Graney: Raiders coach’s words on winning ring hollow with blowout loss
INDIANAPOLIS
“We’re going to win a bunch of games. That’s what we’ve always done.”
Raiders coach Pete Carroll said those words during training camp. Said them with confidence and belief. Said them like a guy who has won his share of games in the NFL.
The Raiders won’t follow through on his promise. Not with the way they have played. Not with the blunders they continue to make. Not with embarrassing performances like Sunday’s.
The Raiders were throttled by the Colts 40-6 at Lucas Oil Stadium and there wasn’t a phase of their game that wasn’t weak and forgettable. Offense. Defense. Special teams. Coaching.
It was miserable up and down the chain.
Carroll’s team was missing some key pieces due to injury, but you have to wonder when watching this blowout if he and new general manager John Spytek didn’t overvalue their roster.
They’re all of 1-4 at countless spots.
Raiders ownership and management has never decided to tear things down and rebuild in the hopes of constructing a winner over time.
It’s never been their strategy to start all over. It likely won’t be in the future, either, even though that’d be a sensible choice and has been for some time now.
The Raiders, unless things change drastically, appear headed for another losing season.
The year might change. The narrative doesn’t.
Titans on deck
“I did expect to win right out of the chute,” Carroll said. “We feel like we’re going in the right direction. It’s just not showing up. Hopefully we go back home and play well and get moving.
“I’m waiting for that moment where we kick it in and have the right answers and make the right plays and the right calls. It’s not only on the players to get this right. It’s on all of us, myself totally included. I’m going to keep believing.”
The Raiders next host Tennessee, which earned its first win against Arizona on Sunday, in Week 6 at Allegiant Stadium.
They can’t possibly lose, right?
Right?
But while the lowly Titans might provide a temporary sigh of relief and a happy locker room for a day, any success against them won’t hide all the Raiders’ deficiencies.
They aren’t good enough offensively to beat really good teams. They are too inconsistent defensively — the Raiders couldn’t get the Colts off the field to save their lives Sunday — to make up for days when a Geno Smith-led attack sputters its way through four quarters.
And now special teams have their own glaring weaknesses.
A blocked field goal in the final minute led to a one-point loss to the Bears last week. A blocked punt turned into a touchdown for the Colts on Sunday.
This has been a collective effort of failure.
Practice and reps
“I’m never discouraged,” Smith said. “I don’t have it in my body to feel down, to feel sad. I don’t have pity in me. I’m going to grind it out and figure this out. Guys have to lock in. It’s a tough game.”
Smith threw two more interceptions Sunday, but one was tipped and rookie receiver Dont’e Thornton Jr.’s poor route didn’t help on the other. But Smith now has an NFL-leading nine picks.
Carroll said he thought about going to backup quarterback Kenny Pickett in garbage time, but his team needs practice and reps. I’m not sure that’s the ultimate answer. The roster isn’t good enough to merely believe extra time will solve obvious issues.
That it will help the Raiders avoid what happened here Sunday.
This isn’t a good football team right now.
“We just need to pull together and keep working with intention and purpose,” Carroll said.
It’s a 1-4 team from top to bottom.
And unless something drastically changes, winning a bunch of games isn’t in the cards.
But, hey, here come the Titans.
Ed Graney, a Sigma Delta Chi Award winner for sports column writing, can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com. He can be heard on “The Press Box,” ESPN Radio 100.9 FM and 1100 AM, from 7 to 10 a.m. Monday through Friday. Follow @edgraney on X.
