EL SEGUNDO, Calif. (AP) — The message is the same, even though the Las Vegas Raiders and Los Angeles Chargers find themselves in very different places going into their game Sunday: It’s time to get going.
The Raiders (2-9) have lost five in a row and eight of their past nine in head coach Pete Carroll’s first season. The playoffs are out of the question, and after firing two coordinators in the past three weeks, any sign of improvement is needed to justify not sweeping out the whole regime.
“We need to make progress, right from the get go,” Carroll said. “I mean, every game, we go out, we try and win every football game and we’re going to continue to only look at it in that manner. But we need to make progress, we need to get cleaner, we need to make sure that we’re functioning at a really high level. And if somebody can beat us doing that, then they do.”
The Chargers (7-4) are coming off their worst regular-season performance under head coach Jim Harbaugh, a 35-6 rout by the Jacksonville Jaguars on Nov. 16. They are currently holding onto a postseason berth but need to find their form to maintain it and make a push for the Super Bowl once there.
“The games early in the season put you in position to be in position, and I would say half the teams in the league would trade places with us right now,” defensive coordinator Jesse Minter said. “But we’re in this position, and so it’s a great opportunity for us to grow and learn, try to become the best version of ourselves over this stretch run, obviously starting with today, starting with this game coming up on Sunday.”
Coming off a bye week, Los Angeles is still trying to get a handle on who plays where on its beleaguered offensive line. There will be another change at left tackle, with Jamaree Salyer set to start after Trevor Penning held the spot against the Jaguars.
The Chargers allowed two sacks in the Week 2 meeting, a 20-9 win in Las Vegas, but had Joe Alt at left tackle to contend with Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby.
“The second division game is always interesting ’cause you’ve played this team once earlier,” offensive coordinator Greg Roman said. “You did this, they did that. Now, it’s a question of what are we going to do different, what might they do different if anything, et cetera, et cetera. So you always find these games play out differently.”
Emphasizing the run
Carroll has talked all season about the importance of a strong running game, but it didn’t appear that he and offensive coordinator Chip Kelly were always aligned in their approach.
After Carroll dismissed Kelly on Sunday night, he handed the offense to quarterbacks coach Greg Olson, now the interim coordinator and play caller.
Despite drafting Ashton Jeanty sixth overall this year, the Raiders are second to last in rushing offense at 79.5 yards per game.
Part of having an excellent ground game, Carroll said, is working in unison with the passing element to make it easier to pick up tough yards in obvious running situations.
“All of those things all fit together,” Carroll said. “I’ve been doing it this way for a lot of years, and it’s a winning formula if you play good defense and you kick the ball well. So we’re trying to get that, and we just have not captured it.”
Offense versus defense
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The Raiders have scored 33 points in the past three games while their defense, while not lights out, has played well enough to give Las Vegas chances to win games.
It could cause a rift in the locker room if the defense doesn’t think the offense is holding up its end of responsibilities. But Crosby said his side of the ball has its own issues to be concerned about.
“If you think you got it, if you think you’re doing enough, then you’re part of the problem,” Crosby said. “You’ve got to be continuously trying to find ways and stay curious on how you can improve and dominate your individual role, but also bring others with you. We’ve got to keep improving, but we go to war together.”
Where’s the ball?
The Chargers intercepted Raiders quarterback Geno Smith three times on Sept. 15, one of three games with three takeaways for Minter’s defense. However, they have three total takeaways in their other eight games, failing to separate opposing offenses from the ball in five of those contests.
Las Vegas has been careless with ball security, tied for second-most in the NFL in interceptions (13) and having committed at least one turnover in eight straight games.
Close but no cigar
Despite returning to practice on a limited basis this week, Chargers running back Omarion Hampton will miss his seventh straight game after fracturing his left ankle on an accidental trip by Washington Commanders linebacker Frankie Luvu on Oct. 5.
“He kicked me right in the ankle, so it was just a weird play really,” Hampton said.
Hampton, a first-round pick who was selected 16 picks after Jeanty, had been coming on strong before the injury. Hampton had 198 yards rushing with two touchdowns and 96 yards receiving on 11 catches in the two games prior to getting hurt.
In Hampton's absence, the Chargers run game has been inconsistent. Kimani Vidal has two 100-yard games against Miami and Minnesota and nearly came up 5 yards short of another against Pittsburgh, but he was held to 30 yards or fewer in his other three starts.
AP Sports Writer Mark Anderson in Las Vegas contributed to this report.
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
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