Raiders' Brawl With Chargers Proved Togetherness Amongst Defense, Still Unacceptable

The Las Vegas Raiders defense's scrum with the Los Angeles Chargers' offense confirmed the unit's brotherhood. However, Coach Antonio Pierce still believes the team must play smarter.

Sep 8, 2024; Inglewood, California, USA; Los Angeles Chargers wide receivers Joshua Palmer (5), Ladd McConkey (15) and Quentin Johnston (1) and Las Vegas Raiders safety Marcus Epps (1) and wide receiver Jaylen Johnson (39) fight as back judge Terrence Miles (111) intervenes in the second half at SoFi Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

The Las Vegas Raiders lost to the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday on the road.

However, along with the many things that went wrong for the Silver and Black on Sunday, there was also a noteworthy brawl between the Raiders’ defense and Chargers' offense during the fourth quarter after the game had gotten out of hand. 

After a play by the Chargers’ offense resulted in one of their players attacking Marcus Epps after the play ended, Epps’ teammates quickly came to his defense. What started as a fight between two players rapidly escalated into a battle between the entire Chargers’ offense and the Raiders’ defense. Raiders’ defensive lineman Christian Wilkins said players must handle themselves correctly when fights happen.

"It's definitely like you don't ever really want stuff like that to happen,” Wilkins said. “You hope it doesn't happen, and if anything like that does happen, you hope it's handled it the right way and that it's separated as quick, fast as possible. But yeah, sometimes things like that just happen. 

“It is football, sometimes when you've got all these alpha males out there, there's going to be those situations, but when they happen, like I said, you just try to handle them the best way possible and just get it off the field, end it and move on."

Raiders coach Antonio Pierce echoed similar sentiments, saying that while he appreciated his players sticking up for one another, it is up to the players not to let things get out of control and potentially cost themselves money with fines or cost the team with suspensions.

Pierce said it is now up to the NFL to decide how to handle the matter.

“We don't want to be that team,” he said. “And, again, the history of the Raiders has always been that team, but we don't want to have that. Our guys just got to be careful. Again, I love protecting one another and going to battle for one another, but if you throw punches or anything like that, you're in the wrong sport." 

It is unclear if any suspensions will result from Sunday’s fight between the Raiders’ defense and the Chargers’ offense. However, Pierce and the Raiders hope the NFL decides against severe action, as the fight was simply two division rivals in a heated early-season matchup.

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