Silver And Black Pride
We all knew this was coming.
The Philadelphia Eagles staggered into this game with three straight losses and with a major stink hovering over their offense. Yet, have no fear the Las Vegas Raiders were coming into town.
Just like that, the Eagles looked like the team that won the Super Bowl last season.
It’s pretty easy when you play the Raiders. They roll out the same game every week.
They can’t move the ball on offense. They allow long drives on defense. They are terrible on third down on both sides of the ball. They lose the time of possession battle by a lot and they just don’t compete under first-year coach Pete Carroll.
And that what happened Sunday was as the Eagles cruised Las Vegas 31-0. The Raiders are 2-12 and have eight games in a row.
It was was the Raiders’ second 31-0 shutout loss of the season, the first coming in Week 7 at the Kansas City Chiefs. The Raiders have trailed by, at least, 17 points in eight of their 14 games.
This game was just a classic Raiders’ performance under Carroll, who seriously has to be worried about going one and done this season.
The Raiders had just 75 yards of total offense (their fewest in a game since 1961 per ESPN), the second time they have failed to reach 100 yards in a season. No, the unit has not improved under interim offensive coordinator Greg Olson, who replaced the fired Chip Kelly three games ago. This effort came against an Eagles’ defense that was gutted in the past three weeks.
The Eagles had three touchdown drives of 10 plays or more, continuing a nasty trend. Also, on cue, the Eagles had the ball for 39 minutes and 25 seconds, continuing yet another ugly trend.
The Raiders, who are in a battle with the New York Giants for the No. 1 overall draft pick, are a dreadful team with many, many holes. This team badly needs a quarterback, but that’s not all. they need everything including new coaching staff.
This is just not working and are getting painful reminders of exactly how bad of a state this franchise is in on a weekly basis.
Here are some key aspects of the game:
Pickett doesn’t do much:
Kenny Pickett wasn’t the primary reason why the Raiders lost this game, but he didn’t do much to help, either as he started for the injured Geno Smith. Pickett completed 15 of 25 passes for 64 yards and was part of the Raiders’ offensive woes. Friday, Carroll said Smith, who is dealing with shoulder and back issues, could play next week at the Houston Texans. Pickett’s performance didn’t do much to change the Raiders’ thoughts about playing Smith when he is ready.
Third-down issues again:
The Raiders have been a disaster on third down on both sides of the ball. The Eagles converted 10 of 13 times on third down and the Raiders’ offense was three of 12....
