Week 1, September 4th, 1988, San Diego Chargers @ Los Angeles Raiders

Sunday, September 4th, 1988 4:00PM
San Diego Chargers (0-0) @ Los Angeles Raiders (0-0)
Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
Weather: 82 degrees, relative humidity 45%, wind 8 mph
Line: Los Angeles -6 (san diego), O/U 41 (under)

Attendance:  39,029 (65,000)

Los Angeles Raiders 10, San Diego 13 (OT)

A beautiful Southern California afternoon and a sparse crowd greeted the 1988 season for the Raiders and Chargers.  The game was a hard hitting tight affair and every last second was needed to determine a victor.  

The teams exchanged 3-and-outs on the first 2 possessions.  he Raiders took only 3 plays on the 3rd possession to suffer an untimely Marcus Allen fumble recovered by Billy Ray Smith, who recovered 2 fumbles in the game.  The Chargers failed to capitalize though as Fullback Tim Spencer was stuffed for no gain by Raider DE Mike Wise at the Raider 33.

Chargers head coach Al Saunders protests a ball spot n the 1st quarter

The very next play the Raiders went for a deep pass from Steve Beuerlein intended for Tim Brown but it was intercepted by Charger Safety Vencie Glenn.  The Chargers went 3 and out once again.  The Raiders finally were able to put something together on offense, highlighted by Marcus Allen's 30 yard reception and a Tim Brown 13 yarder.  The efforts were wasted though as kicker Chris Bahr missed a 44 yard field goal and a chance to draw first blood.

The Chargers were able to capitalize on the next possession which ran into the second quarter.  Anthony Miller's (4-53 1TD) 29 yard reception on 3rd down moved the ball into Raider territory and they were able to drind the ball to the 5 yard line, providing Steve Deline with a 22 yard chip-shot to take a 3-0 lead which would hold until halftime.  Not before the Chris Bahr missed another field goal try for the Raiders, this time from 32 yards.   Babe Laufenberg also fumbled away a scoring opportunity at the Raider 7 with :30 remaining.

Players on both teams lost their cool at various points.  The Chargers almost let it get the best of them, being flagged for 15 penalties for 126 yards.

The teams opened up the half exchanging punts until the midpoint of the 3rd quarter, when Steve Beuerlein and Marcus Allen (20-75 1TD) were able to finally orchestrate a Raider scoring drive.  A mix of passing and running kept the Chargers at their heels and they were softened up enough to allow a 2 yard Marcus Allen touchdown run for a 7-3 Raider lead.

The teams again exchanged punts until the 4th quarter, when the Chargers had an opportunity.  Flanker Jamie Holland (4-75) caught a deep post pass to the Raider 11, and on the next play, Laufenberg and Miller connected again for the touchdown pass to put the Chargers up 10-7 with 8:05 left.  

On the next drive, well into Charger territory, Steve Beuerlein was sacked by Joe Phillips who forced a fumble, and Billy Ray Smith recovered for the Chargers.

Marcus Allen reaches for a 2 yard touchdown in the 3rd quarter

The Raiders were able to force a punt and got the ball at the 34 with 3:31 remaining.  They were able to move the ball, and converted on a 4th and 6 with a 17 yard pass to James Lofton (3-43), which brought the Raiders solidly in field goal range at the Charger 16.  Chris Bahr would hit a 27 yard field goal to tie the game at 10-10 with :37 left, which ultimately sent the contest into overtime.

Fittingly, the teams exchanged punts to start the overtime period, and as drives stalled out, first Chris Bahr missed a 50 yard field goal attempt, and Steve DeLine missed his chance to win it with a 53 yard attempt.  On the ensuing drive, the Raiders got the ball in field goal range again, but Joe Phillips came up with another huge sack and the Raiders would punt, pinning the Chargers on the 10 yard line with 1:59 to go until the tie.

Gary Anderson received the ball on the next 8 plays (1 nullified by offsetting penalties) for 57 yards.  This set up a 19 yard pass play to Jamie Holland who ran out of bounds with 8 seconds left in overtime.  Steve Deline nailed the 36 yard field goal for the Chargers win.

Player of the Game

Gary W. Anderson - Chargers

Anderson took the Chargers on his shoulders with 57 yards on the game-winning drive.  He had 31 carries for 127 yards total and 1 catch for 7 yards.

1988 San Diego 13, 1988 Los Angeles AFC 10
	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	OT	Total
1988 San Diego	0	3	0	7	3	13
1988 Los Angeles AFC	0	0	7	3	0	10

Scoring Plays
Qtr	Clock	Poss	Scoring Description(Extra Point)	Score
2	12:19	1988 San Diego	S.DeLine 22 yd. field goal	3-0 SDA
3	3:36	1988 Los Angeles AFC	M.Allen 2 yd. run (C.Bahr kick)	7-3 LAA
4	8:05	1988 San Diego	A.Miller 11 yd. pass from B.Laufenberg (S.DeLine kick)	10-7 SDA
4	0:30	1988 Los Angeles AFC	C.Bahr 27 yd. field goal	10-10 LAA
5	0:01	1988 San Diego	S.DeLine 36 yd. field goal	13-10 SDA

Team Statistics
	1988 San Diego	1988 Los Angeles AFC
First Downs by Rush-Pass-Pen-Total	9-9-1-19	8-10-3-21
Third Down Efficiency	6-19-32%	3-15-20%
Fourth Down Efficiency	0-1-0%	1-1-100%
Red Zone Efficiency (pts-poss-pct)	13-28-46%	10-21-48%
Total Offense-Plays-Avg Yards Per Play	378-81-4.7	331-77-4.3
Total Net Yards Rushing	194	146
Total Rushes	46	38
Average Per Rush	4.2	3.8
Passes Completed/Attempted	15/34 (44.1%)	17/35 (48.6%)
Net Yards Passing	184	185
Avg Yards Per Pass	5.6	5.9
Sacked/Yards Lost	1/6	4/23
Punts/Average	9/46.0	6/38.2
Punts Received/Return Yardage	3/4	6/51
Kickoffs/Returns	2/40	2/27
Interceptions/Returns	1/0	1/20
Penalties/Yards	15/126	5/30
Total Fumbles/Fumbles Lost	3/1	6/3
Time of Possession	39 mins 59 secs	34 mins 53 secs
Average Drive Start	SDA 25	LAA 30

Passing Stats
	Att	Comp	Yds	Comp %	Yds/Att	TD	TD %	INT	INT %	Long	Sack	Rating
1988 San Diego
Babe Laufenberg	34	15	190	44.1	5.6	1	2.9	1	2.9	31	1/6	59.7
1988 Los Angeles AFC
Steve Beuerlein	35	17	208	48.6	5.9	0	0	1	2.9	30	4/23	55.4

Rushing Stats
	No	Yds	Avg	Long	TD	2 Pt Conv	Fumbles/Lost
1988 San Diego
Gary W. Anderson	31	126	4.1	16	0	0	1/0
Tim Spencer	6	20	3.3	6	0	0	0/0
Babe Laufenberg	4	16	4.0	9	0	0	1/1
Curtis Adams	3	21	7.0	13	0	0	0/0
Lionel James	2	11	5.5	6	0	0	0/0
1988 Los Angeles AFC
Marcus Allen	20	75	3.8	32	1	0	2/1
Bo Jackson	14	39	2.8	15	0	0	0/0
Steve A. Smith	3	25	8.3	15	0	0	0/0
Steve Beuerlein	1	7	7.0	7	0	0	2/0

Receiving Stats
	No	Yds	Avg	Long	TD	2 Pt Conv
1988 San Diego
Anthony Miller	4	53	13.3	29	1	0
Jamie Holland	4	75	18.8	31	0	0
Rod Bernstine	2	18	9.0	12	0	0
Quinn Early	1	10	10.0	10	0	0
Darren Flutie	1	5	5.0	5	0	0
Arthur Cox	1	14	14.0	14	0	0
Gary W. Anderson	1	7	7.0	7	0	0
Lionel James	1	8	8.0	8	0	0
1988 Los Angeles AFC
Marcus Allen	4	55	13.8	30	0	0
Tim Brown	4	33	8.3	13	0	0
James Lofton	3	43	14.3	17	0	0
Mervyn Fernandez	3	50	16.7	23	0	0
Todd Christensen	2	11	5.5	7	0	0
Steve A. Smith	1	16	16.0	16	0	0

Field Goals
	1-19	20-29	30-39	40-49	50+	Totals	% Made
1988 San Diego
Steve DeLine	0/0	1/1	1/1	0/0	0/1	2/3	66.7
1988 Los Angeles AFC
Chris Bahr	0/0	1/1	0/1	0/1	0/1	1/4	25.0

Punting
	No	Avg	Net	Tb	Inside 20	Long	Blocked
1988 San Diego
Ralf Mojsiejenko	9	46.0	38.1	1	2	59	0
1988 Los Angeles AFC
Jeff Gossett	6	38.2	37.5	0	3	45	0

Kickoff Returns
	No	Yds	Avg	Long	TD
1988 San Diego
Anthony Miller	1	20	20.0	20	0
Jamie Holland	1	20	20.0	20	0
1988 Los Angeles AFC
Stefon Adams	1	16	16.0	16	0
Tim Brown	1	11	11.0	11	0

Punt Returns
	Ret	FC	Yds	Avg	Long	TD
1988 San Diego
Lionel James	3	1	4	1.3	6	0
1988 Los Angeles AFC
Tim Brown	6	1	51	8.5	15	0

Individual Defense
	Tackles	Sacks	Fum Rec
1988 San Diego
Billy Ray Smith Jr.	12	0	2
Cedric Figaro	10	0	0
Keith Browner	6	0	0
Lee Williams	6	1	0
Martin Bayless	6	0	0
Joe Phillips	4	3	0
Vencie Glenn	4	0	0
Leslie O'Neal	3	0	0
Sam Seale	3	0	0
Mike Charles	2	0	0
Patrick Miller	1	0	0
Gill Byrd	1	0	1
Tim Spencer	0	0	1
Anthony Miller	0	0	1
1988 Los Angeles AFC
Linden King	9	0	0
Matt Millen	9	0	0
Rod Martin	6	0	0
Jerry D. Robinson	6	0	0
Stacey Toran	5	0	0
Mike Haynes	4	0	0
Greg Townsend	4	0	0
Russell Carter	4	0	0
Vann McElroy	3	0	0
Ron Fellows	3	0	0
Scott M. Davis	2	1	0
Bill Pickel	2	0	1
Mike Wise	2	0	0
Reggie McKenzie	1	0	0
Bill Lewis	0	0	1
Charley Hannah	0	0	1
Marcus Allen	0	0	1

Interceptions
	No	Yds	Avg	Long	TD
1988 San Diego
Vencie Glenn	1	0	0.0	0	0
1988 Los Angeles AFC
Ron Fellows	1	20	20.0	20	0

Game Story

It was a disheartening defeat for the home team, as the visiting team from San Diego edged Los Angeles AFC by the score of 13 to 10. Gary W. Anderson rushed the ball 31 times for 126 yards. San Diego had the advantage in time of possession, having the ball for 39:59. Los Angeles AFC led after three quarters 7 to 3. Despite losing, Los Angeles AFC controlled the ball for 34:53.