Pete Carroll placing the impetus on Chip Kelly early on

With the hope of revitalizing a languishing franchise, the Las Vegas Raiders overhauled their coaching staff this offseason.

The two highest-profile additions came in the form of head coach Pete Carroll and offensive coordinator Chip Kelly. Carroll was a former Super Bowl and national championship coach, while Kelly became the league’s highest-paid offensive coordinator after a championship-winning season at Ohio State. The two were entrusted with engineering a quick turnaround, hoping to create a sustainable long-term plan.

Just five weeks into the season, however, and this dream team might not be the coaching matchup in heaven Raiders fans were hoping for.

Carroll’s recent comments have put pressure on Kelly’s offense to perform.

When asked about the struggles of Geno Smith at quarterback and what he can do to turn things around, Carroll placed a chunk of the blame on how the offense is run.

“We have to run the football better, more,” Carroll said. “And we’re going to continue to work at it and see if we can’t continue to bring it to life. The running game has looked well in order right now, we need to get more of them. That’s part of it. That’s just mixing football. That’s how you do it. We don’t ever want to rely on the quarterback has to do the whole show, sitting in the shotgun, throw the football. Never coach that way. So we have to mix our stuff so we can use our play action game.”

It is clear from those comments that Carroll wants the likes of Ashton Jeanty to be more involved on offense, but the head coach would go even further with his critique.

“I was pleased with how we saw Ashton come to life on the edge,” Carroll said. “He made some nice plays and stretched the defense and put some threat on them with that. And we’ve got to make sure that we’re calling all the best stuff in the situations. He’s not calling the plays. We’ve got to call them and we’ve got to make sure and get him in the right spots and give him the best chance to stay out of harm’s way. Part of that is really controlling the game with what we do in front in the running game.”

With Kelly’s status at the primary offensive play-caller, it does not take a rocket scientist to figure out who Carroll is referencing here.

It is clear that some tension is quickly growing between Carroll and Kelly as the Raiders’ issues persist, and they will need to resolve it before things get even further out of hand.