sam Tevi. But it wasn’t long until offensive tackle Russell Okung was knocked out of the game with a groin injury, which left them no choice to put in rookie Trey Pipkins, who was seen as a developmental player in his first year.
The Raiders wasted no time exploiting the inexperience and lack of talent up front, as Rivers was sacked five times and hit a total of 10 times. Scott had no answer since the first drive and Pipkins, who looked solid in the first half, had his share of ups and downs in the second half.
The interior part of the offensive line held up well for the most part, but guard Dan Feeney had his moments where he was beat badly.
Coming into the game, Oakland only had 15 sacks on the season and constantly struggled to generate pressure and that’s the reason why their pass defense ranked near the bottom of the league.
But when the depth on the offensive is a giant leap off a cliff in distance from the starters and no adjustments are made to the play-calling when the unit is struggling, it will only make them look like a top-5 unit, which was the case yesterday.
Coach Anthony Lynn said Tevi had surgery this morning to remove a small piece of cartilage in his knee. He is not done for the year, and Lynn said he’ll be back sooner rather than later.
As for Okung, his availability for their next game is uncertain. He had an MRI on Monday morning and he has a strained his groin.
Sitting at 4-6, Rivers is to blame for a good portion of their losses. But the inability to be efficient at addressing the offensive line has continued to hold them back from playing to their full potential for years, but it’s really haunting them this season and the nation got a full glimpse of it on Thursday night.
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