The Raiders fell 41-14 to the Chiefs on Monday night and even though they are only are only a half-game behind Kansas City for first place in the AFC West, it feels like the Raiders’ situation might be a lot worse than their record.
After all that the organization has endured in the last month, NBC broadcast analyst Cris Collinsworth said what many were thinking in the final minutes of the Raiders’ ugly loss to Kansas City.
“Maybe it’s just too much,” Collinsworth said. “All the things that have happened this season. It’s just too much to expect.”
The players haven’t made excuses after an unthinkable month of drama and tragedy, but it’s hard to imagine that the locker room hasn’t been affected. If nothing else, the absence of Henry Ruggs’ speed has clearly clipped the wings of the Raiders once-explosive offense.
As for interim head coach Rich Bissacia, he was looking like a shoo-in to be officially named head coach after the season, but now it’s hard to feel like anyone’s job is safe in the organization. The players and coaches love Bissacia, but his head-coaching honeymoon certainly came to an end on Sunday night.
Now it’s time to see how Bisaccia and the team can respond to the adversity of losing football games… on top of already losing Henry Ruggs to prison… and losing Damon Arnette to threats of gun violence… and Jon Gruden to un-exemplary emails… and who knows whatever else might be going on that we haven’t already learned about.
twitter: @raidersbeat
Once again the Raiders against the world. Seems everythings going wrong . Coaching needs to be a priority. Referees always hardest against them. The league needs to look at this.
How do have more loses than win over a 7 year span and still have your job?So many other qb’s have lost there jobs but Derek carr does’nt he never gets blamed fof the raiders continued failure,WHY?
WHEN are the raiders finally gonna realize he is not the answer and MOVE ON
move on to whom? so many other holes to do with other than the qb
Derek Carr is just another Jeff George.A failure,give up on Carr quit wasting your money
When a Patient dies a doctor doesn’t get to go home he has to go on to the next patient, Same with First responders, On to the next call. These guys need to figure it out. They are Men. Compartmentalize and move on. Don’t make excuses. I don’t get to make them at my job.
I think Ruggs touched DC’S heart, along with the whole team. First Gruden, then Ruggs, who called Carr and Renfrow the night of horrific accident which I’m sure they wish things happened at the call. I think Carr wears others hearts on his….and it’s been too much. I do hope They keep Bisaccia, he is so even keeled
Gruden is being missed. Without him calling the plays, the raiders r weak. Ruggs is also being missed.
Just win baby!
The OL is weak, and it was a BIG question mark coming into the season. That question is now being answered. Without a decent line this team is going nowhere fast. Bad gamble by Mayock and Gruden to roll with this group.
Not sure where to start but expected the games outcome! With or without the distractions,they are who they are. Not sure what GM or HC can fix this franchise other than your up to date (coaches) influences! No run game and suspect @ stopping the run is a bad recipe for starters! QB is average and so is team and coaching staff! Fans have to accept it and hope for new ownership in the future! This team is going nowhere anytime soon! Good rb,s on upcoming schedule and raiders won’t stop them! Let’s be real” Raider Nation! Truth hurts but it’s fair! 7- 10 record in the end and that’s being kind!!!!
The raiders do the same thing every year. Start out hot and the lose 4-6 games in a row. I’ve seen better offense at the high school level. We have no missed direction, no Jet sweeps, no counters. Nothing. Play calling sucks!! The offense can score 40 but the defense will give up 42!
Come on raiders lets get it together
Look at the calendar. It’s just time for their annual second half of season collapse. Marshall Crawford is right. Gotta get new ownership.
Been saying that for a few years now. Mark just doesn’t have a clue. He needs to first of all, hire a REAL GM that can put together a talented scout team to draft us some real talent. Because no matter who they hire as the next coach, he will not be successful with this current no-heart limited-talent squad. Hopefully, they can hire a young up and coming coach that can change this losing no-heart culture.
Good evening RAIDER NATION. This loss really hurt. Let me start from the beginning, somewhat. Gruden should of never been rehired. Old philosophy that didn’t work especially when you have the wrong players for what you want to do. Very unimaginative play calling especially in the red zone which has continued even with him gone. Is Carr more the answer or more the problem. Blame Mark for bringing Chuckie back however we suck at drafting 1st and 2nd round guys. OUR TACKLING IS ATROCIOUS AND HAS BEEN FOR AT LEAST 15 years. Give Louis Riddick a chance at GM! Keep DC Bradley. HC. I’m not sure yet. I still love Hue Jackson as OC even though I think he has that spot on a college team or someone else with IMAGINATION. Our O line is terrible. And yes the RAIDERS need to make a public stink about the horrible calls against Max. What was Ruggs thinking, wish I knew and more importantly could of stopped him. Feel for the victim’s family. You don’t know how much I miss the RAIDERS of the seventies. When will be SB Winners again???????
BS. If the team had ANY character it wouldn’t put up these type of pathetic performances. Glad Collinsworth isn’t
our coach, he’d mail in the remaining games. The good news: Gruden, the man who built this no-talent no-heart
squad is gone. The bad news: the stupid guy that hired him, and moved the team to neutral Las Vegas, is still
at the helm. Mark Davis has no clue.
Doesn’t matter who the players are. Doesn’t matter who the coaches are. Doesn’t matter who the GM is. Doesn’t matter who owns the team. And it doesn’t’ matter where they play. The Raiders suck. They’ve sucked since 1986 with the exception of three 12-4 seasons, one 11-5 season, and a couple 10-6 (wow) seasons. That’s only SIX double digit winning seasons and THREE playoff wins in THIRTY-FIVE YEARS!! Oh yeah, and one super bowl appearance where they got trashed. Las Vegas can have them.
The franchise is in shambles, leadership questions everywhere you look.
Vegas is going to be a tough town to build a cohesive group and win consistently, just too many distractions. The home field advantage is lacking, way too many opponent fans in the stands. I hope I am wrong but seems the early returns point in that direction.
Davis AND the NFL owners were blinded by $$$, not surprisingly. I guess the question is being answered the Raiders will NOT be able to recreate the Oakland home field advantage in Las Vegas. NOT the Raiders I grew up watching in the 70’s, but then again not the NFL of those days either.
Why don’t you all pull together and question why the Refs magically don’t see all the penalties that should be thrown against the teams the Raiders play, but they magically see and they throw them against the Raiders. When is that ever going to get fixed? Face it, the Raiders will never see a winning season when Goodell, the Ref’s and the NFL as a whole see the “Davis” family no longer associated with the Raiders!!
I’ve been a Raiders fan since 1968 and I know my team. I could address past decisions but that would not help fix the edition of the Raiders. So, I will address how the Raiders can “fix” this season and possibly, or not, get into the playoffs this year. Effective immediately, allow Marcus Mariota to start. What harm could it do and the Raiders need a boost, right now. Now is the time to see if Mariota can offer a spark of renewed optimism to this team. Further, unless you are a believer that Derek Carr is the future of this team, the Raiders need to look at all the options available to them. Or, to quote the late great Al Davis, “…the greatness of the Raiders is their future.” Since I’m talking about Raiders quarterbacks here, I’ll go all in. If the Raiders are serious about making Derek Carr their quarterback of the future, serious consideration needs to be given to the detailed video done by Kurt Warner, this past summer, detailing what Derek Carr needs to do to improve his efficiency and productivity.
I said, in a previous comment, that Darren Waller is like an old comfortable pair of jeans relative to Derek Carr’s targeting him in the offense but that Derek Carr has a relatively brand new pair of jeans that he needs to start breaking in, 23 year old Foster Moreau. Last year, Jason Witten took Foster Moreau’s snaps and now is the time for this current edition of the Raiders to go retro to a philosophy that they successfully employed in the past with Raymond Chester and Dave Casper and Todd Christensen, the double tightend formation and target Foster Moreau more. Additionally, everyone of the Raiders wide receivers needs to be targeted more, not just the select few that get targeted every week. Dillon Stoner, Marcell Ateman and Zay Jones all should be targeted at least once, if not twice per quarter even if they don’t make a catch. Why??? because every team’s defensive coordinator knows that Derek Carr only targets three receivers every game, Darren Waller, Hunter Renfrow and Bryan Edwards. Without diversity, the Raiders continually set themselves up as the most dreaded word in pro football, predictable.
In case anyone is watching or keeping score, it took the Kansas City Chiefs 50 years before they repeated as champions. The Green Bay Packers had a 30 year drought before they repeated as champions. The Miami Dolphins are 47 years removed from a championship and currently, the Raiders are in a 38 year drought. Obviously, the current edition of the Raiders are in a transitional phase and that transitory phase needs to be accelerated. To me, that entails better play calling, better management and better scouting. Whether anyone agrees with me or not, one thing is for certain, the Raiders have been trending downwards for some time now, change is inevitable and if the Raiders are to return to championship form, wholesale changes need to be made, top to bottom or the Raiders will continue to be bottom feeders for years to come. See the Detroit Lions and New York Jets.