Raiders bury AFC West rival Chargers despite costly mistakes

You didn’t have to be Bill Belichick to figure out what the Chargers were going to ask Kirk Cousins to prove Sunday.Could he make them pay downfield?He answered that decisively in the Raiders’ 26-14 win over the Bolts, and in the process helped get the Raiders to 2-0 while burying their AFC West rivals in an 0-2 hole.If you are unsure how deep of a hole, go check out the next seven games for Los Angeles.But after Cousins completed just one of seven passes traveling at least 10 air yards in the Raiders’ season opener, with two interceptions, the invitation was obvious.Crowd the underneath routes.

Make those easy completions harder to find.Challenge the veteran quarterback to beat them over the top.Cousins had been a surgeon on shorter throws against the Dolphins.

The Chargers had every reason to make him reach for a different instrument.Turns out, he still knows how to use it.Cousins connected with Tre Tucker for a 40-yard touchdown and a separate 42-yard completion in the first half alone, providing an emphatic response to the biggest question lingering from his Raiders debut.Two throws don’t erase every concern.But they certainly complicate the scouting report.And that matters for an offense whose ability to consistently threaten defenses downfield could determine how much room everyone else has to operate.If safeties have to respect Tucker’s speed and Cousins’ ability to find him, they have more to consider before creeping toward the line of scrimmage.

Underneath defenders can’t assume every meaningful throw will happen in front of them.That is how explosive plays create opportunities beyond the yards they produce.For Cousins, the challenge was showing that his efficiency in the opener wasn’t also a ceiling.The short passing game can move the chains, but an offense becomes considerably easier to defend when opponents stop worrying about what happens behind them.Tucker gave the Raiders that threat.

Cousins delivered the ball.The Chargers were en...