SI:AM | Well, That Was Ugly
Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I can’t remember the last time I turned off a blowout football game and then tuned back in just to see more annihilation.
In today’s SI:AM:
????️ Ohtani speaks
????️ Previewing every bowl game
He’d better update his LinkedIn profile
Chargers coach Brandon Staley still had a job when he walked out of the stadium last night, but he might not for much longer.
Staley’s team got obliterated by the Raiders on Thursday Night Football, 63–21. The final score somehow makes the game look closer than it actually was.
Los Angeles didn’t score until the third quarter, after Las Vegas had already put up 49 points. The deficit got to 63–7 before the Chargers scored two utterly meaningless touchdowns in the fourth quarter.
The score was 42–0 at halftime, at which point the Chargers had run just 25 offensive plays on seven series (excluding a run up the middle to bleed the clock on the final play of the half). That’s an average of 3.6 plays per drive. They had four punts, three fumbles (including one on special teams) and a turnover on downs. The Raiders were just the third team in NFL history to shut out their opponent in the first half while also scoring at least 42 points.
Staley was already on the hot seat as the Chargers took a disappointing step backward this season. After reaching the playoffs for the first time in his tenure last year, L.A. entered the game at 5–8. Quarterback Justin Herbert underwent season-ending surgery this week to repair a broken finger, and while no one expected the Chargers to mount a run toward the postseason with Easton Stick under center, you’d at least hope to see them put up a fight. Last night, they looked like a team that had fully given up on its season—and its coach.
Staley will be fired by the end of the season. That’s not some big scoop I got by working my sources. It’s just common sense. Bringing him back would have been difficult even before last night’s embarrassment. The blowout made his firing a foregone conclusion. He may have already been shown the door by the time you’re reading this.
On the opposite side of the spectrum, the Raiders appear to really believe in their coach, Antonio Pierce. The team was dismal under Josh McDaniels but is now 3–3 under Pierce after last night’s win snapped a three-game losing streak. There have been difficulties, of course, like last week’s hideous 3–0 shutout loss against the Vikings. But the ability to bounce back from a rough outing can’t be discounted. Last night’s game could have been a slog between two teams coming off demoralizing losses, but Pierce had his side fired up and showed that the shutout was an anomaly.
After the game, Pierce wasn’t ready to hear any complaints about running up the score.
“Listen, we just scored zero. I ain’t gonna stop the boys from scoring,” he told reporters. “We were on the other side of it last week, and it felt a certain way. No apologies here. Sorry.”
If there’s anybody who should be apologizing it’s Staley and the Chargers. Their loss was as terrible as any team in the league has suffered this season. Only the Broncos’ 70–20 blowout at the hands of the Dolphins in which Miami racked up 726 yards of total offense can compete.
After the game, Staley said he wasn’t sure whether he’d keep his job, but believed that he should.
“I know what I’ve done here for three years; I know what I’ve put into this and I know that we’re capable of going,” Staley told reporters. “I know the type of coach that I am. I believe in myself but again this isn’t about me. This is about a group that’s hurting in there.
“We’ve got to get some rest and we have to get ready for Buffalo.”
I don’t think Staley has to worry about getting ready for Buffalo.
The best of Sports Illustrated
Kirby Lee/USA TODAY Sports
The best of Sports Illustrated
- Matt Verderame explains the mess the Chargers are in is the result of ownership trying to save money when hiring coaches.
- Albert Breer’s NFL mailbag includes a look at how top quarterback prospects Drake Maye and Caleb Williams compare to receive draft picks.
- Shohei Ohtani addressed the media yesterday for the first time since signing his record contract with the Dodgers. But the 19-minute press conference didn’t reveal much about why he chose the team, Stephanie Apstein writes.
- Ahead of the beginning of bowl season tomorrow, Pat Forde previews all 42 games on the slate.
- The rich get richer. The Dodgers agreed to acquire star pitcher Tyler Glasnow from the Rays.
- The Blues’ Jordan Kyrou was booed by home fans and then offered a tearful apology for his comments about former coach Craig Berube.
- Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe will not enter the NFL draft this year.
The top five...
… moments from the Raiders’ blowout win:
5. The Chargers’ understated tweet after they finally put points on the board.
4. Aidan O’Connell’s perfect pass for the Raiders’ third TD.
3. The trick play Las Vegas ran for its seventh TD.
2. John Jenkins’s fumble return for a touchdown. He’s the first player who weighs at least 320 pounds to return a fumble for a score in five years.
1. Jack Jones’s acrobatic pick-six on a screen pass.
SIQ
Which school beat Winthrop by a whopping 108 points on this day in 2016, setting an NCAA women’s basketball record for margin of victory?
- Tennessee
- Baylor
- UConn
- South Carolina
Yesterday’s SIQ: Which team holds the NBA record for most consecutive losses by an expansion team to begin its first season?
- Magic
- Bobcats
- Timberwolves
- Heat
Answer: Heat. They lost the first 17 games they played in the 1988–89 season before finally eking out an 89–88 win over the lowly Clippers on Dec. 14.
Of the eight franchises that have joined the NBA since the 1976 ABA merger, the Heat are the only one to lose more than three straight to start their first season. In fact, Miami’s season-opening losing streak is among the longest in NBA history, tied for the second-longest to begin any season. Only the 2009–10 Nets and ’15–16 Sixers have had longer streaks.