Carson Palmer Helps Oakland Raiders Beat San Diego Chargers, 24-17
Carson Palmer passed for 299 yards and two touchdowns, and the Oakland Raiders beat the San Diego Chargers 24-17 on Thursday night. Palmer also committed two turnovers that helped San Diego stay in the game until its final minute, when the Raiders' Tommy Kelly sacked Chargers' quarterback Philip Rivers, and Lamarr Houston recovered the fumble for Oakland to end the game.
Rivers was sacked six times by the Raiders' defense, including four times by Kamerion Wimbley. Rivers also committed two turnovers to raise his league-leading total to 19.
Given an increased role in the Raiders' offense because of a foot injury to featured back Darren McFadden, running back Michael Bush carried 30 times for 157 yards and a touchdown, and he caught three passes for 85 yards for Oakland (5-4).
With Bush pounding away at the Chargers' defense, Oakland took a commanding 17-3 lead into halftime on the strength of touchdowns by Bush and Denarius Moore and a field goal from Sebastian Janikowski.
The teams traded touchdowns early in the third quarter, with Vincent Brown scoring on a terrific, leaping catch of a 30-yard Rivers' pass for San Diego (4-5). Moore followed suit on a 26-yard toss from Palmer less than three minutes later.
The Chargers scored again at the end of the third quarter on a 7-yard touchdown catch by Jacob Hester. The TD came just a few plays after Palmer fumbled when he was sacked by San Diego's Antwan Barnes. Neither team scored in the final quarter.
Rivers finished with 274 yards passing and two touchdowns for San Diego, with most of it coming in the second half. Brown had five catches for 97 yards for the Chargers. Moore added five receptions for 123 yards and the two touchdowns for the Raiders, who moved into first place of the AFC West as a result of the win.