The Las Vegas Raiders and Los Angeles Chargers came into the 2026 season with very different expectations, with the Raiders considered to be rebuilding while the Chargers are anticipated to be contenders. However, the two clubs had very different results in Week 1, with Las Vegas beating the Miami Dolphins by 14 points and Los Angeles falling to the Arizona Cardinals by 12.
That raises the stakes for this Week 2 contest for these AFC West foes, as the Raiders have a chance to turn some heads if they
can win the key matchups below.
Jeanty vs. Henley
With Brock Bowers out last week, Ashton Jeanty became the focal point of Klint Kubiak’s offense and had one of his best games as a pro. Not only was Jeanty the team’s leading rusher with 23 carries for 102 yards (4.4 ypc), but he also hauled in six catches for 45 receiving yards and a pair of scores to be the Raiders’ top receiver. With Bowers’ status up in the air at the time of writing, expect that trend to continue.
Kubiak used the running back in a variety of ways against the Dolphins, splitting him out wide and even putting him at fullback or tight end for a handful of snaps. That’s similar to what the former Seattle Seahawks’ offensive coordinator did with wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba last year. Obviously, the two players have different natural positions, but the point is that the coach likes to find a variety of ways to get his best player the ball.
So, expect to see Jeanty lining up all over the Raiders’ offense on Sunday, and it wouldn’t be surprising if the Chargers’ best linebacker, Daiyan Henley, shadows him.
Over the last couple of years, Henley has established himself as an up-and-coming linebacker in the league, logging triple-digit tackles in back-to-back campaigns. Diving deeper, he’s more than just a volume tackler with 74 ‘defensive stops’ in the 2024 and 2025 regular seasons combined, per Pro Football Focus.
The former college wide receiver is also an impressive athlete who can make plays in coverage. He’s notched 13 passes defended and three interceptions during the two-year window mentioned above. However, Henley is susceptible to giving up completions and yards, yielding an 81.3 completion percentage and 574 yards last year, per PFF. The latter was the ninth-most among linebackers, and he gave up three completions on three targets for 28 yards (9.3 ypc) in Week 1.
Additionally, Jeanty is known for his ability to make defenders miss, ranking fifth among running backs with 61 missed tackles forced as a rusher and tied for sixth with 23 as a receiver in 2025. Meanwhile, Henley had just eight missed tackles and was 20th among linebackers (minimum 229 snaps) with a 7.9 miss rate during the 2025 regular season.
Henley and the Chargers were able to limit Jeanty to about 50 yards per game in the two contests last season, but that was without Kubiak calling the plays. Expect this to be the big prize fight on Sunday.
Crosby vs. Alt
It’s no secret that Maxx Crosby is the Raiders’ best pass-rusher. The season opener served as more evidence of that, as he recorded 1.5 sacks and had eight pressures, according to PFF. The latter tied teammate Kwity Paye for third among edge defenders, and Crosby’s 33.3 win percentage topped the charts. For reference, Paye was at 9.5 percent to settle the competition between Vegas’ rushers.
What’s interesting about the five-time Pro Bowler’s production last Sunday was that 40 of his 45 total snaps came as left defensive end or left outside linebacker, meaning he was consistently lined up on the right side of the offensive line. That sets up for plenty of one-on-one battles between Crosby and Joe Alt.
While the Chargers have issues on the offensive line, that’s entirely on the interior. Left tackle Rashawn Slater and right tackle Alt are excellent bookends who both excel in pass protection. For context, the latter is entering his third season and has yielded just 31 pressures on 815 opportunities in his career, per PFF. Los Angeles had plenty of issues in the trenches last week with quarterback Justin Herbert getting sacked three times, but the 2024 first-round pick wasn’t part of the problem, pitching a shutout as a pass blocker.
Crosby and Alt have seen each other before, but it’s been a couple of years. Alt battled injuries last season and only played in the first contest against the Raiders, lining up at left tackle after Slater suffered a season-ending injury in training camp. Meanwhile, Crosby only spent 10 out of 57 snaps on the right side of the defensive line (offense’s left) in that contest.
However, when the Notre Dame product made his NFL debut two years ago, he yielded just one pressure against the Raiders/Crosby, with the pass-rusher taking 32 of 57 snaps as a left end or outside backer. Crosby was on injured reserve during the second matchup that year.
That sets up for a noteworthy battle in the trenches.
Johnson vs. McConkey
For clarity, Ladd McConkey suffered a rib injury in Week 1 and is questionable for Sunday at the time of writing. But if he is on the field, the wideout should be the Raiders’ primary focus defensively.
In a contest where almost nothing was working for the Chargers’ offense last week, McConkey provided a glimmer of hope moving forward. He caught five passes for 82 yards and a touchdown before taking a hit that led to a rib injury and knocked him out of the game in the third quarter. That resulted in one of the most efficient outings for a wide receiver, as the third-year pro had the sixth-best yards per route run (4.56) among receivers with at least two targets, per PFF.
McConkey’s usage and production during the season opener were interesting. He spent 70 percent of pass snaps in the slot but recorded just two catches for 22 yards when lining up inside, according to PFF. His touchdown grab was from the slot; however, less than 30 percent of his yards came from that alignment.
That being said, expect Chargers offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel to test Raiders nickelback Taron Johnson with McConkey if the wideout plays.
Johnson has a second-team All-Pro bid on his resume and is a physical defender at the apex of Las Vegas’ defense. However, the nine-year veteran’s coverage skills haven’t been the same since he suffered an injury a couple of years ago. That showed up in the season opener when he was beaten in man coverage by Dolphins rookie receiver Caleb Douglas for a 30-yard catch.
To be fair, Johnson was targeted two other times, giving up one catch for a loss of a yard and the other was an incompletion. However, the other end of that is the incompletion was a drop that would have resulted in a first down.
So, if Las Vegas wants to slow down the only aspect of Los Angeles’ offense that was working last week, the nickelback has to be tighter in coverage.
Raiders OTs vs. Chargers EDGEs
Defensively, Los Angeles has a trio of intriguing edge rushers with Khalil Mack, Tuli Tuipulotu and Akheem Mesidor.
Mack isn’t nearly the same caliber of player he used to be, but he can still turn speed to power on the edge, collecting 39 pressures and 5.5 sacks on just 264 pass-rush snaps last year, per PFF. Tuipulotu is the up-and-comer who has a diverse pass-rush arsenal and is coming off a career year with 13 sacks and 70 pressures on 422 opportunities. Then there’s the rookie, Mesidor, who isn’t a typical first-year pro.
The 25-year-old had a quiet NFL debut last week with just one pressure and no sacks last week. However, he should be able to bounce back quickly since his age and extensive college experience can help ease the transition to the league. Coached by Hall of Fame pass-rusher Jason Taylor at the University of Miami, Mesidor had the best hand usage of any edge prospect in last year’s class, which was evident during his 12.5-sack performance in 2025.
Meanwhile, Las Vegas’ offensive tackle duo is coming off an excellent performance in the season opener. Neither Kolton Miller nor DJ Glaze surrendered a pressure to the Dolphins, per PFF. That wasn’t much of a surprise from Miller since he has a long track record of success as a blind side protector. But it is a dramatic improvement for Glaze, who struggled in pass pro during his first two years in the league. Of course, the 2024 third-round pick’s growth will be tested again on Sunday.
