The house always wins in Las Vegas unless that house belongs to the NFL’s Las Vegas Raiders. On track for a playoff appearance this year, the team hosted the LA Chargers at its brand-new Allegiant Stadium for Thursday Night Football last night and to say that things didn’t go as planned would be an understatement. On both sides, errors and miscues mounted until the game was forced into overtime, and it was the LA squad that managed to squeak by to take the win.
The Chargers set the pace of the game initially, moving out in front as they shocked the Raiders and football fans alike. However, with the Raiders turning to backup quarterback Marcus Mariota to replace an injured Derek Carr, Las Vegas bounced back late in the game to tie the score at 24. Carr had left earlier due to a groin injury and Mariota gave everything he had, completing 17 of 28 for 226 yards and even scoring a touchdown. His coup de grace was a 75-yard touchdown drive that forced the tie and took 11 minutes off the clock.
With only about six minutes left in regulation, the Chargers electrified their bolts and mounted an offensive rebound to try for the go-ahead score. However, rookie quarterback Justin Herbert couldn’t quite get it done as the lightning dissipated and an attempted field goal by Marcus Badgley went wide left. That drive would later be completely overshadowed by Herbert’s OT performance.
As the Raiders looked to lock up the game in regulation, Mariota was back in action. However, an interception in the red zone forced the Raiders to draw up short, giving the Chargers one more shot at taking the victory in regulation. That shot missed its mark, though, as a clumsy offense and poor clock management stopped the team from reaching the end zone. Having to try once again to rely on Badgley’s foot for a field goal, the Chargers were, once again, left hanging.
The Raiders now had a chance, albeit a long one, to try to win the game. They “only” needed to kick a 65-yard field goal with four seconds left on the clock and football fans will never know if Daniel Carlson could have made it. AJ Cole, the team’s punter, was in to hold for the kicker when the ball escaped him and the play went dead, as did the clock.
As the game entered overtime, it was time for Herbert to make up for his earlier problems. He did it in superior fashion, too. The Raiders had managed to score a field goal in OT, after each missed a field goal attempt, but Herbert came back and pushed his team down the field. In a rare move, he blasted into the end zone for the TD, giving the Chargers the 30-27 victory. With that, Herbert will go down as the man responsible for handing the Raiders an embarrassing victory, and also as the first NFL rookie to throw for over 300 yards and score a winning TD in an overtime game.
The Raiders, with two games remaining, could still make it to the playoffs, but it won’t be easy. They are now 2-5 at home this year and have one more home game (against the Miami Dolphins) and are on the edge of packing up the gear for the season. The Chargers were already out of the running, but their performance last night proved that they weren’t going to go down without a fight.
