Where did Raiders go wrong under Kelly and what can Olson fix?

The Raiders’ offense will have a new look Sunday under interim coordinator Greg Olson.

Olson, who is serving as the team’s play-caller for the third time, replaces offensive coordinator Chip Kelly, who was fired after 11 underwhelming games.

Kelly’s time with the club was marred by an inability to utilize weapons like tight end Brock Bowers and running back Ashton Jeanty, poor communication and a lack of creativity.

The Raiders (2-9) are scoring 15 points per game, tied for last in the NFL with the Saints. Their 268.9 yards per game are the third-fewest. Those are disappointing results given the Raiders lured Kelly away from Ohio State with a contract that averaged $6 million per season, making him the league’s highest-paid assistant.

It’s fair to say the team didn’t get what it paid for. It made no sense for the Raiders to stay the course given they didn’t seem to be improving. If anything, they were sliding backward.

Coach Pete Carroll said Kelly’s firing was “a decision that we made for the organization that we had to do.”

No one is expecting Olson, who was also the team’s offensive coordinator from 2013-14 and 2018-21, to fix things overnight. But that doesn’t mean he can’t make a few adjustments to get the Raiders moving in the right direction.

“There’s things that you want to keep the same, but there’s also going to be differences as well,” quarterback Geno Smith said. “It’s a different coordinator, so he’s going to have a different style.”

Here are some things Olson can clean up:

1. Communication

The Raiders are counting on a more efficient game-day operation with Olson in charge. Players have already noticed a difference in terms of his communication style.

“He’s done a great job of explaining everything in terms of things that are going to be different, things that are going to be the same and what he wants us to do here and there,” tight end Michael Mayer said.

That did not always appear to be the case under Kelly, though Carroll pushed back on a recent report by Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network that Kelly was “repeatedly botching the calls.”

Carroll may have just been protecting Kelly’s reputation. Several players, who spoke with the Review-Journal on the condition of anonymity, said there were often breakdowns in communication when trying to get the play call in, forcing Smith to figure things out in the huddle.

Former Raiders offensive lineman Richie Incognito, who has been critical of Kelly on social media and his appearances on the podcast, “The Arena: Gridiron,” said it’s not unusual that a coach would make a mistake when relaying a play to the quarterback.

A key word may be omitted or an incorrect motion could be called in the heat of the moment with the play clock running.

“We’re all human,” Incognito said. “It occasionally happens.”

It puts the quarterback in an almost impossible predicament when it happens repeatedly, however. Incognito said there were occasions when former Raiders coach Jon Gruden would make a mistake, but quarterback Derek Carr was often savvy and experienced enough to correct things on the fly.

Smith, in his first season working with Kelly, was unable to find success. The hope is he will be able to find a better rhythm under Olson, his quarterbacks coach with the Seahawks in 2023.

2. Run game

The Raiders have thrown the ball 69.6 percent of the time their last three games. They’ve called pass plays 61.7 percent of the time this season, fourth-most in the NFL.

That ratio flies in the face of Carroll’s preferred style of play. Part of his “winning formula” includes running the ball far more often than the Raiders have.

Falling behind on the scoreboard, as the team has done in almost all its games, does force teams to throw. But Olson can still make the running game more of a priority, especially with a premier weapon like Jeanty in the fold.

Jeanty, the No. 6 overall pick in April’s draft, is averaging just 3.6 yards per carry as a rookie and has 166 rushing attempts through 11 games. Incognito said he never felt like Kelly was fully committed to the running game or creative in how he presented it.

“That was the most frustrating part for me because (Jeanty) is our guy,” Incognito said. “This is our bell cow.”

Jeanty, the Heisman Trophy runner-up at Boise State last season, has the talent to change the course of a game. Olson seems to understand that.

“That’s part of the reason why we drafted him where we did,” Olson said. “Getting him more involved, whether it be the passing game or the run game, screen game, quick game. I think there’s a lot of things that he can do besides run the football. He’s one of our best players, so we’ve got to find more ways to get him the ball.”

3. Creativity

Incognito grew frustrated watching Kelly’s offense, which he described as “too vanilla and too predictable.”

The Raiders lined up in the shotgun 411 times under Kelly and were under center 214 times. They ran 96 times in the shotgun and 146 times when under center, so it was often clear whether they were running or passing depending on the formation they were in.

That can still work in college, especially at a program like Ohio State, which is more talented than almost all of its opponents. But NFL defenses are far more sophisticated. It often takes creativity to create favorable matchups or get players open.

“When you’re real vanilla, NFL defenses don’t feel threatened,” Incognito said. “You’re not giving them looks to distract them and hold their eyes.”

It may be hard for Olson to make wholesale changes this late in the season. For Smith, his goal is to have the Raiders execute better in all areas the rest of the way.

“Passing game, running game, our third down, our red zone, just the entire game has got to be better,” Smith said. “We want to go out there and play clean football, limit the mistakes and put points on the board, man. We have to. We’ve got to help our defense out.”

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