The Los Angeles Raiders hold off AFC West Rivals the San Diego Chargers in an opening day thriller.
After a scoreless first quarter, the Chargers drew first blood on the second quarter's first play off of a Keith Browner interception of Jay Schroeder, his second interception thrown of the day. This led to the game's first score, a Ralf Mojsiejenko 20 yard fieldgoal, putting the Chargers up 3-0. This appeared to be the spark that Jay Schroeder needed to calm down and get the Raider offense going as he connected with Tim Brown for a 14 yard TD on the Raiders second drive of the quarter. The half ended with the Raiders ahead 7-3.
After a scoreless first quarter, the Chargers drew first blood on the second quarter's first play off of a Keith Browner interception of Jay Schroeder, his second interception thrown of the day. This led to the game's first score, a Ralf Mojsiejenko 20 yard fieldgoal, putting the Chargers up 3-0. This appeared to be the spark that Jay Schroeder needed to calm down and get the Raider offense going as he connected with Tim Brown for a 14 yard TD on the Raiders second drive of the quarter. The half ended with the Raiders ahead 7-3.
The Raiders opened up the 2nd half with a vengeance, After sending the Chargers
off with a 3 and out, and a huge punt return by Tim Brown, Jay Schroeder hit Mervyn Fernandez on the Raider's opening play of the quarter for 21 yards to broaden the lead to 14-3. This was followed by an onside kick that caught the Chargers off guard and which led to a Marcus Allen touchdown, bringing the score to 21-3. At this point it looked like the Raiders would win this game handily but the Chargers were not to be denied. On their very next possession the Chargers found their running game and Mark Malone connected on 4 out of 4 passes, culminating in an 11 yard touchdown pass to Jamie Holland and bringing the Chargers within 11.
 |
| Tim Brown |
The 4th quarter saw more of the same from the Chargers as they narrowed the gap on their first drive with a Malone to Anthony Miller touchdown pass at the 8:48 mark. At 21-17 we now had a game. The Raiders went 3 and out giving the Chargers the ball with 6:30 left on the clock, plenty of time for them to score and win the game. The Chargers moved the ball easily into Raider territory from their own 37 yardline, ending up on the Raider 24 at the two minute warning. Unfortunately for the Chargers the potential game winning drive was killed on the very next play when defensive back Stacy Toran came up huge with an interception to save the day for the Raiders. Final score: LA Raiders 21 SD Chargers 17.
No comments:
Post a Comment