What Hard Lesson Raiders Must Learn from Missed Opportunity

The Las Vegas Raiders' performance on Monday was far from what anyone expected heading into the game. The Silver and Black entered Week 2 looking to build upon the success they experienced in Week.

However, the opposite happened, as the Raiders fell behind early and were unable to catch up. Luckily, it was only the second of 17 games Las Vegas will play this season.

The Raiders' Missed Opportunity

The loss to the Los Angeles Chargers was ripe with learning experiences for the Raiders, as they are still a team that is implementing several new players, coaches and schemes. However, that does not make the loss any easier for them to accept.

Following Monday's loss to the Chargers, Carroll did not mince words. He and his team know they missed a valuable opportunity. The Chargers may be one of the best teams in the league, but the Raiders made the Chargers' job much easier with a slew of mistakes, including three turnovers.

"What that really feels like is a real missed opportunity just in general. Monday night was just part of that, but in the division, it's a real opportunity, and we didn't play well enough on the offensive side with the turnovers that add up. That'll be what you talk about and all, but it really was – we didn't play well enough, and they covered us up pretty good," Carroll said.

"I'm anxious to see the film. Not surprised that they did such a nice job on defense, on pass defense against us. We came out of it okay as far as getting banged up, happy about that. Really, really like what's going on the defense."

Following the loss, Raiders quarterback Geno Smith acknowledged that he and his teammates must learn from Monday's loss and move on.

“No, I've got to learn from it. This game is all about learning from your experiences. I've had similar games in the past where the ball is bounced in an unfortunate way, or I haven't made the best decision on a given play, or the best throw," Smith said.

"That's a part of the game, but you can never just say you can flush it. You got to learn from it, and so I'm going to be super hard on myself, extremely hard on myself, because that's all I know. I'm going to get better this week, find ways to get better from this film, and we'll be better as a team as well.”