Silver And Black Pride
Everything went right for the Las Vegas Raiders this weekend .. .. until they hit the playing field Monday night.
The Raiders had a great opportunity in Week 2 as they closed out the week on “Monday Night Football” in front of the country.
They saw the Denver Broncos (1-1) and the Kansas City Chiefs (0-2) both lose Sunday. They were playing in front of a pro-Raiders crowd at Allegiant Stadium (that’s not always the case), part owner Tom Brady was in the coaching booth. Pete Carroll, coaching at home for the first time in Las Vegas, turned 74 Monday.
It was supposed to be a party.
Then the game started and the Raiders were beaten easily by the Los Angeles Chargers 20-9.
Here are some key aspects of the game:
Bad Geno:
The story of the Raiders’ Week 1 win at the New England was the play of Geno Smith. He threw for 366 yards and had nine passes of 20-plus years. He was terrific. But Smith has been known to be somewhat erratic over the years and Monday night was definitely one of those games. Smith was 0-11 on passes of 10 yards or longer. He threw an interception on the first play of the game and he ended up throwing three picks. He was never comfortable. For an offense that was held down by Gardner Minshew and Aidan O’Connell last season, Smith was as lousy as those two in Week 2. He needs a fast reset.
Tough night for Chip Kelly:
Kelly, the Raiders’ new offensive coordinator, was lauded like Smith was after last week. He was questioned after this game. The Raiders offense looked stagnant in all phases and he was slow to get star tight end Brock Bowers involved. The offense was in a rut all game and it wasn’t all Smith’s fault. By the way, the Raiders’ long red-zone woes have continued. They are 1-7 in the red zone this season. New quarterback, new offensive coordinator. Same results near the goal line.
Unhappy birthday:
This was Carroll’s fourth game as a head coach on his birthday. It was his first defeat. Not a great way to mark becoming the first 74-year-old head coach in NFL history.
Another rough game for Jeanty:
It wasn’t all his fault. The run blocking has been rough, but Ashton Jeanty hasn’t been able to get going so far this season. He had 43 yards on 11 carries and one yard on three catches. He has skills and great balance. The ability is there, but it just hasn’t come together yet.
Defense has moments:
The Raiders’ defense played pretty well late in he game. But Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert did what he had to do when he ended it most. It wasn’t an awful performance by the Raiders’ defense, though,
Bad/good starts:
Raiders’ offense: Bad.
Raiders’ defense: Good.
On his first play as a Raider at home, Smith threw a bad interception and the Chargers got the ball inside the...
