The Raiders lost a heartbreaker on Thursday night to the Broncos and there has been no shortage of talking points (around both teams, in fact) in the days since.
One of the talking points in the last 48 hours has been the quarterback situation in Las Vegas and how Geno Smith seems to be playing on a longer leash than anyone on the roster.
On Thursday night, Smith could barely jog in the fourth quarter, but head coach Pete Carroll refused to take him out of the game.
Flagship radio host ‘JT the Brick’ believes the decision came down to loyalty.
“When it comes to Geno Smith, I continue to say how poorly Geno is playing. I was in the building all morning. Geno obviously got injured [and] we wish him well. Geno wanted to come back into the game. Geno wanted to play for his teammates,” JT said on his Raider Nation Radio show on Friday.
“How was Geno allowed to come back in the game and play in that game when Kenny Pickett was traded for a fifth-round pick? I look and I say the Raiders traded for a quarterback who’s played in bad weather and could play in Pittsburgh where he’s bounced around, I said, ‘Why isn’t Kenny Pickett coming into this game?”
“Well, we now have the answer,” JT continued. “Pete Carroll’s loyalty to Geno and Geno’s loyalty to Pete Carroll is the reason why Geno was allowed to come back into the game. So I look at this and I say to myself, ‘Loyalty got in the way of a sporting event last night. I’m all about loyalty with my friends and family and this radio show. Last night, loyalty got in the way of the game. Geno Smith should have been forced to the bench because he was injured and not capable to play anywhere near his ability…”
Coming into the season, everyone knew about Carroll affinity for Smith, but it’s been a strange dynamic in recent weeks considering how poorly Smith has played.
Furthermore, as JT pointed out, the Raiders gave up a fifth-round pick for Pickett before the season.
Wasn’t Thursday night’s situation exactly the kind of situation he was brought in for?
As it turned out, Pickett’s highlight of the night was his ‘Dr. Phil’ intervention between Smith and Raheem Mostert after the veteran running back appeared to miss a blocking assignment that led to a sack and turnover on downs in the second quarter.
Looking ahead, it will be interesting to see how much longer Carroll can hold off on going to one of the backup quarterbacks.
Carroll understands that he could be opening Pandora’s Box by benching Smith, and that’s probably part of the reason he has avoided that scenario. But at some point, the Raiders’ coaching staff has to show they are serious about everyone on the roster competing for playing time.
The Raiders host the Cowboys in week 11 on Monday. If that game doesn’t go better than what played out in Denver on Thursday night, it’s going to be a tough sell to stick with Smith for another week.
x: @raidersbeat
Carroll destroyed what was left of this team. He’s got his guys and the rest don’t matter to him. He should be fired ASAP but we all know Spytek doesn’t control anything.
He’s the new Josh McDaniels. Only Mark can take a crap sandwich and add more crap to it
The Brady Bunch has actually made the team worse, but highly unlikely that Brady’s buddy Spytek gets fired after just one season. Such a lost cause!
Mark is too stupid to realize he made the team worse when he came in here & dumped AP(for beating him in the superbowl) & Telesco cuz he would’ve never agreed to listen to a dumb arse like Brady.
Good ole Tom couldn’t have been bothered to go to the game last Thursday. Why is he here again?
It does seem like Spytek had to defer to Pete. Once again Mark doesn’t set the chain of command correctly. He’s so flipping dumb
Jeanty has legitimate gripes about the blocking in front of him. Geno, on the other hand, has made the line look far worse at pass blocking than they’ve actually been. His timing in terms of getting rid of the ball sucks. He tries to escape the pocket before he needs to, and then acts like 2020 Patrick Mahomes, but with a pick or bad sack instead of a big play at the end. One thing I’ve learned in my 43 years of life. I don’t care who you are, or whether you outrank someone in a hierarchy… if you go after someone like that, you better be taking care of your own end of things or people will resent your ***.
Mostert might have missed a block. Geno’s been missing reads and throws all season!
Completely agree. Of course Henderson just had a big day. Again, I wanted Membou in the 1st round. Of course we screw that up
JT the Richard is the biggest punk. He’s an even bigger shill than Vinny.
The idiot compared Geno to Blake Snell & now he’s saying he’s got to be benched.
This organization would get a record purchase from intelligent people but Mark has to hold us hostage.
I can’t but try to imagine what the conversation will be like, by Raiders ownership and management, after the end of the season. What is certain is that, irrespective of their regular season record, this team is still profitable. So, as long as the money keeps coming in eventhough the team keeps losing games, the ownership doesn’t have to commit to fielding and a competitive team.
In truth, given that scenario, ownership keeps stacking up the cash, win or lose. For ownership, it’s a win win situation, either way. Only we devoted fans care about something as trivial as winning games. Now that I understand the economics of owning an NFL franchises, it makes perfectly good sense. Hiring high profile people only adds to the allure of the team but the real issue here is the financial profit and loss statement.
One thing you can say about the Raiders last year is AP has the locker room he had them playing hard for him and Tom the GM he had couple of good pics like Brock, JPJ, and of course they fired them hired Carol and son the offensive line coach and then passed on a QB like Jaxson Dart who could be offensive rookie of the Year but they took Genty instead who probably won’t get a 1000 yards and now we are headed for another firestorm of firing and of course like every other year looking for a coach to put a team together, don’t forget they let all the good young players leave year after year instead of spending that money on young talent, so raider fans get your popcorn ready because here we go again, do you think AP would come back that was our first mistake letting him go
I wish AP would come back. Mark’s still paying him.