If the NFL needs help scheduling its Thursday games next year, this one should be a nice blueprint. A couple of lousy defenses is always a nice recipe for a higher-scoring, back-and-forth game. Granted, no one knew the Chargers defense would be lousy entering the season. But I'm sure there will be some clear punching bags again next year. The Raiders, for example.
QUARTERBACKS:
Superlatives fail when talking about Justin Herbert. He's been fantastic. Looks like a generational quarterback talent, a John Elway perhaps. The teams that passed on him (most notably Washington and the Giants, who drafted Dwayne Haskins and Daniel Jones a year ago) are going to be kicking themselves for years. Maybe Miami too. In a league where I drafted Matt Ryan as my starter I've left Herbert in the lineup basically since Week 6 and don't think I've regretted it once. While he has some nice weapons in Keenan Allen and Hunter Henry, the fact that he's made Jalen Guyton and Tyron Johnson look like stars from time to time highlights that the guy is special. This while being held back by a questionable coaching staff and struggling kicker. The Chargers could be a playoff team this year with some better kicking/decision-making in close games, and Herbert is the reason why.
Derek Carr left early with a groin injury, crushing the fantasy hopes of those who started him in a great matchup. Gotta feel bad for Carr too, but would be hard to argue that Marcus Mariota lost this one. Yes, he had a late interception on a ball thrown behind Zay Jones. But he looked like he should be starting somewhere in the league, with some great throws (the touchdown to Darren Waller stands out) and some heady runs, regularly converting 3rd and 4th downs with scrambles. With some better playcalling near the goal line in overtime (running Josh Jacobs into the line twice and then calling a rollout pass play that wouldn't have gotten in the end zone even if completed was a bad sequence), Mariota would have got the win and the Raiders would be feeling good about themselves this morning. Carr has also had a great season, so I wonder if the Raiders will be able to trade Mariota (he's on a two-year deal) in the offseason.
By the way, did you know that both Herbert and Mariota went to Oregon? I think they mentioned it several dozen times during the broadcast.
RUNNING BACK:
The final numbers on Josh Jacobs weren't good (26 carries, 76 yards). But a lot of that was a whole bunch of carries where he was stuffed at the line and had no chance to pick up much yardage. When he had running room, there were some nice cuts in traffic and darts through holes. Most notably he caught all 3 passes thrown his way for 38 yards. Two years in, I do not understand why the Raiders keep screwing around with third down backs, putting Jalen Richard, Devontae Booker (and even Theo Riddick, of all people) on the field and blowing draft picks on Lynn Bowden. Jacobs is a good receiver! He is an asset in that aspect of football. Why? If you want to lighten his load maybe find a short-yardage guy or something. Anyway, if you started Jacobs you have no complaints.
Austin Ekeler, on the other hand, was limited some by injury and the result was a lesser outing. Good rushing production (for him) but no touchdowns and just 4 catches, about half his usual output. Kalen Ballage presumably does something well because he keeps getting NFL contracts even while averaging a buck and a half per attempt at his various stops. Now his main value is to vulture touchdowns from Ekeler and render Justin Jackson inactive. He handled passing downs with the Jets and was decent at it, but the Chargers don't need that.
WIDE RECEIVERS:
Score one for truth in advertising. There were pregame reports that Keenan Allen and Mike Williams would be active but on a pitch count. And that's what happened. Allen actually looked OK, but he must not have been himself since he played just a third of the snaps and caught only 1 pass. Begs the question: why was he active? Williams played slightly more, but his biggest contribution was drawing an interference penalty in the end zone.
Some discussion of the Raiders secondary is in order. Presumably when I was gushing over Herbert earlier some were looking for it. Yes, they were godawful last night. There were some injuries, and they fired their coordinator last week, and they're also just bad. Not helped by the lack of a pass rush, but a really bad pass defense. Which also speaks to the Chargers coaching staff, which could reasonably have passed on almost every play the way the Raiders neglected to cover anyone. Anyhoo, they kept losing track of Tyron Johnson and Jalen Guyton, helping the Chargers score a first-half touchdown seconds after Troy Aikman got done praising the Raiders for keeping them off the scoreboard, and then the winning points in overtime. I made a last-minute decision to start Johnson last night that worked out. Seemed like if the Chargers had made Allen and/or Williams inactive those guys would have been even better.
Hunter Renfrow ran the wrong route early on and barely played; hopefully no one made the mistake of starting him based on his contributions earlier in the season. I don't think it's too early to say the Raiders screwed up by making Henry Ruggs the first wideout drafted (not his fault he was out last night, of course); Justin Jefferson would have sure looked nice as the team's No. 1 this year. But they did do a nice job picking up Nelson Agholor, who's been good for them all year. The same can't be said for Zay Jones, who played three quarters of the snaps last night and caught as many passes, 1, as Renfrow. Chargers wideout depth a lot better than that of the Raiders, although Herbert probably helps the equation.
TIGHT ENDS:
What a find Darren Waller has been for the Raiders. The Mariota to Waller touchdown was a thing of beauty, and that duo was clicking all night. He won't be underrated in drafts next year. Especially with the team not overloaded with stars at wideout, Waller should continue to be very good the next few years.
Hunter Henry had a really nice game. He hasn't much gotten in on Herbert's breakout season, but with the position a wasteland in most fantasy leagues, he's been a decent starter, and is playing well of late. Lot of nice tight ends in the AFC West, taking us back to the Gates-Gonzalez-Sharpe days. (I don't know if they were ever all there at the same time, just work with me.)
KICKERS AND DEFENSES:
It's remarkable how some kickers are making it look easy and some, like Michael Badgley, are not. Badgley just missed a couple of game-winners at the end, including one that probably would have been good but for an unfortunate sack just before hand (making a 41-yarder a 51-yarder). But at no point could anyone have confidence with him trotting out onto the field. It's been a rough year for kickers in general, and you wonder what specifically might be causing it, if there's something with the lack of a preseason or presence of competition on all practice squads that's causing problems. I lost a playoff matchup last week on Justin Tucker's blocked extra point, so I'm particularly sensitive to this right now. Raiders didn't get to try a 64-yarder at the end of regulation due to a botched snap.
I'm not sure anything needs to be said about the defenses beyond the Raiders are simply terrible and nobody needs to see them get smoked in the playoffs by being unable to stop anyone. The Chargers aren't good either but at least they have an injury excuse. I still disagree with the Raiders' trading away Khalil Mack, the fact that they blew the two first-round picks they got for him doesn't help.
MISCELLANEOUS:
Jon Gruden was wearing an "Oakland Raiders" cap on the sideline in the first half, that's kind of amusing. Strangely the facemasks seem to work with the Raiders, visually anyway. Keenan Allen wearing a mask over his beard was funny.
Anyway, the big takeaways were 1) Herbert is great and 2) Mariota can play. There aren't 32 NFL starters better than him, and I wonder if someone will try to acquire him in the offseason.
This was the last Thursday night game of the year, and thus the last Thursday night recap. NFL Thursday has been a good thing; nice to be able to sit and watch a game with something close to relaxation (Monday night games are right in the middle of the production schedule). Not always ideal for fantasy leagues (having to make lineup decisions without knowing for sure who will be healthy on Sunday), but more good than bad.