Chargers make coaching change after historic blowout loss to Raiders

Giff Smith (X)

Ok. There is simply a lot to digest from the Las Vegas Raiders’s 63-21 clobbering over the Los Angeles Chargers last night. Both teams entered the games with identical records of five wins and eight losses. However, if you watched the game, you would never have expected that both franchises were three games below .500.

The Raiders had a dominant first half on Thursday. At the end of 30 minutes, Las Vegas had a 42-0 lead. Aiden O’Connell of Long Grove, Illinois threw four touchdown passes in under 20 minutes of action. Then in the second half, it was not O’Connell who threw a touchdown pass, but Jakobi Meyers of Lithonia, Georgia who found star wideout Davante Adams for a three-yard major score.

Then the Raiders had two second half touchdowns on defense. Defensive tackle John Jenkins of Meriden, Connecticut had a 44-yard fumble return at the end of the third quarter, and then 29 seconds later, defensive back Jack Jones of Long Beach, California waltzed into the end zone from an interception. It was like he knew what the Chargers were exactly trying to do before the football was even snapped.

The 63 points are the most points the Raiders have ever scored in a game. The 63 points are the most points that the Chargers have ever allowed in a game.

To no one’s surprise, the Chargers fired head coach Brandon Staley and general manager Tom Telesco after the game. Richard Sherman, who was working for Amazon Prime, thought the firing would come at halftime. The Chargers simply did not seem engaged in the contest.

However, the new Chargers interim head coach is a little puzzling because it is Chargers linebackers coach Giff Smith of Mableton, Georgia. The Chargers were awful defensively on Thursday, and to award an assistant coach who looks after an integral part of the defense seems just strange.

This is Smith’s first head coaching job. He was previously the defensive line coach of the Buffalo Bills (2010 to 2012), the Tennessee Titans (2014 to 2015), and the Chargers (2016 to 2021). Smith transitioned to outside linebackers at the start of the 2022 season. Meanwhile, the Chargers interim general manager is JoJo Wooden, who had spent since 2013 as the Chargers’s director of player personnel.