After giving a dominating performance in the first half, the Oakland Raiders stumble, fumble and fall to the San Diego Charges in the second and lose 28-18.
While the Raiders defense played inspired football on a hot Sunday afternoon, the offense just wasn't able to put up enough points and/or give the defense enough rest to finish strong with a win.
The Coliseum was loud and proud with a sellout crowd of Raider Nation faithful on hand. When the Raiders came out in their road-warrior white uniforms followed up by team group introductions, you felt we were in for a special afternoon. Lane Kiffin would later comment that the decision to wear white was made before the season, following the league trend of wearing white during hot weather home games.
The game itself was a high-tension well played football game. Unfortunately for the Raiders it came down to a tale of two halves. One a dominating performance and the other a turnover filled egg. With key players out or suffering from injuries the Raiders still looked as if they could play with the best. I suppose that's what makes this loss so painful. To go out and prove that you can dominate a well-balanced team like the Chargers, then not finish them off is simply mind-boggling. Is it player conditioning? Play calling? Second half adjustments? Something happens to the Raiders in the third and fourth quarters that is costing them games. Until they can fix that something, they'll continue to struggle finishing games.
I will say this, if we had our three-headed running game of Fargas, McFaddin and Bush all healthy and playing, the Chargers would've never come back and won the game. That I can guarantee you. But, what should've, could've, would've been, just wasn't to be.
A tough loss that showed promise and hope for our young team.
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