FLASH RECAP:
LaDainian Tomlinson rushes for 198 yards and four touchdowns to lead San Diego (3-3) to a victory over Oakland (2-3) before an announced crowd of 65,523 at Qualcomm Stadium on Oct. 14, 2007.
The Raiders' Daunte Culpepper is intercepted twice, loses a fumble and is sacked six times as San Diego beats Oakland for an eighth consecutive time.
The Raiders drop their 16th straight game against AFC West opposition.
Tomlinson scores on runs of 3, 27, 13 and 41 yards. His fourth touchdown seals victory with 2:35 left.
The Raiders score on Thomas Howard’s 66-yard interception return and Zach Miller’s 1-yard catch.
PRIME-TIME PLAYERS:
RB LaDainian Tomlinson — Rushes for 198 yards and four touchdowns. It's L.T.'s eighth career 100-yard rushing performance against the Raiders, all Chargers victories. During the winning streak, Tomlinson has rushed for 1,142 yards and 12 touchdowns, while also catching one TD pass and throwing two.
OLB Shawne Merriman — Has 2½ sacks and six total tackles.
OLB Shaun Phillips — Has two sacks, a forced fumble and nine total tackles.
CB Quentin Jammer — Saves a game-tying touchdown by tackling Ronald Curry at the 1 after a 31-yard catch late in the first half. Two plays later, Daunte Culpepper coughs up a fumble at the San Diego 11.
LB Thomas Howard — Returns a Phillip Rivers pass 66 yards for a second-quarter touchdown, narrowing the Raiders' deficit to 14-7.
TE Zach Miller — Contributes three catches for 17 yards and a touchdown. Miller catches a 1-yard TD pass with 5:18 left, trimming the San Diego lead to 21-14.
SS Michael Huff — Holds Chargers TE Antonio Gates to three catches for 58 yards. Gates entered the game with 40 catches, second best in the league.
WR Ronald Curry — Has six catches for 73 yards.
GOAT:
Raiders offensive line. Daunte Culpepper is sacked six times, Oakland has a season-low 53 rushing yards (140 off its season average) and it doesn’t score an offensive touchdown until 5:18 left in the fourth quarter.
KEY STATS:
The Raiders have only 53 rushing yards on 23 carries (a 2.3 yards average). They enter the game leading the league in rushing offense at 194.3 yards per game.
Seven of Oakland's eight penalties are on its offensive line: holding three times, false starts twice and one clipping.
TURNING POINT:
LaDainian Tomlinson scores on touchdown runs of 3 and 27 yards in the first quarter as the Chargers take a commanding 14-0 lead. Oakland controls the ball for only 4:37 of the first quarter.
THEY SAID IT:
Chargers RB LaDainian Tomlinson
"The offensive line was jacked up. That last offensive drive was beautiful. I don't think you can script it better."
"We played the way bad teams play. It's easy to see how the game got out of hand. We were lucky it wasn't worse."
Raiders coach Lane Kiffin
"We learned if you don’t get into a rhythm early in the game it’s tough to fight back against what is, obviously, a really good football team. They got up on us early. It’s tough to fight to get out of the hole. We made too many mistakes early."We played the way bad teams play. It's easy to see how the game got out of hand. We were lucky it wasn't worse."
Raiders QB Daunte Culpepper
BY THE NUMBERS:
4: Interceptions by Raiders LB Thomas Howard the past four games.
6: Sacks by San Diego, which had just 10 sacks in its first five games this season.
8: LaDainian Tomlinson 100-yard rushing performances against the Raiders, all Chargers victories.
16: LaDainian Tomlinson touchdowns in 13 career games against Oakland.
16: Consecutive Raiders losses against AFC West opposition.
DID YOU KNOW?:
With four touchdowns, the Chargers' LaDainian Tomlinson moves into a tie with Jim Brown for fourth place on the NFL's career list for rushing touchdowns with 106. Tomlinson passed John Riggins, who had 104 rushing TDs.
Chargers coach Norv Turner is 1-0 against the Raiders. Turner was 0-4 against the Chargers as Raiders coach in 2004 and 2005.
Chargers RB LaDainian Tomlinson (21)
picks up yards against the Raiders.
