Raiders pummeling Rams takes some shine out of Chargers' preseason win

It took seven games but Brandon Staley finally won a preseason game as the head coach of the LA Chargers, defeating the LA Rams 34-17 in the first week of the preseason. While preseason outcomes do not matter at all, they are still a good indication of the depth of the team as well as how smoothly the operation is running.

There were several promising standouts from the Chargers' preseason win over the Rams that got fans excited for Week 2 of the preseason against the Saints. The hope is that the team can build on this momentum and carry it all the way into the regular season.

While the team undoubtedly looked good, it may have had more to do with the opponent being subpar. The LA Rams hosted the Las Vegas Raiders on Saturday night the following week and suffered the exact same fate: a 34-17 loss.

Raiders pummeling Rams take some shine off of Chargers' preseason win

This does not mean that the Raiders are as good of a football team as the Chargers (because on paper they are far behind). However, it does mean that maybe we should pump the brakes a tad on some of the performances from Week 1 of the preseason until the Chargers can do it again against another team.

One of the biggest winners for the Chargers against the Rams was Easton Stick, who finally looked like a legitimate QB2 that could come in the game and keep the Chargers afloat if needed. While it was very promising, the Raiders also enjoyed a lot of passing success. Rookie Aidan O'Connell completed 11 of 18 passes for 163 yards and two touchdowns. Jimmy Garoppolo did not throw an incompletion. Even Brian Hoyer played well.

Vegas also averaged an asinine 19.4 yards per punt return against the Rams. That is an indication that the Rams have a very bad special teams unit, which may have played into Derius Davis finding the endzone on a punt return in his first taste of NFL action.

This does not mean that Chargers fans should be selling stock on the team, especially since it is mostly backups we are talking about. If anything, it is a reminder that sometimes things in the preseason get over-hyped and it might have more to do with the opponent than the team itself.

Fans will get a better indication of how the Chargers truly look when they take on the Saints on Sunday evening.