Jakobi Meyers Dives Into Raiders' Offensive Woes

Raiders quarterback Geno Smith spoke following Monday's loss. Below is a partial transcript.

Q: In this offense, how much latitude do you have to audible? 

Geno Smith: “It depends on which play it is, but, I mean, you can audible any play at any down. But you want to do things in structure, things that you've practiced. We won't just go out there and just make audibles just to make them. Everything that we do is built in within the system. I'm not sure why you asked that question, but that's pretty much how we do it. Within the system, we like to make checks and stuff like that.” 

Q: In terms of tonight, we asked Pete Carroll just about spot decision making, especially the ones where you took shots downfield. Can you summarize what took place and where you're at in the game at that moment, and taking those shots, especially the ones that got picked? 

Smith: “The first play of the game, I was a play that we designed. I thought I had an open guy, but I led him a little bit too far up front. Ball gets tipped up, guy gets an interception. Obviously you want to have those plays back, you can't. I mean, it's the reality of it. I took a shot to Dont’e [Thornton Jr.] before the half.

I thought he had a safety on him, I thought he had a shot, so I gave him a chance. Obviously, didn't work out in our favor. So again, those are things that I got to learn from and be better at. Anything that doesn't look right out there, you put that on my feet, put that on my shoulders. I feel like I got to be a lot better for our guys. 

“I know I have to, and I will be. And then the one to Jakobi [Meyers], I had a DB with his back turned, playing Tampa 2. I thought I could fit it in there. Obviously, we need to score seven points in that situation. A field goal would have helped us, but seven points would've put us in a better position. Ball gets tipped up again, I thought I put it in a decent spot where our guy can make a play. Ball gets tipped up, they make a play on it, and we don't get points. I'm never going to make any excuses about anything. I've got to be better. We got to be better, and we've got a short week to improve on that.”