Raiders look to turn SoFi Stadium into home-field edge, 2-0 start to season
The Raiders have a blueprint.The Chargers have a warning.And Sunday at SoFi Stadium, both will find out how much a week of preparation can change the picture.For the Raiders, their season-opening victory over the Dolphins offered an encouraging look at what new coach Klint Kubiak is building: An offense that can lean on Ashton Jeanty, a passing game designed to keep the chains moving and a defense capable of making quarterbacks uncomfortable without asking Maxx Crosby to do all the heavy lifting.Now comes the harder part.Doing it against a better roster.
Doing it against Justin Herbert.And doing it against a division opponent that understands how quickly an opening loss can become an early-season problem.The Chargers already know what happens when an opponent establishes the run and uses a controlled passing game to keep an offense moving.
The Cardinals showed them last week, handing the Bolts a season-opening defeat with an approach that should look familiar when the Raiders take the field.That gives Kubiak something to work with.It also gives Chargers defensive coordinator Chris O’Leary something to correct.The Raiders cannot assume the same answers will be available simply because Arizona found them.
They have to anticipate the response.That starts with Jeanty, whose ability to drive the offense allows the Raiders to dictate manageable situations for Kirk Cousins.When the run game is working, Kubiak can keep his playbook open and Cousins can operate without being asked to carry every possession.The Chargers have every reason to disrupt that arrangement.Expect their defensive priorities to begin with Jeanty and extend to the short throws that helped the Raiders function against Miami.
Make the running lanes smaller.Close quickly on underneath receivers.
Force Cousins to hold the ball longer and prove he can punish a defense beyond the first-down marker.That is the next question the Raiders must answer.Cousins does not need to turn Sunday into a deep-ball ex...