Despite having the highest-paid offensive coordinator in the league on the sideline (or more accurately, in the coaches’ box), the Raiders have featured one of the worst offenses in the NFL in the first half of the season, and it’s starting to feel like Chip Kelly might turn out to be a big whiff for the organization.
Kelly’s offensive scheme has taken criticism from analysts, former players, and even the head coach has questioned his play calling in recent weeks.
ESPN’s Dan Graziano said earlier in the month that there aren’t many around the league who have come away impressed with Chip Kelly’s scheme and the veteran coach isn’t putting players in the best positions to succeed.
“What I’m hearing from a lot from people around the league is that offensive coordinator Chip Kelly’s scheme isn’t creating enough advantages to overcome the Raiders’ personnel deficiencies,” Graziano said. “There’s no margin for error if Smith keeps turning the ball over as much as he has.”
Kelly’s offense has been called a “college offense” by at least one former player, and Sports Illustrated insider Hondo Carpenter was asked on his podcast this week if the offense under Kelly has been “too predictable and simple.”
Carpenter’s response was essentially a confirmation… and a little more.
“I have heard that criticism,” Carpenter said on the Las Vegas Raiders Insider podcast.
“I will tell you that if you go back to the Chargers game when there was an interception on the very first play of the game that the Chargers were completely anticipatory of a play like that… We were told that from people in the Chargers’ organization and I’ll just leave it there. But what I would say to you is, I have heard that criticism.”
The play Carpenter was referencing was the 7 seconds into the game in week 2 against the Chargers. It was Chargers single-high safety Alohi Gilman who covered tremendous ground to step in front of a seam route by Tre Tucker.
Watching how far Gilman traveled to make the play, it would make sense that he knew the play or route concept that was coming.
Going into week 9, Geno Smith is tied with Tua Tagovailoa for the league lead in interceptions (10) and it’s fair to wonder how much Kelly’s scheme has contributed to the worst season of Smith’s career.
Listening to head coach Pete Carroll talk to members of the media, he has been gentler on Smith in press conferences than he has been with Kelly, and it probably doesn’t require a big imagination to figure out where many in the Raiders’ building place the blame for the team’s struggling offense.
It’s too early in the season to start naming names, but if the Raiders don’t salvage something from the 2025 season (and do it soon), it’s going to be interesting to see how the storylines play out.
Whether the players are the problem or it’s someone else, the thought process behind paying an offensive coordinator $6 million per year is that he ought to be able to hold his own without having the most dynamic roster in the league.
x: @raidersbeat
Sounds like a scapegoat for Tom,Spy,Pete and a perfect cover for the ordinary, pedestrian QB Geno. Perfect scapegoat for not improving the OL in the off-season and for taking a pretty decent Center and moving him to guard and benching him for one of the worst guards in the league from last year ( the fact that he played with Brady years ago and was a draft pick of the TB Bucs when Spy was there means nothing by the way) in Cincinnati. Perfect scapegoat for playing J. Meredith at Center instead of JPJ. Perfect scapegoat for all of the terrible draft picks that Tom,Spy, and Pete chose. Perfect scapegoat for A Jeanty having a ordinary rookie season when after overdrafting him at #6 overall he’s billed as better than Barry,Saquon and every other RB in the history of the NFL. 11 total picks from last year and 1 is playing regularly, how Effing pathetic on a roster of miscasts and subpar NFL players. This is a much worse year than last year with AP and McDaniels 2nd year (half year). But at least we have 1 ,ONE I SAY, guy we can blame everything on. I’ve said it for years now, WE DESERVE BETTER! Giving Tom discounted ownership shares just to get him in the building and to give him franchise altering decision making ability has made the team worse. Mark threw another dart and it was once again at the wrong person. There was 1 guy to hire as HC this year and he’s in Chicago now, last year there was 1 guy to hire as HC and he’s in LA now. Over and over Mark thinks he’s making a great move but is just being given false information. Ever since undercutting JDR & Reggie for Gruden the team has gotten worse. Sell the team (not more to Tom) to a real owner who will hire real NFL people to lead the team. WE DESERVE BETTER!!!!