Los Angeles Chargers

Matchups to Watch: Oakland Raiders vs. San Diego Chargers

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 11:27 p.m. ET

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The Oakland Raiders look to move to 4-1 in Week 5, at home against the San Diego Chargers. Here are three matchups to watch.

After yet another win that required the Raiders to score late in the fourth quarter, and yet another win on the road, Oakland returns home hoping for a win with a little more breathing room in the box score.

But divisional games are always tough, as the opposing teams know each other very well.

Here are three matchups to watch in Week 5.

Oct 25, 2015; San Diego, CA, USA; Oakland Raiders defensive end Khalil Mack (52) and outside linebacker Ray-Ray Armstrong (57) look across the line during the second quarter against the San Diego Chargers at Qualcomm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports

Khalil Mack vs. King Dunlap

Khalil Mack has had a statistically quiet season thus far and up until two weeks ago, there wasn’t too much disruption either. Fortunately for Raider Nation, Mack is gearing back up after what looks like was simply a slow start.

Mack recorded his first sack of the season and forced pressure from where ever he lined up along the defensive line. He is back to his dominant self and is in a good situation to continue his dominance.

In his young career, Khalil Mack is yet to have a dominant game as a pass rusher against the Chargers — only recording one sack against San Diego in four games. A big reason for that is the play of King Dunlap. While Dunlap isn’t anymore than an average left tackle in the NFL, he has played well enough in matchups against Mack to stop him from becoming a runaway train.

Dunlap, of course, has had help facing Mack in the form of a quick-releasing QB, chip blocks, and the fact that Mack often rushed the passer off of the offense’s right side.

While Mack’s inefficiency against the Chargers is not merely the work of Dunlap alone, it will be interesting to see if Mack can break the trend and put Philip Rivers on the turf a couple of times.

Oct 25, 2015; San Diego, CA, USA; San Diego Chargers running back Melvin Gordon (28) runs the ball during the second half of the game against the Oakland Raiders at Qualcomm Stadium. Oakland won 37-29. Mandatory Credit: Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports

Cory James vs. Melvin Gordon

Cory James has elevated from relatively unknown to the savior of the defense.

Okay, that may be a bit of hyperbole, but the turnaround of Oakland’s defense from the worst in the league the first couple of weeks to respectable the last two weeks begins with the insertion of James into the middle of the defense.

James plays incredibly smart, recognizing screens, counters and cutbacks, he aggressively fills his gaps and is also smooth in pass coverage.

Melvin Gordon, on the other hand, did not have the stellar rookie season that James is experiencing thus far. In fact, during his rookie season, the former first-round pick didn’t even record a single touchdown.

Luckily for the Chargers this season, there has been an epiphany of sorts for Gordon as he is leading the league in total touchdowns with 6. Michael Crabtree is tied for fourth, with 4. Scoring TDs is nothing new to Gordon who scored 49 of them while at Wisconsin, before being picked 15th overall by the Chargers in 2015.

Gordon offers a unique challenge for James. He is an incredibly agile and quick athlete, the type of player that James never saw playing the Mountain West Conference last season.

Let’s not forget that with as well as James has been playing, this will only be his fifth NFL game and only his third start. Four starts ago, James was playing against Nevada in the Arizona Bowl.

While it is yet to be seen if Melvin Gordon is simply on a hot streak and preparing for a regression to the norm or if his first round skill is finally starting to develop, it will be no small feat for James to contain him.

Oct 2, 2016; Baltimore, MD, USA; Oakland Raiders running back DeAndre Washington (33) runs with the ball in the second quarter against the Baltimore Ravens at M&T Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Evan Habeeb-USA TODAY Sports

Jalen Richard and DeAndre Washington vs. Jatavis Brown and Denzel Perryman

The availability of veteran RB Latavius Murray is in doubt for Sunday’s matchup against the Chargers, due to a toe injury. Any time an athlete the caliber of Murray’s is out for a contest against a division rival, it is never a good thing.

If Murray is a no go for Sunday, it will be a great opportunity for the dynamic rookie running backs that have been backing Murray up.

Jalen Richard is a pure RB — he has phenomenal vision and football IQ, along with good speed and strength. Washington is more shifty, in the mold of Melvin Gordon. He offers more as a pass catcher than Richard and has incredible agility and quickness.

Both have shown flashes of incredible talent and they will need to step up.

Jatavis Brown has been phenomenal. A few months ago he was playing football for Akron, and this season he has a real shot at being the defensive rookie of the year. As cliche as it may sound, Brown is playing the way most of us thought Myles Jack would play.

Credit to fellow JBB contributor Tyler Dickson, who was high on Brown throughout the draft process. Brown has exceeded expectations as a fifth-round selection. He moves like a safety and plays the run like he is 40 lbs. heavier than he really is.

Denzel Perryman is a veteran LB at this point, who was doubted due to his “lack of athletic ability”, and to be honest, I was one of the detractors. But I have to admit that his play since joining the league has been great — he can hit HARD and is plenty proficient in coverage.

The pairing of Jatavis Brown with Denzel Perryman will give the Chargers a kind of “Thunder and Lightning” ILB pair for years to come. Both can do whatever you need and each can compensate for whatever the other may lack.

The Raiders RBs also offer a unique combination of pieces that are going to challenge the ILBs of the Chargers.

Perryman matches up well with Richard while Brown is the type of athlete that you need to cover Washington. The play of these two positional groups will be pivotal in the outcome of Sunday’s game.