LAS VEGAS — The Chargers did it with defense during their 20-9 victory over the Las Vegas Raiders on Monday night, which was significantly different from their offensive-oriented 27-21 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs in the season opener. Here’s what we learned, what we heard and what comes next:
HARBAUGH HYPERBOLE?
No question, safety Derwin James Jr. is the beating heart of the Chargers’ defense. He is capable of making a difference in ways great and small and from a variety of positions on the field. He is a strong safety with “strong” behind the optimum word in all circumstances.
“I’ve called him the best safety I’ve ever seen in the history of the National Football League,” Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh said late Monday night at Allegiant Stadium. “I don’t think I’m going out on a limb there. He is one of the most incredible players I’ve ever watched.”
James was credited with seven tackles against the Raiders and two passes defended, including one he tipped that cornerback Donte Jackson plucked out of midair for an end zone interception in the fourth quarter. James was active from sideline to sideline and, at least once, beyond the field of play.
It turned out to be just another of quarterback Geno Smith’s incomplete passes, but the way James went after a throw that was tipped twice by teammates before sailing out of bounds and into the Raiders’ bench area, you would have thought it was in play, in the middle of the field.
James raced after the ball and caught it while at least 3 yards beyond the sideline, drawing strange looks from the Raiders, who rightly wondered what this guy was doing among them. It was symbolic of the way James and all of the Chargers played defense in the game.
“It’s like being around greatness every day, whether it’s the practice environment, the training environment, the meeting environment, the way he is on the sideline, and mostly the way he is during the game,” Harbaugh said. “He’s incredible. Enthusiasm unknown to mankind. When he tackles, he gets him down, but he can cover. He can play any position in the secondary.”
NO BIG DEAL?
James wasn’t nearly as impressed as Harbaugh was about the Chargers’ play against the Raiders, specifically, and during their first two games of the season, generally. In speaking to him after the game, you got the impression he believed the Chargers have done nothing special.
“That’s our standard, man, that’s what we expect,” James said of holding the Raiders to three field goals and 218 yards of total offense. “We want to get better. This game doesn’t matter if we don’t come out next week and beat Denver. It’s like drawing something in the sand. You know the sand at the beach. A tide comes in and wipes it all out and it doesn’t even matter.
“I’m happy we got the win, but let’s go stack the wins, stack the performances.”
DRAMA? WHAT DRAMA?
In the end, the hype machine went on the ker-plunk Monday. The matchup between Harbaugh and Raiders coach Pete Carroll, a renewal of their collegiate and pro rivalry of years gone by, was settled by the players on the field. Harbaugh and Carroll got their sideline closeups, of course.
But the coaches weren’t the story because the players were the story.
“It was a battle like all the ones every time you play the Raiders or play a Pete Carroll team,” Harbaugh said. “It was a division rivalry, it was all of it. Both teams were just fighting. Everybody was all in out there. There was nobody that was just right down the middle. Take your hats off to all the guys out there.
“Man, everybody was all in.”
WHAT COMES NEXT
The Chargers can start a season with a 3-0 record for the first time since 2002 with a victory over the Denver Broncos on Sunday, which would put them firmly atop the AFC West standings. After two weeks, the Chargers are 2-0, the Broncos and Raiders are 1-1 and the Chiefs are 0-2.
