Raiders Beat Chargers 23-20 in OT in Possible Oakland Farewell

That gave the Chargers a chance to tie it up or win it. The Raiders defense held and they sent Charles Woodson out with a victory.

Smith, the only player on the Raiders who has played more snaps than Woodson, led the Raiders with 14 tackles.

Endurance and competition and triumph.

“It was time, for some reason I had this epiphany the morning before the Detroit Lions game”.

Kicking off the Week 16 NFL action on “Thursday Night Football”, we had a divisional matchup between the Chargers and the Raiders. San Diego was coming off a win over the Dolphins in their last appearance, while Oakland fell to the Packers in Week 15.

“It’s been the story of the year, just losing close games”, Rivers said. “It may be my last game at the Coliseum, but just know I’ll never leave you”.

And that was the fact that could not be ignored.

That changed in the final home game of his career, in overtime of the Christmas Eve/Christmas Day (ET) rumble with the Chargers.

He showed that, too, again Thursday. “That’s who we had to make plays for, the GOAT”.

“It was time”, Woodson said, of retirement. And then he came down with the overtime catch.

His final Coliseum press conference included two of his sons, Charles Woodson Jr. and Chase Woodson.

“Big plays, you get momentum”, Mayowa said.

“I guess it had to end like that right?”

Woodson’s influence will last, as Del Rio said. “That’s the way it goes sometimes”.

The game was played on the 38th anniversary of the Raiders’ famed “Ghost to the Post” double-overtime playoff win against the Colts in Baltimore. A defensive stop secured the victory for Oakland 23-20.

Woodson entered the National Football League having won the Heisman Trophy as a primarily defensive player. Neither one of these teams will be making the playoffs this year, so this was more of a pride game than anything. Oakland International Airport is thick with silver and black on weekends the Raiders are in town, as expatriates return to swell the Black Hole’s population. The Chargers got one touchdown through the air in this game-early in the second quarter-but after that the Raiders defense shut them down in that department. The NFL’s absurd catch rule proceeded to rear its ugly head when the replay review official over-scrutinized the play and ruled it incomplete. Chargers kicker Josh Lambo made a 53-yard field goal before Raiders outside linebacker Khalil Mack was called for holding.

The reaction from the Coliseum crowd?

The Chargers got on the board first when running back DONALD BROWN used his own fortitude and a key block by left guard ORLANDO FRANKLIN, to get into the end zone from 1 yard out.

Furthermore, when Carr and the Raiders offense couldn’t find the end zone, Mr. Reliable was up to his old tricks, as Sebastian Janikowski was flawless on the evening.

Before the game, Woodson took a stroll around the outer ring of the field and greeted some fans along the way.

For those of you fortunate to be on the winning side often enough to be staring at a fantasy championship, good for you for getting this far! “You want to take your time and just nibble on it a little bit”. “They love the Raiders”. You could nearly call it Shakespearean. It never is. So I share this night with my teammates, with my brothers. This is bigger than me.