3 winners (and 3 losers) from the Chargers' Week 1 victory over the Raiders

It was a great wire-to-wire effort as the LA Chargers had one of the team's top defensive performances in recent memory against the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 1. Jesse Minter's unit popped from the start with key run stops and pass pressures that kept LA in the game until the Bolts' offense started to click.

While it wasn't pretty for the offense, Justin Herbert and company settled down in the second half enough to get back in the game.

In Joe Alt's rookie debut, the fifth-overall pick allowed zero pressures from Maxx Crosby. There were certainly some things to work on (HC Jim Harbaugh mentioned the penalties himself), but it was a decent enough start.

Let's dive into the winners and losers.

Winners and losers from Chargers' Week 1 win over Raiders:

Winner: Joey Bosa

The Chargers have waited years to see what a defensive line built around Joey Bosa and Khalil Mack could look like when healthy. Bosa has unfortunately missed a decent amount of time in recent seasons and wasn't quite himself while fighting through injuries.

But Sunday was a truly transcendent performance from the Chargers' longest tenured player. Bosa had three pressures, a sack, two QB hits and a forced fumble.

Those numbers don't feel like they do Bosa justice either. He was better than that. He was involved in a couple of big run stops as well, particularly setting the tone early in that game on the first drive.

As we've seen in recent seasons, a healthy Bosa just makes for a different defense. In what might've been his most complete effort since 2020 or 2021, the impact he had on the outcome of this game cannot be overstated.

Loser: Zion Johnson

It just should've looked better than it did for the entire offensive line in the first half. Zion Johnson got badly beaten on a couple of Raiders' stunts that really had the Chargers scratching their heads.

The interior line as a whole played much better in the second half. But it didn't really feel like Johnson was at the forefront of that turnaround in the way that Trey Pipkins or Bradley Bozeman was.

Johnson lead the team in pressures allowed with three.

If the offensive line is going to take a step forward this season, they need their first round pick with that kind of potential to play up to his best level more consistently.

Winner: J.K. Dobbins

I certainly didn't have 10 carries for 135 yards and a score on my J.K. Dobbins bingo card this week. As Greg Roman said they would earlier this week, the Chargers wound up riding with the hot hand. After Dobbins and Gus Edwards struggled to gain ground early on, the burst at the line of scrimmage really showed for the former second-round pick in the last two quarters.

Dobbins grabbed a stranglehold of RB1 today. Whether he'll keep that for the entire season remains to be seen. But opposing teams having to gameplan significantly for Dobbins as a threat would be a huge boost for the Chargers offense.

Loser: Josh Palmer

It didn't really look all that great for anyone in the receiver room but it looked worse for Joshua Palmer, who came into this game as the team's projected WR1. It just never felt like that level of impact was there for most of the game.

Palmer had just four targets as he ended up trailing Ladd McConkey and Quentin Johnston in that department. He had just one first down in addition to two drops he'd like to have back (even if they were slightly behind him on passes from Herbert).

Palmer will have plenty of opportunities to ball out over the course of the season, but the routes and urgency just felt a touch slower than they needed to be today

Winner: Joe Alt

Coming in and having to deal with Maxx Crosby and the Raiders' versatility on the line as a whole is far from an easy ask for a rookie. Joe Alt allowed just one pressure on the day at right tackle. In 11 pass-blocking reps vs. Crosby, Alt allowed no pressures.

It wasn't a perfect game from Alt. Christian Wilkins made sure he had a welcome to the NFL moment in the first half. But the Chargers got maybe the best game they could possibly ask for from their first-round selection. If Rashawn Slater and Alt can be elite bookends from the jump over the first half of this season, the immediate ceiling for the offensive line could be incredibly high.

Loser: The Chargers' TEs

Hayden Hurst came up with a big reception later in the game to be fair. But it didn't feel like Will Dissly or Hurst attacked the game quite like the Chargers' offense intended. Dissly had three penalties from the jump that set the Chargers' offense back. Eric Tomlinson also committed a pre-snap violation early on.

LA's tight-end group simply has to contribute more in the receiving game in addition to being more consistent from the blocking and penalties standpoints. For as much football as Dissly has played in particular, this was a bit of a rough outing for him procedurally.