Raiders vs. Chargers Week 2: Kirk Cousins and Practice-Squad Call-Up Cody White Stun Los Angeles

On Saturday, Cody White got called up from the Raiders' practice squad. On Sunday, he caught two touchdown passes from Kirk Cousins in a building full of silver and black that technically belongs to the Chargers. Somewhere a screenwriter is pitching this as a sports movie, and the studio is saying it is too unrealistic.

Final: Raiders 26, Chargers 14. Cousins threw for 253 yards and three touchdowns, White scored from 13 and 11 yards out in the second half, and the Las Vegas defense took the ball away three times as the Raiders won the AFC West opener at SoFi Stadium. Las Vegas is 2-0. Jim Harbaugh's Chargers are 0-2.

Goal-Line Stand, Then Instant Regret

The weirdness started on the opening drive, when Cameron Dicker's 58-yard field-goal try clanged off the crossbar. Dicker had made 59 of his 63 field goals at home before that, per the AP, so you knew the vibes were off. Cam Hart then picked off Cousins, and after a couple of punts, Hezekiah Masses returned the favor on Justin Herbert to hand the Raiders a short field. Las Vegas pushed all the way to the 1 and came away with nothing on a turnover on downs.

That should have been a momentum gift for the Chargers. Instead they went three-and-out from their own 1, punted, and three plays later Cousins found Tre Tucker for a 40-yard touchdown on a coverage bust that left Tucker so open he could have stopped to check his phone. 7-0.

The Chargers answered with a 10-play, 69-yard drive that Omarion Hampton finished from a yard out. Then Matt Gay, with four seconds left in the half, drilled a career-best 59-yarder to make it 10-7. In the third quarter, Herbert fumbled, Keaton Mitchell recovered at the Las Vegas 10, and on the next snap Herbert spun away from Maxx Crosby and found Oronde Gadsden for a 10-yard score. 14-10, Chargers, their first lead of the day.

It lasted six minutes. Cousins marched the Raiders 74 yards in 11 plays and hit White from 13 yards out. 17-14.

Kirk Cousins, Michigan State Film Historian

Cousins was 19 of 29 for 253 yards with three touchdowns and one interception, and he took two sacks. That makes back-to-back three-touchdown games to open the season, and per the AP, the only other Raiders quarterback to do it was Ken Stabler in 1976. That is very good company for a 38-year-old who was brought in as a bridge.

The White connection had roots. Cousins said he used to watch White play at Michigan State. "I guess those were my bank reps, just watching him play for Michigan State and then when he arrived try to translate that to here and now," Cousins said. "Cody showed me a lot today."

White only caught two passes all day. Both were touchdowns, the first multi-score game of his career. "It just meant the world," he said.

Tucker was the explosive weapon with five catches for 119 yards. Ashton Jeanty ground out 48 yards on 21 carries, which tells you the Raiders won this without a ground game. Raiders coach Klint Kubiak, who worked with Cousins in Minnesota, kept his review simple. "He's been phenomenal," Kubiak said.

Defensively, Masses was the quiet star with two interceptions for 32 return yards, and Nakobe Dean had nine tackles and half a sack.

Jeremy Chinn Picked the Perfect Moment

Up 17-14 with under seven minutes left, the Raiders were in a tense place. The Chargers had the ball and 30 yards of momentum when Hampton coughed it up for the second straight week. Jeremy Chinn recovered and returned it to the Los Angeles 16. Cousins needed three plays and 43 seconds. White, again, from 11 yards. 24-14 with 2:59 left.

Then the Chargers unraveled. Herbert threw his second interception to Masses on the next possession. After a Raiders punt pinned them at their own 6, a holding call on Joe Alt on the very next snap led to a safety and the final 26-14 margin. Alt, one of the league's best tackles, also had three false starts. "Thought I saw what I saw and didn't," Alt said. "Got to be better."

Numbers That Tell the Story

• 3 to 1: Turnover margin in favor of Las Vegas. The Chargers fumbled six times and lost one, and that one was enough.
• 127 to 57: Rushing yards, Chargers over Raiders. Hampton had 94 on 23 carries. It did not matter.
• 11.0: Herbert's QBR. He went 15 of 27 for 192 yards with a touchdown, two picks and three sacks.
• 59: Gay's career-long field goal, and also the number of home field goals Dicker had made before the crossbar got him.
• 2020: The last time the Raiders had won at the Chargers before Sunday. Las Vegas had also dropped four straight in the series, all by double digits.

The AFC West Just Got Weird

The Raiders opened with a 27-13 win over Miami in which Cousins threw three touchdowns, and now they are 2-0 with a road division win in a stadium that sounded like a home game. Top pick Fernando Mendoza watched from the sideline, which is the subplot every Raiders fan is tracking. Cousins is aware. "It's still really early, but certainly the goal is to build something that way outlasts me," he said. A trip to New Orleans is next.

For the Chargers, this is getting loud. They lost to Arizona by the exact same score, 26-14, in Week 1. Harbaugh, in his 100th NFL game, fell to 0-2 for the first time in his college or pro coaching career, per the AP. "We're losing in the margins," Harbaugh said. "That's what we have to get fixed." Herbert was even blunter. "That's not good enough and can't expect to win games like that when we're playing like that," he said. Tight end David Njoku was also carted off with a knee injury in the second quarter, which is the last thing this offense needed. Next up is undefeated Buffalo in their first road game.

The Practice Squad Is Undefeated

The Raiders are 2-0 with a 38-year-old quarterback playing like he is trying to win a legacy bet, a defense that turns mistakes into points and a receiver who was not on the active roster two days earlier. It is not supposed to work this way. Then again, nobody told Cody White.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Postgame quotes and historical notes as reported by the Associated Press.