Raiders report: Pete Carroll defiant when asked if team has quit on him

PHILADELPHIA — The Raiders were a no-show Sunday in a 31-0 loss to the Eagles in which their fight came into question.

Their eighth straight loss was punctuated by long stretches of noncompetitive play and sequences in which they were clearly outschemed by the Super Bowl champions.

Inside the frustrated Raiders’ locker room, players tried to make sense of it all. And while no one was pointing fingers, some serious contemplation was going on.

“I would definitely say there’s probably too many people talking and not enough people doing,” defensive end Adam Butler said.

Added cornerback Eric Stokes: “It gets frustrating as a competitor, as a player, as a man. You put in all this hard work, and you just come out here week in and week out, the same things keep happening over and over again.”

It begs the question whether the players have quit on coach Pete Carroll.

He doesn’t see it that way.

“I don’t sense that at all. I don’t think there was that issue. I think we got beat,” Carroll said. “This is a very, very well-loaded team, and they just did their thing today on both sides of the ball, and they really took it to us.”

Carroll did not stop there.

“These guys fought their (tails) off,” he said. “Let me address that, because you brought it up. They fought their (tails) off. That was the result. They didn’t stop fighting. That was the result of our play right there.”

Instead, Carroll gave credit to the Eagles. When asked if a one-sided loss like Sunday’s was a clear indicator of how far the Raiders are from being a competitive team, he said: “I don’t know that answer.”

Run game problems

The Raiders wanted to be a run-centric team this season. It’s one of the reasons they invested the sixth overall pick in Ashton Jeanty.

But they have fallen far short of that objective, with Sunday another stern reminder of how bad it has been. The Raiders gained just 46 yards rushing, with Jeanty finishing with 35 yards on nine carries.

The offensive line deserves a lot of the blame, but some also are questioning the scheme.

“We got to mix it up a little bit,” quarterback Kenny Pickett said. “I think gun runs, under center, we can’t let them tee off on tendencies. I felt like they were a bit faster than us on certain things during the game, beating us to the punch on some blocks. We have to go take a look at that to see what we have going on.”

The defensive scheme has been questioned, too. Carroll’s and defensive coordinator Patrick Graham’s systems have not meshed.

Double-digit sacks again

In notching one sack Sunday, Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby has 10 this season.

It’s Crosby’s fourth season with 10 or more sacks, tying the Buccaneers’ Haason Reddick and the Bengals’ Trey Hendrickson for the fifth-most seasons of 10 or more sacks since 2019.

Only Greg Townsend has more 10-sack seasons than Crosby for the Raiders since the sack became an official stat in 1982.

Contact Vincent Bonsignore at vbonsignore@reviewjournal.com. Follow @VinnyBonsignore on X.