Rivers, Chargers defeat Raiders

Associated Press

OAKLAND, Calif.

Philip Rivers and the San Diego Chargers capitalized on mistakes instead of making them for a change.

Rivers threw a 6-yard touchdown pass to Malcom Floyd and Nate Kaeding kicked five field goals to spoil Dennis Allen’s debut as Oakland coach by beating the Raiders 22-14 on Monday night.

“I’ve always tried to take care of the football and be smart but you have to be able to manage the situation,” Rivers said. “The situation today was our defense was playing good, our special teams is getting the ball. ... If you go back since I’ve been playing here and we don’t turn the ball over, it’s 90-something percent we win. That was the key for the offense tonight.”

The Raiders were looking to start a new era on a positive note but were done in by an offense that couldn’t score a touchdown until the final minute and three botched punts after an injury to Pro Bowl long snapper Jon Condo.

The Chargers did enough to win on a night they started undrafted rookie Mike Harris at left tackle and were missing running back Ryan Mathews and receiver Vincent Brown to injuries.

San Diego protected Harris by throwing short often with 16 of Rivers’ 24 completions going to running backs and tight ends. Rivers threw for 231 yards, but was sacked just once and did not turn the ball over.

“We were without a couple guys we rely fairly heavily on, and I thought he managed the game, he did a good job on the critical third downs, got us in and out of bad plays,” Chargers coach Norv Turner said.

Oakland had its own problems with injuries. The absence of deep-threat receivers Denarius Moore (hamstring) and Jacoby Ford (left foot) left Carson Palmer mostly throwing underneath to Darren McFadden, who caught a career-high 13 passes. A head injury to Condo in the second quarter proved to be even more significant when backup long snapper Travis Goethel had to fill in.

Early in the third quarter, the Raiders lined up to go for it on fourth-and-2 from the San Diego 48. But after a penalty for 12 men in the huddle, Oakland decided to punt. Goethel, who last snapped in high school, rolled one back to Lechler, who was tackled for a loss, giving San Diego the ball at the Raiders 39. That set up a 28-yard field goal by Kaeding.