The Las Vegas Raiders got good news before Monday Night Football. Brock Bowers was active, which would give quarterback Geno Smith a major outlet in the receiving game. However, things unraveled early on for Vegas. In fact, Smith threw an interception on the first play of the game.
Smith went on to throw three interceptions against the Chargers. He threw the ball 43 times in this contest, but managed no touchdowns and less than 200 yards passing. Meanwhile, Justin Herbert found paydirt twice and threw for 242 yards and no interceptions. In the end, the Chargers won this contest 20-9 on Monday Night Football.
The Chargers started the scoring in the first quarter after picking off Smith. They were unable to find the endzone. However, Cameron Dicker knocked in a field goal from 38 yards out. Later in the quarter, Daniel Carlson tied the game with a 54-yarder of his own.
Los Angeles drove down the field toward the end of the quarter. With 20 seconds remaining, Keenan Allen found paydirt from 10 yards out to give his team a 10-3 lead heading into the second quarter.
The Chargers conceded a field goal, but a Quentin Johnston touchdown made it 17-6 before half. Neither team found the endzone again after this. In fact, they only scored one field goal each in the second half. But it was more than enough for the Chargers to win.
Los Angeles is now 2-0 on the season, and they look very good early on. They head into Week 3 with another AFC West rival on the ledger. The Chargers will face the Denver Broncos at home on September 21 and hope to move to 3-0 on the young season.
Meanwhile, the Raiders will return to the drawing board. They cannot afford to have another unfortunate performance such as this. Smith and his teammates will look to rebound against the Washington Commanders next week.
