Already 0-2 within the division, the Raiders were in first place before
losing 28-14 to the San Diego Chargers.
Any hope they have of going from the bottom to the top of the division rests
with ending the divisional streak which began on Nov. 28, 2004, the day the
Raiders beat the Denver Broncos 25-24.
Given that the Raiders were trampled for 198 yards on 25 carries by LaDainian Tomlinson and have been giving up rushing yards in bunches all season, it comes
as no comfort that the Chiefs' Larry Johnson showed signs of breaking out of his
rushing slump with 119 yards on 31 carries in a 27-20 win over the Cincinnati Bengals.
After a promising start, the Raiders played their worst game of the season
against San Diego.
Raiders coach Lane Kiffin was blunt in his assessment.
"What happened today is we came out and played like really bad football teams
play," Kiffin said. "We turned the ball over. We gave up sacks. We didn't stop
the run. We didn't run the ball and we got penalties. It's very easy to see how
that game got out of hand.
"We were a bad team today. But bad teams continue to stay bad teams. We've
got to go back to work tomorrow and get better and win the next game and get rid
of this game and don't let this game beat us next week."
The Raiders will look to restore the luster to a running game that came into
the Chargers game ranked No. 1 in the NFL with an average of 194.2 yards per
game.
Against San Diego, the Raiders fell behind 14-0 in the first quarter and
weren't able to be as persistent with the run as they would like.
They finished with 53 yards on 22 carries, while the Chargers ran for 206
yards on 32 tries.
LaMont Jordan, listed as doubtful entering the game with a lower back injury,
had a rough go of it, gaining just 42 yards on 18 carries.
"You have to give San Diego credit, but we need to execute better if we want
to run the ball," Jordan said.
In terms of dealing with Johnson and the Chiefs, the Raiders will need to be
better at the eight-man fronts which failed them against Tomlinson and the
Chargers.
Oakland discovered that missing tackles against someone as elusive as
Tomlinson gave him room to run in the secondary.
"When you play eight in the box and a runner gets past the first line of
defense, it's a footrace," safety Stuart Schweigert said.
Quarterback Daunte Culpepper, after six quarters leading the offense in which
the Raiders ran the ball 74 times and passed 25, struggled trying to lead
Oakland with a passing attack.
Culpepper was 24-for-37 for 230 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions,
plus a lost fumble late in the last 10 seconds of the first half when Oakland
could have tied the score.