Former Chargers help Raiders’ defense eliminate ex-team

Darius Philon spent the first four years of his career with the Chargers after the organization drafted him out of Arkansas in 2015.

The Raiders defensive tackle played a key role in ending his former team’s season Sunday.

Philon blew up the interior of the Chargers’ offensive line on a fourth-and-1 play from their 18-yard line midway through the third quarter and made a tackle on Austin Ekeler to give the Raiders the ball in great field position and set up a field goal.

Philon also had made a stop on Ekeler for no gain on the third-down play and wreaked havoc on the line of scrimmage throughout the game before he was carted off late with an injury.

He wasn’t alone in exacting revenge on his former team. Philon was one of several former Chargers to shine for the Raiders’ defense in a 35-32 overtime victory at Allegiant Stadium that put the Raiders in the playoffs and dashed the Chargers’ hopes.

Denzel Perryman, who spent his first six seasons with the Chargers, made his first Pro Bowl this year in his debut season with the Raiders. He finished with a team-high nine tackles Sunday.

On Philon’s fourth-down stop, safety Roderic Teamer was there to help clean up the play and make sure Ekeler couldn’t escape.

He was another ex-Chargers player who was brought to the Raiders to reunite with former Chargers defensive coordinator Gus Bradley.

Cornerbacks Brandon Facyson and Casey Hayward made big plays in coverage against their former team as the Chargers mounted a rally.

Facyson had seven tackles, and Hayward had an interception of Justin Herbert early in the fourth quarter.

Make them count

Wide receiver Hunter Renfrow was held to a season-low 13 yards, but his impact was massive.

Two of Renfrow’s four catches went for touchdowns as he had his first multi-TD game of the season.

He’s fourth in the NFL with nine touchdown catches in the red zone, trailing Cooper Kupp, Davante Adams and Stefon Diggs.

Home cooking

Quarterback Derek Carr credited the fans for creating what he called the best atmosphere of the season.

“This one blew (the Denver game) out of the water,” Carr said of what he thought had been the best home crowd. “It felt like a playoff game. All the guys that have been there said the same thing. It was great to see not many light blue jerseys in the stand.”

Carr expressed joy at the Raiders’ perseverance to battle through off-field adversity and make the playoffs.

He suggested Disney make a movie about it and volunteered to play interim coach Rich Bisaccia.

“It was a fun one to win, especially at home, and I’m glad it’s so close to my house because I’m going to go home and sleep,” he said.

Avoiding history

The Raiders pulled out a last-second thriller, but a loss would have been historic.

They were 80-0 since 1991 when leading by 15 or more points in the fourth quarter and had won 23 straight games when leading by at least 12 in the final period.

All teams had just three wins out of 1,470 occurrences in the past 15 seasons when trailing by at least 15 points in the final 15 minutes.

The Raiders also entered Sunday having won 14 straight games when leading by at least 10 points at any time in the game and were 18-5 when leading at halftime the past three seasons.

The Chargers were the first team to convert at least six fourth-down attempts in a game since at least 1991.

Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on Twitter.