CHARGERS (0-0) vs. RAIDERS (0-0)
When: Sunday, 1:05 p.m.
Where: SoFi Stadium
TV/radio: Ch. 2; 98.7 FM; 105.5 FM/94.3 FM (Spanish)
Line: Chargers by 3
Notable injury designations: Chargers: OUT: WR DJ Chark Jr. (hip). QUESTIONABLE: CB Asante Samuel Jr. (shoulder), CB Tarheeb Still (hip). Raiders: OUT: DE Malcolm Koonce (knee), G Jackson Powers-Johnson (illness), CB Decamerion Richardson (hamstring). QUESTIONABLE: LB Tommy Eichenberg (knee).
What’s at stake? Expectations of the Chargers soared the moment they hired Jim Harbaugh to replace Brandon Staley as their coach. Harbaugh’s track record is tough to beat. After all, he led the University of Michigan to a 15-0 record and the national championship last season. He guided the San Francisco 49ers to three consecutive NFC championship games and one Super Bowl appearance in four seasons before departing for Michigan. No question, Harbaugh gives the Chargers a certain level of cachet they lacked with Staley on the sideline for the past two seasons.
Who’s better? The Chargers spent the offseason attempting to get better, starting with the hiring of Harbaugh as their coach. On paper, they do appear to be deeper and more experienced than last season, especially on defense and in the secondary, in particular. The Chargers have the better quarterback in Justin Herbert, but they don’t have the gifted wide receiver the Raiders have. Las Vegas’ Davante Adams has caught nearly 900 passes for more than 10,000 yards in 150 games over 10 years in the NFL, including the past two with the Raiders.
Matchup to watch: Joe Alt, the Chargers’ rookie right tackle, gets his Welcome to the NFL moment when he lines up against Maxx Crosby, the Raiders’ superb pass rusher. Harbaugh described Crosby as “about as physical and slippery” as it gets. Crosby had 14½ sacks last season while Alt was showing himself to be worthy of the fifth overall pick in the NFL draft while at Notre Dame. Alt versus Crosby definitely ranks as one of the best game-within-the-game matchups in Week 1.
Chargers win if: If everything comes together on offense, defense and special teams, then the Chargers should win. That’s a pretty big “if.” It was difficult to know how well the Chargers might play during the regular season after a preseason that included losses in two of three games. Herbert was sidelined nearly three weeks by a plantar fascia injury that will bear monitoring as the season progresses, so it was difficult to know how effective coordinator Greg Roman’s offense could be. Easton Stick struggled to move the ball in Herbert’s absence, so that part of the game is something of a mystery, more so than what appeared to be a pretty stingy defense.
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Fantasy sleeper: Cameron Dicker made all six of his field goal attempts during the preseason, including one from 55 yards and another from 58. He has made 50 of 53 field goal attempts during his Chargers tenure, which is why they gave him a four-year contract extension potentially worth $22 million last week.
Prediction: This game comes down to one of those “want versus need” things. No doubt the Raiders want to win this game, but the Chargers need to win. They need to win to deliver a payback for that 63-21 thumping last season that led to the firings of Staley and GM Tom Telesco the next day. They need it to prove all their offseason work was worthwhile. But they really, really, really need it to prove that their investment in Harbaugh was worth it. Chargers 24, Raiders 14.