4 intriguing Chargers matchups to watch for in Week 1 vs. Raiders

It's finally time for some LA Chargers football as the 2024 season will kick off at home against the Las Vegas Raiders. Let's take a look at four of the most intriguing matchups to keep an eye on for this first game of the season.

Khalil Mack vs. his former team

If there's one thing Khalil Mack loves doing it's playing against the team that drafted him. He's played in six career games versus the Raiders and he's gone for:

• 10 tackles for loss
• 10 QB hits
• Three pass deflections
• Three forced fumbles
• One fumble recovery
• 10 sacks

It's so crucial for the Chargers to make a strong statement on defense for this opening game of 2024 after everything that went on with the previous administration on that side of the ball. They're going to need themselves a breakout performer to kickstart their 2024 campaign. No. 52 is as prime a candidate as anyone.

Week 4 of last season was especially great for Mack against these Raiders as he tallied five tackles for loss, one pass deflection, two forced fumbles, and SIX sacks in the Chargers' 24-17 victory.

The past history is in Mack's favor. He's got the matchup he wants with a weaker Raiders O-line, especially on their right side. One has to imagine Week 1 will be a big performance for the eight-time Pro Bowler.

Chargers' secondary vs. Davante Adams

The Chargers had one of the worst secondaries in football last year based on passing yards per game allowed (249.8). Now they have a new scheme in place with an exciting young defensive coordinator at the helm, so it's going to be interesting to see the improvements that are made.

They have their hands full in this first matchup, though, facing Davante Adams- one of the more crafty route-runners in the sport who's gone off the last two years facing the Bolts:

• 2022 Week 1: 10 catches, 141 yards, 1 TD
• 2022 Week 13: 8 catches, 177 yards, 2 TDs
• 2023 Week 4: 8 catches, 75 yards
• 2023 Week 15: 8 catches, 101 yards, 1 TD

Adams has been an elite receiver in this league since 2016 and he's posted four-straight thousand-yard seasons coming into 2024. Hopefully, the revamped look of the Chargers secondary can do a better job of slowing him down than the previous versions of this unit did the last two years.

Jesse Minter vs. Luke Getsy

The hopeful turnaround of the Chargers' defense is going to be led by their brand new defensive coordinator Jesse Minter, who's fresh off a National Championship alongside Jim Harbaugh. He'll be kicking his NFL career off by facing the Raiders offense led by new offensive coordinator, Luke Getsy.

Getsy was with the Bears as their offensive coordinator for the last two years. Just before that, he was a combination of the quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator in Green Bay with the Packers from 2019 to 2021. He is someone with experience coaching both quality quarterback play (Green Bay) and subpar quarterback play (Chicago).

The last two seasons in Chicago with Justin Fields were not great for him. He looked awfully conservative and, quite frankly, timid in his play-calling. Perhaps that was due to him not trusting Justin Fields. Perhaps he just didn't rise to the occasion in his first OC job at the NFL level.

The thing to pay attention to with him, though, is his conservative style of calling plays. There were a lot of runs in Chicago, naturally, with a quarterback as gifted as Fields is in the run game. There was also a lot of running in Green Bay to set up the pass; unsurprising when the RB1 is someone as good as Aaron Jones. If Getsy is going to bring that same philosophy to Vegas, that could be an offensive scheme Jesse Minter can take advantage of, especially in his first-ever NFL game.

It's a straightforward, run-first type of offense for the Raiders going up against what is shaping up to be a more aggressive, closer-to-the-line-of-scrimmage type of defense for Minter and the Chargers. Hopefully, the edge in such a matchup will go in the Chargers' direction, especially if the defense can find success early.

Joe Alt vs. Maxx Crosby

Finally, it's the matchup everybody is waiting for on both sides of this game. Perhaps it will even be the deciding factor in who walks away with the W. It's one of the top pass rushers in the game today in Maxx Crosby going against one of the most highly-touted rookie tackles over the past decade in Notre Dame's Joe Alt.

Crosby has 27 sacks over the past two seasons and 52 in total over the course of his five-year career. He's been a Pro Bowler in three straight seasons and has led the league in tackles for loss in back-to-back years.

This is a top-three pass rusher in all of football these days, perhaps even the best depending on who you ask. Putting him in front of a rookie tackle in his first NFL game, regardless of who it is, is a daunting task at the very least.

Can Alt handle the pressure? We will soon find out. But it's worth noting that a coach of Jim Harbaugh's caliber was so quick to draft Alt and place him at the starting right tackle position on day one. If there was ever a rookie tackle to put in front of Maxx Crosby for his NFL debut, Alt might just be the guy up for the challenge.

It's going to be a critical matchup, especially if this game is close late. Hopefully, we're going to see why Alt was hyped up the way he was coming out of college.