Well, Sunday sucked. The Las Vegas Raiders got spanked in a 24-0 loss in New Orleans. Here are this week’s Knee Jerk Reactions.
Burn The Tape
That was just a terrible game across the board. There were really no positives to be found. Absolutely nothing went according to plan. Maybe it was the time difference from the East Coast road trip? Or maybe it was the lack of practice reps? A lot of key players were either limited or did not practice for much of the week. This team was simply not ready to play. There really isn’t much to be learned from this one. All the Raiders can do is get healthy and move on to Jacksonville.
Coaching Staff Has To Be Better
While their hands were tied, this staff has to do a better job of game prep. If those aforementioned players were unable to adequately prepare, then they should not have been such a large part of the game plan. Going further, there isn’t much to like about what this coaching staff is doing on either side of the ball.
The offensive play-calling has left a lot to be desired. The Adams end-around plays have to stop. Also, if you are going to go for it on fourth down, keep all of those expensive players on the field and call a traditional offensive play. The last thing you need to do there is call a fake punt where you are putting the ball in the hands of a backup safety.
Defensively, the Raiders just committed their first pass interference penalty of the year. The reason for that has been all of the “off” coverage. This has contributed to the defense getting gashed every week, and Patrick Graham doesn’t look any better than Gus Bradley, Paul Guenther, or even Ken Norton Jr. The whole point of cleaning house from a staff that made the playoffs last year was that McDaniels and company were too much of an upgrade to pass up. On the contrary, it is hard to imagine the Raiders looking like this under the previous regime.
An Annual Tradition
#Raiders do it almost every year…
2017: Raiders 8, Patriots 33
2018: Raiders 3, Chiefs 35
Raiders 3, 49ers 342019: Raiders 3, Jets 34
Raiders 9, Chiefs 402020: Raiders 6, Falcons 43
2021: Raiders 14, Chiefs 41
Raiders 9, Chiefs 48— Raiders Beat (@RaidersBeat) October 30, 2022
This has become somewhat of a “thing” for the Raiders. It seems that every year they suffer one inexplicably terrible blowout loss. Nobody really plays well, and nothing goes the Raiders’ way. It seems as though this week was this year’s continuation of that tradition. At least it’s out of the way and we won’t have that to dread in December.
*Top Photo: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images
