Raiders report: Smith ready to move from picks, get offense on track

Raiders quarterback Geno Smith has identified a common thread with each of his NFL-high seven interceptions this season.

“They all came out of my hand and ended up in the defense’s hands,” Smith said before Wednesday’s practice at the team facility. “So those are the things that I’ve seen that are in common and those are things we’ve got to correct.”

Smith’s deadpan answer brought some levity to the plight of the Raiders’ turnover-filled start to the season. But the offense should find some solace in the fact it found some rhythm in Sunday’s 25-24 loss to the Bears.

The Raiders (1-3) had 240 rushing yards, their most in a game in almost two years. Smith, removing the interceptions, completed 14 of his other 18 passes for two touchdowns.

“Take care of the football,” Smith said of the lessons learned from the loss. “I mean, that’s the main thing that I saw from that game. Overall, I thought we played a good game on offense. I just think turnovers are obviously going to be a killer and that hurt us in that game. But even with all that, we still had a chance to win at the end. So, we have a really good team. Obviously our record isn’t what we want, but I feel good about us getting this thing going.”

Both Smith and coach Pete Carroll feel confident in the quarterback’s ability to put the performance behind him. He followed a three-interception game against the Chargers in Week 2 with a solid game at Washington in Week 3.

“You’ve got to focus,” Smith said. “It’s not easy to do, but luckily for me, I’ve had a lot of obstacles that I’ve had to overcome in my life, and it’s really always given me great perspective. So, anytime there’s a mishap or a play that you wish you can have back, you really can’t get it back, so you’ve got to focus on the next play. And so that’s what I do. I focus on being where my feet are, being here in the right now.”

It’s the same attitude Carroll has seen from Smith since they worked together in Seattle.

“He’s already (put it behind him),” Carroll said. “I thought he did a masterful job of accepting the responsibility that you guys will all think is so obvious. The turnovers — there’s a lot of reasons things happen, but as the quarterback, you’ve got to shoulder it and he did exactly what he should do. He took a day that he needed, and another day that he needed, and he’s back to full speed, ready to go. And his brain is on, his mind is clicking and he’s excited about this opportunity.”

Kicked off

Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio made headlines Tuesday by saying the proliferation of long field goals around the NFL has been aided by a new rule that allows kickers to handle game balls throughout the week.

Fangio went so far as to suggest kicking stats should have asterisks, like home runs during the steroid era in baseball.

Carroll acknowledged the reality that kickers are connecting from long range at a higher rate.

“They’re doing it. It’s a fact,” he said. “Maybe you’d have to ask kickers on that one. I wouldn’t know. Something’s going on, though.”

Under the NFL’s old rules, teams would receive three brand new kicking balls about 90 minutes before the game. This year, teams were given 60 kicking balls at the start of the season and can select the best three for each game. Each ball can only be used three times, however.

Raiders kicker Daniel Carlson has enjoyed the change.

“It just makes for a consistent game ball where at times you would have some poor equipment manager having to break in a k-ball for 45 minutes or an hour before a game, having to put a full-on workout in to try to break a ball in,” Carlson said. “Sometimes they would come out good and sometimes they wouldn’t. So in a game, all of a sudden, you have a variation of maybe a broken-in ball and maybe one that’s not broken in as well, so you could maybe have some inconsistency in how it comes off the foot.

“That’s the main thing. It’s just more consistent each time.”

The Raiders’ special-teams units typically choose their three game balls on Friday and use them in practice that day.

“Usually you play with just the one, unless it gets lost or like you kick it over the net and a fan gets it or the other team keeps it for some reason or whatever,” Carlson said. “You have to have some backups, but I really don’t think it’s making that much of a difference so I’d probably disagree (with Fangio).”

Injury report

Tight end Michael Mayer got in a limited practice Wednesday for the first time since he suffered a concussion against the Commanders on Sep. 21.

Carroll said it’s still too early to determine whether Mayer will return this week after missing the Bears game.

The same is true for cornerback Eric Stokes, who left the loss to Chicago with a knee injury and was limited in practice Wednesday.

“He says he’s fine,” Carroll said. “He’ll practice today, but we’ll just go slow with it and make sure that he’s right. So, he seems to be pretty confident about that. We’ll see.”

Star tight end Brock Bowers remained limited with a knee injury Wednesday, but Carroll said he’s looking more like himself.

Cornerback Decamerion Richardson is still nursing a hamstring injury, but he practiced in full Wednesday. Wide receiver Justin Shorter was absent with an illness.

Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on X.