Raiders Went From Wrong Side Of History Sunday To Right Side Of History Thursday With Historic 63-21 Win Over Division Rival Chargers In Prime Time
Story by Alan Snel Photos by J. Tyge O’Donnell
Raiders owner Mark Davis was stunned.
So was America.
A Raiders defensive player by the name of Jack Jones jumped in front of a Chargers receiver and caught the pass thrown by quarterback Easton Stick and returned the interception for a touchdown at the start of the fourth quarter of a Thursday Night Football game in Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
And the scoreboard inside Allegiant Stadium read, Raiders 63 Chargers 7.
The Chargers went on to score two touchdowns.
And this is no typo — final from Las Vegas: Raiders 63 Chargers 21.
It was a historic night. It was the most points put up by this franchise, which is more six decades old.
The unleash of points was cathartic for a team that entered the game with only five wins in 13 games after being embarrassed in a 3-0 shutout loss to the Minnesota Vikings a mere four days ago..
Nobody saw the Raiders scoring 63 points tonight.
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They were in the elevator at Allegiant Stadium chatting about the interest in today’s Las Vegas Raiders vs Los Angeles Chargers Thursday Night Football game.
One fella said the lines of fans entering the stadium were not as long as those before past Raiders games.
Another person said the tailgating was active. (Though, the tailgating outside Allegiant Stadium is a fraction of the pre-game stoking and revelry at Raiders games at the Coliseum in Oakland.)
And in general, there was a malaise that you would expect in a match-up of two teams with identical records. Both the Chargers and the Raiders have each won only five of their 13 games, an both will be missing headlining star players. Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert is on the Reserve/Injured list and Raiders runner Josh Jacobs is inactive.
If you had a crystal all to forecast the future, the vibe of this game might be a precursor for the dynamic of MLB Athletics games on Las Vegas in 2028 when the A’s hope to open a 33,000-seat baseball stadium on the Strip at the Tropicana hotel site. That’s because the transplanted Oakland teams may offer sports entertainment in Las Vegas, but not intense, loyal fans in the new host community. Instead, it’s a generic major league event that is more of a tourist draw for visitors as much as it is for local Las Vegas rooters.
A writer in the Raiders press box looked out to the crowd and declared, “Holy cow, it looks like a UNLV game.”
A little after 12 noon, I bumped into Wayne “Violator” Mabry, dressed in the full regalia of his Raiders outfit that he dons for Raiders games.
Mabry still comes to every game, no matter how mediocre the Raiders perform on the field.
“It’s been like this for 20 years,” he said.
The quarterbacks tonight are Aidan O’Connell for the Raiders and Easton Stick for the Chargers.
Not exactly a marquee matchup of signal callers.
Regardless, the seats are sold, the tickets are, on average, the most expensive in the NFL and there will be a capacity sellout of more than 62,000 tonight.
Four days ago, the Raiders were shut out in an embarrassing 3-0 loss to the Minnesota Vikings Sunday.
The Raiders are doing the community outreach playbook — holiday gifts for kids, equipment for high school football teams, even a $1 million gift to the UNLV Athletic Department (UNLV pays the Raiders nearly $2.2 million to rent Allegiant to play six home games a year.)
Another indicator the Raiders-Chargers game is lacking in buzz is that Ticketmaster, the secondary market ticket seller, was offering a $99 ticket on its website Wednesday night.
The Raiders did give their fans some reasons to cheer tonight as the Silver & Black scored two touchdowns in the first 11 minutes on a one-yard TD run by Zamir White and a scoring throw of 30 yards from O’Connell to receiver Tre Tucker.
O’Connell then connected with Jakoby Meyers with a 22-yard scoring strike after the Raiders recovered a Chargers fumble.’
With 3:07 left in the first quarter, the Raiders led, 21-0.
The Raiders padded the lead with two touchdowns in the second quarter on a Michael Mayer 11-yard TD pass from O’Connell and a 26-yard Brandon Bolden run for a score.
With less than four minutes left in the second quarter, the Raiders led the Chargers, 35-0.
Then O’Connell fired a 20-yard TD pass to Tucker and the Raiders led, 42-0, at halftime.
The beatdown continued in the third quarter when Meyers tossed a three-yard TD pass to Davante Adams before Stick connected with a 79-yard scoring pass to receiver Joshua Palmer.
Midway through the third period, it’s Raiders 49 Chargers 7.
Raiders interim coach Antonio Pierce said he never lost confidence in quarterback O’Connell after the difficult shutout loss Sunday.
On the last play of the third quarter, Raiders defensive end Malcom Koonce blasted Stick on a sack and Stick coughed up the ball, which was scooped up by 327-pound tackle John Jenkins. The big man rumbled 44 yards for a touchdown and the Raiders finished the third quarter with a 56-7 lead.
Pierce said the team will a couple days off at Christmas and then prepare for its next game against the Chiefs in Kansas City.
