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From being shutout to pitching a shutout for more than half of the next game, the Las Vegas Raiders put up a season-high in points as it rebounded from three straight losses to torch an AFC West rival in another primetime slot.
Las Vegas exploded for nine touchdowns as the team demolished the LA Chargers Thursday, Dec. 14 from Allegiant Stadium to put an end to a three-game losing streak wrapping up a three-game homestand. With one more home game to play this regular season, the Raiders are now 5-3 at home.
“Sometimes the stars just align,” rookie quarterback Aidan O’Connell said. “It’s a group effort, [interim offensive coordinator Bo Hardegree] called [great plays and] the offensive line protected.”
Last week, the team was shutout before posting a franchise record in points just four days later.
“We talked about just having short-term memory,” interim head coach Antonio Pierce said. “I referenced what [receiver Davante Adams] said last week, ‘We were on the wrong side of history. We’re on the right side now.’”
After beating Los Angeles, Las Vegas has now moved into third place of the AFC West with a 6-8 overall record. Currently, the team is two games out of first place in the division with three games left. Two of the three remaining games on the schedule are against the two teams ahead of the Raiders in the standings in the Kansas City Chiefs and Denver Broncos.
With more than a week to prepare, Las Vegas will be back in action against Kansas City Christmas morning with kick-off scheduled for 10 a.m. Two of the final three games for the Raiders will take place on the road where the team sports a 1-5 record this year.
“We’re going to treat this game like each one we’ve been a part of at least with me at the helm,” Pierce said. “Short-term memory. I gave them a victory Friday off tomorrow, we’ve got a Christmas party tomorrow, we’re going to enjoy it. Give them a couple of days off and we’ll come back and get ready for these world champs.”
It was a fast start for the Las Vegas offense after being held without a point all of last game, resulting in a 21-point outburst in the first 15 minutes of this one. On the team’s opening drive, O’Connell was at the helm of three third down conversions on the way to a one-yard touchdown run by running back Zamir White.
That score marked the first touchdown for the group in its last six quarters played.
“Besides last week, we’ve been doing a great job of starting fast,” O’Connell said. “To be able, on both sides of the ball, to really start fast in this game. For the offense to go score and the defense to hold and get turnovers is just huge.”
On the very next drive, O’Connell found fellow rookie Tre Tucker in the end zone from 30 yards out for his first career touchdown. At that point, the Raiders had only possessed the ball for 6:49. Tucker scored twice on the night while rookie tight end Michael Mayer also hauled in a score from O’Connell during the record-setting performance.
“We were even talking today and yesterday about how far we’ve come,” O’Connell said. “And how different it is from what it was when we first got here and training camp and stuff. The NFL is really hard and it's hard in your first year.”
O’Connell threw a second touchdown pass of the first quarter on a 22-yard pitch-and-catch to receiver Jakobi Meyers for the 21-0 lead. Those 21 points accounted for more than the team had scored in its last two games combined. Meyers also threw a touchdown pass on the night to the aforementioned Adams.
Las Vegas set its new season-high in points late in the second quarter after running back Brandon Bolden had a scoring scamper from 26 yards out to give the home team a 35-0 edge.
O’Connell kept things ablaze with four touchdown passes in the first half which is the most in a half by any quarterback this season. In fact, he entered play with just four touchdown passes through his first six career starts.
By the final horn, he had completed 20 of his 34 pass attempts for 248 yards and four touchdowns.
“You try not to get too high and try not to get too low,” O’Connell said. “This week [quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo] really helped me a lot. We had some good discussions about what the NFL is, how hard it is every week, how hard it is to bounce back after a game like that. But it's week-to-week, anything can happen.”
Heading into halftime, the Raiders were up 42-0 with no plan on letting up on the gas pedal. It had already tied the most first half points in team history. Over the last four games, the team had been held to just 46 points in total.
“We knew at halftime what the record was,” Pierce said. “I was made aware of it. We were going to be aggressive regardless of what the score was.”
Four days after holding its opponent to just three points in a losing effort, the Las Vegas defense erupted with its best performance of the season. On its second drive of the game, defensive end Malcolm Koonce forced a fumble while fellow defensive end Tyree Wilson fell on it for the recovery.
Through the first 3:35 on the field, the Raider defense forced two turnovers and a punt. In total, the team forced five fumbles while recovering four of them. Koonce came away with two sacks and two forced fumbles en route to the win.
Two of the forced turnovers immediately turned into points on the other end as defensive tackle John Jenkins came up with the fumble recovery and returned to the end zone to close the third quarter. Early in the fourth quarter, cornerback Jack Jones picked off a screen pass attempt with one hand and would take it to the house for a pick-six.
“When you just scored zero, I’m not gone stop them boys from scoring,” Pierce said. “I’m not going to stop them, we were on the other side of it last week and it felt a certain way. No apologies here."
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