The Raiders' Most Pressing Issue After 11 Games

Raiders' Biggest Issue

The Raiders were unable to get their offense going for yet another game. Their inability to move the ball was not the problem as much as the fact that the Raiders' offense looked so lost on Sunday against the Cleveland Browns. Las Vegas' offense has undoubtedly regressed since last season.

At the end of last season, it was hard to imagine the Raiders would take a step back next season. Then, a number of reasonable changes were made to their roster, furthering the belief that at the very least, the Raiders would easily match their four wins from last season.

Instead of taking advantage of several opportunities the Raiders' defense provided them to score, Las Vegas' offense just did not seem to have the answers. Raiders quarterback Geno Smith seemed lost and confused, arguably the most he has all season.

"There's no doubt they had a two-yard drive, and they had a 20 yard drive, or something like that. I thought we played great on defense tonight, There's the one big breakout screen, we just screwed it up in terms of the way we contained the thing and that play goes,” Carroll said.  

“But with the other ones, I think, was a four-yard drive, two, or whatever it was, the catch of the scramble bomb; great play by Shedeur [Sanders]. And that's a lot to ask to stop them in that situation. Our guys played great tonight. I thought all night long. I mean, they ran for 50 yards or something like that.

They had two plays that were worth the rest of their offense. And so I was really proud of the way those guys battled in the situation that we put them in. If I had had to do it again, I would've kicked the field goal to make it 14-6 or something like that. We're within one score. We went for it on fourth and three, and that's totally on me." 

Carroll noted that he believes the Raiders' failure to execute at a high enough level is a culprit for the struggles the team have had this season. Las Vegas has been unable to sustain a reliable offense at any point this season . Chip Kelly was fired partially because of this.

"You mentioned execution by players. John McKay was once asked, 'What do you think your team's execution? He said, 'The execution is that I think it's a good idea." But I never did really understand how he was willing to say that, but I just did it. So anyway, we have to execute better. We have to match up better. We have to do a lot of things better to get the kind of play we need. And so, we're looking at us in practice, and we're able to do it there. We've got to carry it to the games, and the teams are out there playing, too," Carroll said.