Silver And Black Pride
At 1-3, the Las Vegas Raiders’ season is hanging on by a thread heading into the Week 5 matchup against the Indianapolis Colts. The Raiders have backed themselves into a corner where Sunday feels like a “must-win”. But first, let’s get to this week’s mailbag.
Q: Without grading on a curve or mercy, what overall grade do you give the Raiders for the first quarter of the season? Better yet, why that grade?
A: If we’re not using a curve, it has to be a D.
Las Vegas is sitting toward the bottom of the NFL standings and just lost back-to-back winnable games, facing the Commanders with a backup quarterback and a Bears team that’s still finding its identity. So, one could argue that the record is even worse than it looks. For example, the Texans and Ravens are both 1-3, too, but two of Houston’s losses are to the Los Angeles Rams and Tampa Bay, while Baltimore has fallen to Buffalo, Detroit and Kansas City.
The saving grace for the Raiders or reason for optimism is that the majority of the team appears to be headed in the right direction. The defense has been better than most people (myself included) expected, and the offensive line is coming off its best performance of the season. But they still can’t figure out the most important position on the field, as Geno Smith is holding the team back right now.
If Smith starts playing like he did in Seattle, then there will be more reason for optimism in Las Vegas. The problem is that he and the organization are running out of time to salvage this season.
A: It certainly isn’t looking good for this season. The way I see it, NFL teams get one bad month if they’re going to make the playoffs, and the Raiders already used theirs. So, there is time to turn it around, but they can only afford to lose one game per month the rest of the way out. They can probably have one month with a 2-2 record or balance it out with a four-game winning streak, but the point is, the margin for error is very thin the rest of the way out. Otherwise, the focus should shift to the young players on the roster and building for the future.
Q: Communication and responsibility in secondary is still off heading into Week 5, especially Isaiah Pola-Mao on the TD against the Bears. How do the Raiders get this fixed?
A: This is something that’s been frustrating for me too this season, and unfortunately, there is no magic fix other than simply communicating/talking to each other pre-snap to make sure everyone is on the same page. That can get easier as players get more live reps and become more familiar with each other, like any relationship.
Miscommunications are part of the problem with having so much roster turnover, and it takes time for everyone to get comfortable playing together. In other words, I think we’re...
