What we learned from Sunday’s games

COMPLETE RESULTS

Eric Edholm’s findings:

1. The Chargers’ first win is a Jim Harbaugh classic. Harbaugh's first game back in the NFL in nearly a decade looked like many of his victories over the years: tough, stubborn and stubborn. The Chargers were unable to get anything going offensively in the first half and ran into brick walls in the running game, while Justin Herbert and the passing game had treaded water. They had seven possessions in the first half – none of them longer than 15 net yards. But Harbaugh and Greg Roman were not deterred from their approach, the Los Angeles defense did its job in the meantime, and the process began to pay off in the second half. The running game began to wear down the Raiders' impressive front, leading to game-winning touchdowns of 61 and 92 yards in the fourth quarter. The Bolts' talent appears to be limited, with presumed WR1 Josh Palmer had a rough game (he was also ejected for fighting along with Raiders CB Jack Jones in the final seconds) and almost cost his team a turnover with a dropped pass. Herbert never seemed completely relaxed either and there were too many bad penalties. But Harbaugh has enough power on both lines of scrimmage to win a few more games this season, 22-10. Ugly win? Ha, that's Harbaugh's favorite win. The Chargers will take it – and Harbaugh won them a game they probably would have lost a year ago.
2. Antonio Pierce's decision to try fourth and first does not pay off. When the Raiders were trailing 16-10 midway through the fourth quarter, Alexander Mattison caught a checkdown on third-and-7 and gained 6 yards to set up a fourth-and-1 from the Chargers' 43-yard line. Pierce then sent punter AJ Cole out. The Raiders' running game had hardly changed up to that point, and Zamir White was stopped earlier in the game on a fourth-and-3 run. But even then, the decision feels indefensible — and Next Gen Stats agreed, saying the situation gave a “Go For It” advantage over punting a healthy 5.5 percent. That said: Pierce probably should have gone for it. The Chargers then turned the field over with a 61-yard run that all but decided the game, leading to another touchdown and a two-score deficit. Pierce did a lot of good things in his time as interim coach last year to earn the full-time opportunity, but he also lacked aggressiveness at the end of the loss to Miami, which paled in comparison to his more aggressive approach in the win over the Jets. It seemed like Pierce was still feeling his way through the job in his 10th regular-season game — and his first as “The Guy.” Maybe he'll look back and regret his decisions in the fourth quarter of that game.
3. Welcome back, JK Dobbins. When asked this week how he would split the runs between Gus Edwards and Dobbins, listed as co-starters for the Chargers, offensive coordinator Greg Roman vowed to “ride the hot hand.” Edwards might have started, but on Sunday the hotter hand belonged to Dobbins. Neither Chargers' running back did much until the second half; Edwards gained 9 yards on his first five carries and Dobbins had just 6 yards on three carries. But Dobbins ripped off a 46-yard run – his longest since his rookie year in 2020 – to set up a field goal and later added a 12-yard TD run to put the Chargers up 16-7 early in the fourth quarter. Then, with four minutes left, Dobbins ran 61 yards on a bone-crushing run, breaking the 100-yard mark for the first time since Week 15 of the 2022 season. Those few explosive runs showed that he looked healthy again — with some pep in his step. Dobbins has been through hell injury-wise since entering the NFL. He suffered a torn ACL that wiped out his 2021 season, re-injured the same knee that ended his 2022 season early, and also suffered a torn Achilles tendon in the season opener almost exactly a year ago.

Next-gen stats of the game: Chargers rookie RT Joe Alt did not allow any pressure on the quarterback in 11 pass rush matches against the Raiders. Maxx Crosbyall in 1-on-1 situations. Crosby had not been held to zero pressure in a matchup against an offensive lineman since Week 9 of 2022 (minimum 10 matchups). On that day, Alt allowed three pressure situations in his 28 total pass-blocking snaps (10.7% pressure rate).

NFL Research: With the win, Jim Harbaugh improved his NFL record as a head coach to 45-19-1, a winning percentage of .700, which ranks fifth all-time (minimum 60 games). Harbaugh also has a 5-0 record in Week 1 as a head coach.