Former Raiders O-Lineman Doesn’t Understand Carroll’s Comments on Powers-Johnson: “Got to Be Something we Don’t Know About”

The Raiders’ offensive line played their best game of the season in week 4 against the Bears, and it came with Jackson Powers-Johnson back in the lineup after missing consecutive games with a concussion.

Powers-Johnson had a big impact on Sunday’s game and head coach Pete Carroll was complimentary of his second-year guard on Wednesday, but was only willing to say Powers-Johnson was “going to start this week” against the Colts.

Powers-Johnson continues to be on a week-to-week basis with his starting job, but Carroll has been adamant that he’s committed to Geno Smith as the starting quarterback.

There’s no obvious answer to why Powers-Johnson seems to have a permanent place in the doghouse, and former Raiders’ offensive lineman Marshall Newhouse said this week that there must be something going on that we don’t know about.

“I don’t understand the rhetorical game [Carroll] is playing with Jackson Powers-Johnson,” Newhouse said on the Just Win podcast on Thursday.

“If you can believe that he’s a better center than guard… I think he’s a big game-changing guard. I think outside of the mental aspect, a guard has a little bit more impact than the center because guys are lined up going the right way. I think a really good guard gives you a little bit more options as an offensive unit. We saw him just flying around. I mean, pinballing against people, just using power, aggressiveness, even on a couple of the interceptions he made the tackle on the interception.”

“So just that level of physicality… he has a little bit of Richie Incognito to him where he’s just trying to be a bully… This offensive line unit needs that, and they need it at guard,” Newhouse continued. “I don’t understand… there’s got to be something internal that we just don’t know about. Rookies generally, you don’t want to give them a job necessarily. You want them to know what it’s like to earn [the job], especially if it’s up against the vet, but [Powers-Johnson] is not a rookie anymore. And so, I don’t know who it’s serving [with] Pete speaking like that…”

“He’s going to keep playing. He’s playing his tail off. You can tell he’s hungry. You can tell he wants to raise the level of the line and of the offense. He’s a guy that I’m not worried about. His energy, I think, will be contagious… but again, Pete playing this game I don’t understand.”

For what it’s worth, offensive coordinator Chip Kelly joked on Thursday that Powers-Johnson has a “really big” head right now.

With all that’s been going on with Powers’ Johnson, it was a little bit of an odd comment to make.

Moe Moton on X (formerly Twitter): “You know what they say, there’s a kernel of truth in jokes (or something like that). https://t.co/dlX6kKTeZP / X”

You know what they say, there’s a kernel of truth in jokes (or something like that). https://t.co/dlX6kKTeZP

If Kelly’s comments were entirely a joke, is it safe to say he was acknowledging Powers-Johnson played well on Sunday?

And if JPJ is playing well enough to get a big head, why does the coaching staff continue to talk like his job is only locked down for a week?

Meanwhile, the quarterback has already coughed up two games the Raiders could have won… but continues to get nothing but full public support from the coaching staff.

x: @raidersbeat