Oakland Raiders: Injury to Long Snapper Jon Condo Spells Disaster in 22-14 Defeat to San Diego Chargers

Long snapper is the least glamorous position in the NFL, but the Oakland Raiders found out how much the position is taken for granted in their 22-14 loss to the San Diego Chargers on Monday night in the season opener. When two time Pro Bowl selection Jon Condo left the game with a head injury in the second quarter, the Raiders chances of victory left with him.

Travis Goethel replaced Condo as the long snapper, but had not preformed those duties on a consistent basis since he was in high school. As a result the Raiders botched two punt snaps and had another punt blocked. All the miscues led to Chargers points.

“We’ll look at that tomorrow and we’ll find out what options we have available to us,” Raiders head coach Dennis Allen said on the long snapping duties. “We’re going to make sure we have somebody that can handle those duties.”

Oakland' started the game off moving the ball with a heavy dose of running back Darren McFadden, who finished with a career high 13 receptions and 118 combined rushing and receiving yards. On their first drive, the Raiders moved 48 yards into Chargers territory, but rookie wide receiver Rod Streater fumbled when a helmet jarred the ball from his hands. On their second drive the Raiders again moved the ball, but settled for a Sebastian Janikowski 51 yard field goal to take a 3-0 lead.
The Raiders defense played very well allowing only 32 rushing yards. Considering they were put into terrible circumstances all day with horrible punting mistakes, the defense held the Chargers to five field goals and just one . The only serious blemish the defense had was allowing a 13 play, 90 yard touchdown drive that gave the Chargers a 10-3 lead in the second quarter. Defensive tackle Tommy Kelly picked up two offsides penalties, both on third down, that aided the Chargers scoring.

“Well, we have to eliminate the self-inflicted wounds,” Allen said. “That’s the thing that has hurt us in the preseason and obviously hurt us tonight and we’ve got to find a way to get those things eliminated because really, when you look at it, we did some good things in the game. Defensively, I thought we played really pretty well.”

Amassing 321 total yards of offense and out-gaining the Chargers 321 to 258, the Raiders did have problems finishing drives with touchdowns. Quarterback Carson Palmer was effective at times finishing 32-46 for 297 yards and one touchdown. However, he was unable to stretch the Chargers defense vertically and mostly checked the ball to McFadden. New offensive coordinator Greg Knapp made some questionable play calls throughout the day. He will have to open it up for the Raiders to have success this season.

“But I think that when we look at the film we’re going to realize that we put ourselves in some difficult spots with the turnover and some negative plays and made it a lot more difficult than it needed to be,” Palmer said. “When it comes down to it, we didn’t score enough points on offense. Fourteen points is not enough against that offense.”

The Raiders first drive of the third quarter marked the turning point in the game. After forcing the Chargers to go three and out on their first series and trailing 10-6, the Raiders took over looking to take back momentum with a score. The offense stalled and was forced to punt. Goethel dribbled the snap to punter Shane Lechler, who could not handle it to get a punt away. The Chargers took over at the Raiders 39, but were held to a field goal.

“Coach asked if anyone knew how to long snap, and I was the only one at camp that stood up so that’s kind of how I got put in there,” Goethel said.

One the next series the Raiders went three and out. Their punt was blocked as Dante Rosario came right up the middle and blocked the ball on Lechler's foot. This time the Chargers took over at the Oakland 8. The Raiders defense again held the Chargers to a field goal and kept the offense within striking distance at 16-6.
Early in the fourth quarter now trailing 19-6, it was deja vu for the Raiders as Goethel bounced a snap that Lechler couldn't handle. The Chargers took possession for the third time in Raiders territory, this time at the 42 yard line. For the third time, the Raiders defense was forced to play defense from its own side of the 50 and for the third time they held the Chargers to a field goal.
The Raiders offense would finally get into the end zone late in the fourth. The drive covered 80 yards on 12 plays and was capped off when Palmer hit Streater on a slant for a two yard touchdown and first of his career. The Raiders added the two point conversion when Palmer found Streater again, closing the gap to 22-14 with 54 seconds remaining. Janikowski tried to blasted an onside kick at the Chargers feet but it was recovered and the Raiders took the loss.