The Only Direction the Raiders Can Go from Here

The Las Vegas Raiders will have their fair share of steps to reach in their development under Pete Carroll.

Raiders Do Not Mind Taking Shots

For the past couple of seasons, the Raiders have struggled to push the ball down the field. They rarely even tried. For better or for worse, that will not be the case under Smith. It was for the best in Week 1, but for the worst in Week 2.

On Tuesday, Raiders Head Coach Pete Carroll analyzed things.

"Yeah, he took shots, put the ball up and tried to give the guy a chance to make the play, Dont'e [Thornton Jr.] and Jakobi [Meyers], and they defended him well. They were back there. In retrospect, it looked like it was really difficult to be hopeful, and he was trying to make something happen," Carroll said.

Despite Smith's struggles on Monday night, Carroll rightfully stood by the quarterback who he has been through thick and thin with. Smith has had many of his best seasons under Carroll. Even those seasons came with growing pains.

"Yeah, well that's experience with the guy and trust. I know what he was thinking, and I know the shot that he took, and he threw a ball that was catchable, possibly, but it was a challenge,” Carroll said. 

“And so a couple of them came up -- they made their plays, and they did a nice job with it. So I'm not going to slow him down. Taking the shots instinctively are there for him. But we will evaluate, and if there's a better option, let's not give them their opportunity to get the football from us."

Following Monday night's loss, Smith explained what he feels like the offense needs to do to take the next step. For the past two weeks, the Raiders' defense has held its own while the offense tries to figure opponents out. The approach has lded to a

“We got to have balance, but we can pass on anybody. We know that. But it's not about what we can do in the pass game. It’s about what we can do as an offense collectively. Again, balance is the key to anything on offense,” Smith said. 

“We got to run the ball when we need to, we got to pass the ball when we need to, and we got to be efficient in both. So we'll get better at it, we'll find ways to get better at it. Find ways to be more efficient and look towards the future. I think we have got a lot of good things ahead of us. We just got to work out.”