From zero to 63: Raiders refuse to quit on season, show resolve in historic romp
Raiders #Raiders
Steve Marcus/AP
Las Vegas Raiders defensive tackle John Jenkins (95) runs for a touchdown after recovering a fumble by the Los Angeles Chargers during the second half of an NFL football game, Thursday, Dec. 14, 2023, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Steve Marcus)
Friday, Dec. 15, 2023 | 2 a.m.
Maxx Crosby turned his head looking to spring a block for teammate John Jenkins, who had just scooped a fumble and was heading towards the end zone, but found a surprising sight.
Nothing.
No one on the Los Angeles Chargers cared to pursue the 34-year-old, 327-pound defensive tackle as he huffed and puffed his way to a 44-yard touchdown, the first in his 11-year NFL career.
“I saw my dog Maxx give me the green light, and I just took off,” Jenkins said afterwards. “I just tilted my head and kept on going.”
Same with the Raiders.
Las Vegas smoked Los Angeles 63-21 Thursday night at Allegiant Stadium with the franchise’s largest margin of victory in the history of the rivalry.
Four days after an embarrassing 3-0 loss to the Vikings in the same building, the Raiders arrived motivated to rally and demonstrate that they hadn’t quit on the season despite incredibly long odds to reach the playoffs.
That’s more than can be said for the Chargers.
Los Angeles’ fate was already sealed long before Jenkins sent the home sideline jumping more than those in the nightclub behind the East end zone to make the score 56-7. But the Chargers’ effort wasn’t much better from the outset of the game, where they allowed the Raiders to put up 21 points in the first quarter and set the pace for what would become the highest-scoring game in franchise history.
All of this came despite the Chargers entering the game ahead of the Raiders in the standings via tiebreaker out of their victory in the first meeting between the teams this year.
No need for a tiebreaker anymore, as the Raiders improved to 6-8 on the year to keep their slim hopes alive for the postseason while the Chargers dropped to 5-9 to eliminate their prospects.
“That’s probably the biggest turnaround in the NFL,” cornerback Jack Jones said. “We’re up there. It’s great. As long we keep trending in the right direction, then we’re doing something.”
Jones became the fifth different Raider to score his first career touchdown with the team Thursday night two plays and less than 30 seconds after Jenkins notched his spot as the fourth.
Noticing a bunch formation, Jones jumped a route on a screen, intercepted a pass from Chargers quarterback Easton Stick and went untouched 18 yards into the end zone.
The television and in-stadium cameras caught the reaction of owner Mark Davis, who widened his eyes, dropped his jaw and covered his mouth with an apparent mix of shock and joy. The record-setting score broke a team best set in Week 7 of 2010 when the Raiders beat the Denver Broncos 59-14.
That Denver team was ironically coached by Josh McDaniels, whom Davis fired as the Raiders’ head earlier this year. Going into Thursday’s game against the Chargers, it looked like Davis was well on the way to introducing the Raiders’ third coach in less than a year once the season ended.
Davis appeared to be as upset as anyone with the anemic Vikings’ performance, which had halted momentum interim coach Antonio Pierce picked up to earn the job permanently.
But Pierce’s candidacy is puffed back up after the historic wallop of a divisional rival.
The coach is now 3-3 since taking over for McDaniels, and the players credited a desire to play for him as one of the biggest drivers in the NFL’s largest all-time point-scoring bounce back in a single week.
“AP embodies exactly what the Raiders represent, and we all love him,” Crosby said afterwards on television. “So, if you give him a chance, we feel like the sky is the limit. We love AP, and we just want to keep winning for him.”
Pierce’s best move against the Chargers might have been trusting his young playmakers and implementing them more in the offensive game plan. He turned down multiple opportunities to officially announce a starting quarterback going into the game but ultimately stuck with rookie Aidan O’Connell who rewarded the coach with the best showing of his career.
O’Connell completed 20 of 34 attempts for 248 yards and four touchdowns.
All but one of the scoring plays went to fellow rookies as speedy receiver Tre Tucker nabbed the first two NFL touchdowns of his career while bulky tight end Michael Mayer caught his second of the year.
Scoring started on the Raiders’ opening drive when second-year running back Zamir White pounded in a one-yard touchdown in his first start while filling in for the injured Josh Jacobs.
“It’s been a long time coming for me,” White said of scoring his first NFL touchdown. “I’ve just been waiting my turn.”
Twelve-year NFL veteran Brandon Bolden, who’s primarily been a special teams player with the Raiders, got in on the barrage in the second quarter when he took a direct snap 26 yards to make the score 35-0.
Receiver Jakobi Meyers both caught and threw a touchdown, hauling in a fade from O’Connell late in the first quarter and then completing a double-pass to Davante Adams in the third.
Las Vegas’ offense was more creative and aggressive than ever before, perhaps partially because of a change Pierce made going into the game. He decided to station interim offensive coordinator Bo Hardegree in the coaches box upstairs instead of on the sidelines so he could see the field better.
It might just have resulted in the spark the Raiders needed to make an improbable playoff push. It’s still highly unlikely they make it there, as they’re currently in 12th place in the AFC standings in the race for seven slots.
But Las Vegas is only 1.5 games back, and the next three contests are all against teams ahead of them — at the Kansas City Chiefs on Dec. 25, at the Indianapolis Colts on Dec. 31 and hosting the Denver Broncos on Jan. 7.
The Raiders need a four-game winning streak to extend their season, but it’s not all that unlike the situation they were in two years ago when they pulled it off.
That culminated with a 35-32 season-ending overtime classic with the Chargers where both teams went all out to capture the AFC’s final playoff spot. It still stands as the best game in Allegiant history.
Thursday’s result now registers as the most lopsided.
Both teams came in sitting in the same position, but one quit while the other chugged harder than ever before.
“It’s been tough,” Jenkins said. “It’s been an up and down situation for us, but at the end of the day, you can tell in the locker room that we still enjoy one another. We still have that bond and we’re still building together.”
Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or