OCTOBER 12: No substantial discussions have occurred regarding a Smith-for-Pickett quarterback change, according to NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero. Smith has been a starter for the past four seasons and has not been benched for non-injury-related purposes since his one-off start for Eli Manning in 2017 triggered a Giants regime change.
Conversely, Pickett has been on the backup level since the Steelers did not reinsert the 2022 first-rounder into their lineup late in the 2023 season. Smith enters Week 6 sitting 29th in QBR, with injuries to Bowers and Miller providing a notable effect early in Carroll’s run.
OCTOBER 8: Unsurprisingly, the concerns about Raiders quarterback Geno Smith are starting to mount. Following a two-interception showing that dropped Las Vegas to 1-4, the Raiders are “mildly concerned” about their veteran QB, per ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler.
The organization understands that their offseason acquisition has to improve his play quickly. However, there isn’t any panic that Smith is a “broken” quarterback, and Graziano doesn’t anticipate a benching at any point during Week 6. Further, there’s some understanding that Smith has had to rely on an underwhelming receivers corps while also dealing with key TE/OL injuries to the likes of Brock Bowers, Michael Mayer, and Kolton Miller.
Graziano notes that Smith’s two interceptions from this past weekend weren’t necessarily his fault, including one that followed a missed offsides call against the Colts. On the flip side, scouts told Graziano that Smith seems overly reliant on his arm talent as he (unsuccessfully) throws the ball into tight windows. There’s also a belief that the veteran has been a bit slow with releasing the football.
Smith is currently pacing the NFL with nine interceptions, and the team’s six passing touchdowns ranks towards the bottom of the NFL. The Raiders acquired the veteran from the Seahawks this past offseason and later handed him a two-year, $75MM extension that technically keeps him tied to the franchise through the 2027 season. If Smith is indeed done, the team would be left with a significant cap hit (although there is an easy out after the 2026 campaign). Because of that financial commitment (coupled with his relationship with head coach Pete Carroll), it seems like Smith will be afforded a relatively long leash.
If the Raiders do decide to make a move at quarterback, Kenny Pickett would be the natural pivot. The Raiders snagged the quarterback in a trade with the Browns at the end of the preseason, providing the franchise with a low-cost veteran backup. The former Steelers draft pick did win 14 games in his two seasons as a mostly full-time starter, but ESPN’s Dan Graziano echoes Fowler’s sentiment that Smith would have to completely implode for the Raiders to make a change.
While much of the talk about the Raiders’ offensive struggles has surrounded the players, some of the coaches are also starting to feel the heat. Graziano notes that offensive coordinator Chip Kelly is starting to draw criticism. Some league sources opined that Kelly’s scheme isn’t “creating enough advantages to overcome the Raiders’ personnel deficiencies,” which is also a clear indictment on the organization’s front office.
Hmmmm I do believe I kept eating he was not his stats. Except the ints. I haven’t followed them this year because frankly they are not interesting. I saw the Pete losing touch with the NFL for 2-3 years.
Geno sucked inside the 20 on both ends of the field. He was good outside the 20s though. Don’t know if most of his ints are inside the 20s like they were in Seattle. All you Geno apologists I was right you were wrong. Just kidding I have been wrong many times. I was correct on this though. We did a great job in the QB swap.
It hasn’t had anything to do with the red zone, he’s just been staring down receivers and throwing it into double coverage routinely. It’s not even the debate of if Geno was a good qb in Seattle like you are saying, it’s worse. It’s “holy $h!t, how did we get jets rookie year geno”. Even if you thought geno wasn’t very good in Seattle, it’s a whole few levels below that. It’s been that bad lol
Also his receivers routinely run the wrong route or a route at incorrect depths.
Geno has 71 TDs versus 35 INTs the past 3 seasons when there is a receiving corps worth half a dookie. Our skill guys with a broken Bowers are near the worst in the league, Geno has forced some balls, Chip Kelly has not schemed them well, our special teams keeps putting the offense in losing positions. I could go on and on about how bad this team is.
Not all INTs have been his fault but the ninny’s continue to push blame on the QB because that’s the easiest thing to do. It’s akin to crushing a starting pitcher whose team commits 2-3 errors per game and has poor fielding range. Sure, the pitcher ends with a below .500 record but the team is failing him.
Part of the issue, and we knew this going in, is that the Seattle receiver corp is twice as good as the Raiders. I’m not even bashing the Raiders, but Metcalf, Smith, Lockett and Fant are pretty good.
Tyler Lockett is now with Tennessee, replaced in Seattle by the ex-Ram Cooper Kupp.
Not sure why Chip Kelly would get any flak, they’ve moved the ball but keep turning it over. Their best WR is a TE, who’s been out. They dont have playmakers, just a future all pro rookie RB and a solid WR2 who’s playing in the WR1 position. When your team has so many holes, dont draft a flashy RB #1, build from the lines out.
Gimmicky college offense and slow to make adjustments. It took him 5 games to get under center to run the ball, the pistol / gun stuff was hardly working. Repetitive pass concepts teams are picking up on. His pass blocking concepts aren’t working. Totally too early to draw conclusions because it’s only week 6 and all of the issues you’ve said. He has a positive track record so we’ll see how it plays out
The drafting of the RB isn’t the issue -Jeanty was the best player available, and better than any OL on the board- it is just that there were more holes to fill than selections to do it. It takes time. They also thought they were going to have Cooper onboard.
The only mistake they probably made was talking up the wanting to win now, which I get. You can’t really say “boy, we sure feel like we can win five this year” when you’re talking to the press. I’m not a media guy, but I’d have probably tried to find the middle ground there.
This is very likely a three year plan, with Pete establishing a culture as they build, and Chip taking over when Pete retires.
“Mildly concerned” is giving me the same vibes as when George Bluth says “light treason”.
We built some homes in Iraq
There’s always money in the Banana Stand.
He’s also mildly concerned about that lump on his back…
Geno, Oh-no, back to his old habits…..throwing tons of INTs.
A Raiders representative met with Robert De Niro…link to youtube.com
No, it’s not broken. That’s how it’s supposed to function straight out of the box.
Pete Carroll will spend 2 hours trying to get through to customer support then discover that nobody there speaks English…lol.
Typical Raiders organization sugarcoating the obvious “They Suck!”
Classic take. 🙄
Without a draft lottery system, there’s little incentive to make an NFL team competitive after a 1-4 start. The financial impact of reduced ticket and concessions revenue would be the biggest concern, but does Vegas even have fans yet? I’m assuming more than half the crowd is visiting team fans.
He had a lot of ints when he had more talent around him in DK, Lockett, and JSN. He wouldn’t perform better when his best wr is Tre Tucker and Bowers at TE.