Tomlinson Injures Ankle in Chargers 24-20 Victory Over Raiders

Chargers blog Bolts From the Blue has full analysis of every “bolt” and “dolt” from last night’s win, and offers up this summation of the game:

And over at Raiders blog Silver and Black Pride, they sound an awful lot like Bills fans:

As was pointed out in this storystream last night, Sproles was the Chargers RB on their final, game-winning drive, not LT. The reason:

Twelve seconds on the clock. A smart football team might try to set themselves up for two plays, possibly even get in position for a long field goal.

Not the Raiders! They throw a Hail Mary bomb from the get-go, the Chargers intercept it and take possession, kneel down and the game is over.

Darren Sproles caps off an impressive TD drive by the Chargers. In less than two minutes they drive 89 yards in 9 plays and retake the lead, 23-20, with 18 seconds to play.

JaMarcus has proven himself full of chutzpah from the previous drive but this might be too tall an order for him.

Philip Rivers 2-minute-pimphand is strong. He’s got SD down into the Raider Red Zone with 1:00 to go.

Should be noted, when it counts most...Tomlinson is on the sideline.

Apparently both teams were saving their best for the 4th.

On 4th and 15 from their own side of the field and with the game in the balance, the Raiders gambled and it paid off. JaMarcus Russell hit Louis Murphy who scampered for a 57-yard touchdown to give the Raiders a 20-17 lead with 2:23 to go.

The Raiders are going to like this Seymour fella.

After a big-time kick return by Sproles got them to the Oakland 41, Philip Rivers drove SD down the field to the 27. That’s when Richard Seymour ensured the Chargers wouldn’t put it in the end-zone, sacking Rivers and setting up a 47-yard Nate Kaeding field goal.

The touchdown call was indeed overturned, leading to a Sebastian Janikowski 37-yard field goal. :40 left in the 2nd quarter. Given what has happened so far when the Chargers have been left to their own devices on offense...don’t expect too much.

It’s been an offensive battle so far in the first half. And I mean the bad kind, not the name-of-the-unit-with-the-ball kind. The Raiders are finally making something, anything, happen with under a minute to go.

With :45 seconds left in the first half JaMarcus Russell hit Louis Murphy in the endzone for what looked like a TD pass. But it wasn’t meant to be. Or was it? The review is on.

LaDanian Tomlinson scored on a 1-yard run to even things up 7 a-piece. 4:45 left in the first half.

Tomlinson has 19 yards on 5 carries so far. Philip Rivers is 7-8 for 46 yards.

Unable to do anything themselves on offense so far, the Chargers just got some help from Darren McFadden. McFadden fumbled on the Oakland 45.

Let’s see if the Chargers can actually muster some offense. They have 22 yards total with 8 minutes remaining in the 2nd quarter.

Richard Seymour has his first sack as an Oakland Raider. And any animosity that might have existed between him and Raider fans over his mini-holdout is officially gone.

According to Mike Golic, the Raiders are playing “down your throat”-style football. Just because its the nightcap doesn’t mean you can work blue, Michael.

RB Michael Bush is the one who did the throat-shoving, scoring on a 4-yard run to make it 7-0 Raiders. 3:17 left in the first quarter.

And by that I mean Jamarcus Russell has already thrown his first interception of the year. It’s officially 2009 now.

Russell looked good on his first drive, finding TE Zack Miller over the middle for what Steve Young called a “pro throw,” but he followed that series up with a horrendously bad stare-down on a rollout; Quentin Jammer jumped the obvious route and made off with the drive-ending pick.

10:15 PM ET, ESPN

September 14, 2009

Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, Oakland , CA

Oakland Raiders (0-0)