The Raiders' Lingering Problem on Offense Are Clear

The Eagles' defense is much more talented than the Raiders' offense, so it makes sense that they had so much trouble getting the ball downfield. Kenny Pickett made his long-anticipated start against his former team, and he threw for only 64 yards.

His average yards per throw was an abysmal 2.6, and he still managed to throw an interception. All of the flashes he showed against the Denver Broncos went away with an expanded role, and it puts into question how good their divisional rival defense is.

Pickett made Raider Nation swallow some of the criticisms they had for Geno Smith, as he threw for less than a hundred yards in only one of his 13 starts. Pickett has only started once, and he's managed to match Smith's lowest point in 2025.

Ultimately, this is Pete Carroll and John Spytek's fault for trading for Pickett in the first place. I understand Aidan O'Connell's injury lit a fire under them, and they felt rushed to get a backup quarterback, but there were plenty of other viable quarterbacks on the market that didn't require a fifth-round pick.

It isn't like Carroll was counting down the days until he could get his young signal caller playing time, as his stubbornness in keeping Smith as their starter was astonishing. Perhaps he was on to something, and the gap between Pickett and Smith is larger than most people think.

Either way, the bottom line is that both of the quarterbacks the Raiders traded for in the offseason have been responsible for leading their team to 0 points. That shows that no matter how much talent they have on offense, or whichever coordinators are employed, this problem runs deeper than that. This is a head coaching problem, and numerous mistakes from the Raiders' front office.