How the Chargers Can Respond in Week 2 Against the Raiders

Sep 16, 2026 at 09:04 AM

Editorial Director

Welcome back to the Chargers Mailbag!

We'll run a Mailbag each week during the regular season. Send in submissions for the Mailbag on Twitter @EricLSmith or by email at eric.smith@chargers.nfl.com.

Off we go...

What overall grade do you give the Chargers for their efforts and results in the season opener? Better yet, why that grade? (Ed via Twitter)

Hmmm, probably a 'C' or somewhere around that.

Look, the final result is all that ever matters in the NFL.

Yards, stats and vibes are all fun and dandy, but wins are the end-all, be-all metric in this league.

That's why teams rarely apologize for winning ugly and take little solace in moral victories.

But if we look at Sunday's game, I don't think the Chargers were a downright disaster. And they obviously weren't stellar either.

Hence the average grade, which Jim Harbaugh and his team know likely won't cut it going forward.

I wrote last week that games in the NFL are difficult to win no matter the opponent.

You simply can't just roll the ball out and expect to be on top after 60 minutes.

It's only one game and Harbaugh sounded confident Monday about his team's resolve.

"Just as I would have expected," Harbaugh said when asked about the Chargers current mindset. "Everybody really looking at their position, their group, and trying to find out exactly what they can do better to help the cause, just as you would expect a group of competitors to be about."

It's only Week 2 but all eyes will be on the Bolts ability to be resilient early in the season.

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I don't want to panic because last year the Raiders beat New England in Week 1 and New England represented the AFC in the Super Bowl, That being said, what things can we clean up immediately to have a better game against the Raiders this coming week? (Ed via Twitter)

Another good question and analysis here.

Ed — a different Ed than the one above, by the way — makes a valid point that a team's Week 1 outcome doesn't necessarily define their season.

Besides New England, you know who else lost in Week 1 last season?

The eventual Super Bowl champion Seahawks.

Trust me, nobody liked to lose their season opener. But there are still 16 more chapters for the Bolts to write in 2026.

As for areas of improvement, I'll give you on in each phase.

Offensively, the Chargers have to find a way to be much better on third downs.

Part of that, of course, is being cleaner on first and second down, which wasn't always the case in Week 1.

Overall, the Bolts converted twice on eight attempts in that area Sunday.

Ironically enough, the pair of conversions were both touchdowns by Omarion Hampton and Ladd McConkey.

But the other six tries were rough, primarily because it felt like third and forever.

The average yardage the Chargers needed to convert on third down against the Cardinals was 12.4 yards. That's not a winning formula.

Part of that stat is skewed by a third-and-30 situation, sure. But the Chargers also faced third downs of 10, 16, 11 and 18 yards in Week 1.

The Chargers converted twice on three tries of third-and-7 or shorter Sunday but didn't move the sticks on five tried of eight-plus yards.

The Bolts need to stay on schedule and stay ahead of the sticks against the Raiders.

Defensively, the pass rush needs to affect Kirk Cousins in Week 2, something that didn't happen in Week 1.

According to Pro Football Focus, the Bolts tallied just six hurries against Cardinals quarterback Jacoby Brissett in Week 1. That tied for the second-fewest among all defenses.

Brissett, according to PFF, averaged just 2.54 seconds before he released the ball in Week 1, the third-quickest mark of any quarterback.

"We weren't winning the battle enough in that phase," Harbaugh said Monday.

The Chargers defense shines when the pass rush helps out the secondary in coverage. Sunday is the next chance to get that plan in sync.

And finally, special teams need to have a more positive effect on the game.

The blocked punt was unfortunate, of course, and essentially gifted the Cardinals a touchdown.

But the kick return game needs a little more juice, too.

The Chargers had four kickoff returns four 80 total yards Sunday. Keaton Mitchell had two returns for 47 yards while Derius Davis had two returns for 33 yards.

The average starting point after those four returns was the 20.75-yard line.

That's not doing the offense any favors and will need to be better going forward.