Geno Smith has blunt assessment of Raiders' latest poor showing

The Las Vegas Raiders lost their fourth consecutive game on Monday night in what has been an incredibly disappointing season, and quarterback Geno Smith says fans should be pointing the finger at him.

Smith threw an interception for the third straight game in the Raiders' 33-16 loss to the Dallas Cowboys on "Monday Night Football." It looked like the bad luck in Las Vegas might finally turn when Maxx Crosby strip-sacked Dak Prescott early in the first quarter and the Raiders recovered inside the Dallas 20-yard line, but even that was not enough to inspire a touchdown.

Smith took a sack on the first play of the ensuing drive, and the Raiders wound up settling for a field goal to take an early 3-0 lead. Pete Carroll's team led 6-3 at the end of the first quarter, but it was all downhill from there.

Geno Smith takes the blame

After the game, a reporter asked Smith if play-calling was an issue for the Raiders. Offensive coordinator Chip Kelly has faced criticism all season, but Smith did not throw the coach under the bus.

Instead, Smith said there were plenty of open wide receivers that he missed.

"I don’t think there was any issue with the play calling. The plays were there, guys were open," Smith said, via Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk. "You guys watch the film, I know we’ve got a lot of Monday morning quarterbacks who like to watch film and take screenshots and see where guys were open, so I’m sure you guys will see where the guys were open.

"I’ve just got to play better. I keep saying this. If something don’t look right out there, blame it on me. If it don’t look right, blame it on me. That’s all you can do, blame it on me. If your kids mess up at school, blame it on me. Car break down on the way to work? Blame it on me.”

Smith completed 27-of-42 passes for 238 yards, one touchdown and one interception in the game.

Geno Smith has had a season to forget

Raiders fans had plenty of reason for optimism entering the 2025 season. They hired Carroll as their head coach and then swung a big trade with the Seattle Seahawks to land Smith. Las Vegas gave up a third-round draft pick for Smith and then signed him to a two-year, $75M contract extension.

Thus far, the investment has not been worthwhile. Smith has thrown 13 interceptions in 10 games, which is tied with Tua Tagovailoa for the worst mark in the NFL. The Raiders rank 30th in the NFL in both points per game (15.5) and total yards per game (269.0). They have averaged just 187.6 passing yards per game.

Carroll has not indicated that he is considering benching Smith in favor of backup quarterback Kenny Pickett, but a change might become necessary at some point. The Raiders are 2-8 and in the race for the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, which is not at all where they expected to be.