Silver And Black Pride
Rivalries are the theme of the week for the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 2 against the Los Angeles Chargers on Monday Night Football. There’s always a little extra on the line when two AFC West foes face off, especially when both teams are 1-0, but the two head coaches have plenty of history, leading us into the key matchups for the contest.
The rivalry between these two goes back nearly 20 years, when Carroll was at USC and Harbaugh was at Stanford. Harbaugh won two out of three matchups in the college ranks before Carroll left for the NFL, after the infamous “What’s your deal?” handshake when Stanford went for two up 27 points with about seven minutes left in the fourth quarter.
Then, Harbaugh followed Carroll to the NFC West and won the first three head-to-head matchups with the San Francisco 49ers before the Seattle Seahawks went on to win five out of the next six games in the rivalry. The latter includes the 2013/2014 NFC Championship contest and a 42-13 drubbing on Harbaugh’s birthday in 2012. Coincidentally, Carroll will turn 75 on Monday night, so his rival would like nothing more than to return the favor and blow out his candles this time.
Of course, there’s plenty of mutual respect between these two and while they’ll never admit it publicly, there’s likely an equal amount of animosity between them given the history and bad blood. It also wouldn’t be surprising if part of the reason Carroll signed on to be the Raiders’ head coach this offseason is so that he can reignite the rivalry that’s been dormant since 2014, seeing his old “friend” twice a year.
Considering the series is currently tied 6-6, there will likely be a bigger smile than normal on the winning coach’s face.
While this is undoubtedly a key matchup, it could also be considered a key mismatch in the Chargers’ favor.
Nickelback is one of the Raiders’ biggest question marks right now. Holmes led the team with 20 snaps in slot coverage last week, per Pro Football Focus, but struggled by giving up five completions on six targets for 73 yards, and the one incompletion was a missed throw by the quarterback. Unfortunately, things won’t get any easier this week.
McConkey took the NFL by storm as a rookie last season, hauling in 82 catches for 1,149 yards and seven touchdowns while recording 70.2 percent of his snaps in the slot, via PFF. He immediately became one of the league’s most productive inside receivers, ranking fifth with 52 receptions, second with 761 yards and tied for fourth with five touchdowns from that alignment.
In other words, the second-year pro figures to be a big part of Los Angeles’ offense moving forward. And even if McConkey isn’t the Chargers’ primary slot receiver on Monday night, Holmes still has a tough matchup against well-tenured veteran Keenan Allen, who had seven catches, 68...
