Raider fans are frustrated with Geno Smith and so was Peyton Manning on Monday night.
With the Raiders trailing 17-6 near the end of the second quarter on Monday night, Smith threw his only interception of the game, but it essentially ended up putting the game out of reach.
Peyton and Eli Manning were commenting live during the game and Peyton hated the decision by Smith to throw the ball downfield with Ashton Jeanty wide open in space.
“No. No. No. Eli, guess who was open? The check down again. Jeanty again on the swing route,” Manning said on ESPN’s Monday night Manning Cast.
“Same thing. Don’t get bored. Linebackers kept sinking. [When] they sink, check it down. They got their hands on it, tipped the ball. A good drive, too. He had a good drive going.”
Re-watching the play, there’s no question Manning was right.
Jeanty had about 20 yards of open space in front of him and the window to get the ball to Brock Bowers was small and closing quickly.
To Manning’s point, when the linebackers turned their back to follow Bowers, it was a perfect opportunity to get the ball to Jeanty for an easy five to 10 yards. With it being first down and more than 2 minutes remaining in the half, the timing of Smith’s gamble was unnecessary, and it was just the latest costly mistake made by the veteran quarterback this year.
After the game, Smith showed his frustration with “Monday morning quarterbacks” breaking down every play that he isn’t seeing open receivers.
“We got a lot of Monday morning quarterbacks who like to watch film and take screen shots [and] see when guys are open, so I’m sure you guys will see where guys are open,” Smith said after the Cowboys’ game.
“For me, again, I 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. The kids mess up as school, blame it on me. Car break down on the way to work, blame it on me.”
As it turned out this week, one of those “Monday morning quarterbacks” happened to be Peyton Manning.
For what it’s worth, Raiders head coach Pete Carroll continued to show his support for Smith on Tuesday, and it doesn’t appear a quarterback change is in the cards anytime soon.
x: @raidersbeat