Raiders OC Chip Kelly responds to criticism of his play-calling

Chip Kelly has long been viewed as an offensive specialist, but he was forced to go on the defensive following some comments that Las Vegas Raiders head coach Pete Carroll made.

The Raiders fell to 1-4 after a 40-6 blowout loss to the Indianapolis Colts in Week 5. Veteran quarterback Geno Smith has struggled early on after Las Vegas acquired him in an offseason trade with the Seattle Seahawks, signing a two-year, $75M extension.

Through five games, Smith has thrown for 1,176 yards, six touchdown passes and nine interceptions. On Wednesday, Carroll was asked what had gone wrong for Smith this season. The 74-year-old coach said the Raiders need to run the football more and call plays to get Smith "in the right spots." Many interpreted the comments as a swipe at Kelly.

Chip Kelly defends his play-calling

Kelly, who, like Carroll, is in his first season in Las Vegas, was asked on Thursday if he thinks the Raiders need to run the ball more. He said his goal is to call a balanced game every week, but that doing so became difficult when Indianapolis jumped out to a 20-3 lead over Las Vegas.

"That’s what our game plan is every game. We had 25 [rushing] attempts last week in the game, there was real balance in the first half of the football game when it was a close game," Kelly said, via Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk. "I think it gets out of hand so you look at some of the numbers, I think we had 25 rushing attempts and 36 pass attempts at the end of the game, but the first half it was really even.”

Smith completed 25-of-36 passes for 228 yards, no touchdowns and two interceptions in the loss to the Colts. Despite the poor stat line, Kelly said he thought Smith looked "really comfortable" in the game.

Carroll was known for preferring a run-heavy approach during his time with the Seahawks. The Raiders used the No. 6 overall pick in this year's draft on star running back Ashton Jeanty, so it's no secret that Carroll wants to pound the ball on the ground in Las Vegas as well. As Kelly said, the Raiders need to remain competitive to do that.