It’s been a disappointing start to the season for the Raiders as Friday’s loss to the Chiefs eliminated Las Vegas from the playoffs at the earliest point in the season since Jon Gruden’s first year back with the team in 2018.
A lot has gone wrong, but if there was one mulligan the organization would like to take, it was the decision to hire former offensive coordinator Luke Getsy.
It was the decision that ruined the 2024 season, according to Sports Illustrated insider Hondo Carpenter.
“Coming in, the Raiders fully anticipated it was Aiden O’Connell’s job, but they promised Gardner, if you beat him out, you can have it. And what happened was both quarterbacks looked terrible under Luke Getsy,” Carpenter said on the Las Vegas Raiders Insider podcast.
“The hiring of Luke Getsy and all of that offensive stuff totally ruined this franchise’s 2024 season. [It was] a horrible decision. And now you see Aiden come back after he’s gone five weeks, and bam, he’s in and looking better than old Aiden. Go back and watch what he did last year on Christmas Day compared to what he did on Black Friday. He doesn’t even look like the same quarterback.”
Aside from the hiring of Getsy, the other mistake the Raiders made was the decision to start Gardner Minshew at the beginning of the season.
Minshew had the worst season of his six-year NFL career in 2024, but it’s possible that the Getsy effect was the biggest contributor to his failure. Every aspect of the offense took a step back under Getsy and the proof of that has been evident in the way the offense has performed since he left.
Looking ahead, the next five weeks will be critical for the Raiders, not just because they want to turn the season around (or secure a top draft pick), but also because they need to get a look at the quarterback position with a better group of offensive coaches in place.
Raider fans might not want to hear it, but reaching for a quarterback at the top of the draft could be a decision that sets the organization back another couple of years.
The consensus has been that the Raiders need to find a franchise quarterback in the upcoming draft, but would they consider taking a player like Colorado WR/CB Travis Hunter if O’Connell continues to play the way he did on Thursday?
Probably not, but for the first time since the start of the season, the Raiders are getting to assess their quarterback situation behind a group of offensive coaches that seem to know what they are doing.
To his credit, Getsy handled a rough start to the season with professionalism, but his time with the Bears and Raiders ended any chances of him being an offensive coordinator in the NFL again anytime soon.
It would be interesting to know why he was so ineffective with both teams, but the better question might be… why did the Raiders make the decision to hire Getsy after being fired by the Bears in the first place?
The decision didn’t look great 10 months ago, and it looks even worse now. The good news, though, is that interim offensive coordinator Scott Turner seems to have the offense moving in the right direction.
For head coach Antonio Pierce, an offensive resurgence might be exactly what he needs to keep his job for another year.
Aside from a few mishaps, the Raiders played one of their best games of the season against the Chiefs on Thursday and, arguably, looked like a better team than Kansas City.
The schedule gets a little easier for Pierce and the Raiders over the next five weeks, and they have only one opponent remaining with a winning record: the season finale at home against the Chargers.
x: @raidersbeat
With Getty’s scheme Minchew was the answer. AOC would be six feet down done under that incompetent waste of coaching space.
I completely agree… This is the Worst QB Draft class in Years. The top two are Late first round Talents at best but more like 2nd rounders. THere are Teams Desperate Every Year for a Young Cap Friendly QB SO…Instead Trade down to one of these and Get Picks!!! Draft OL and DL… that is How Great teams Build. Houston built a Team and THEN found a QB. Follow the Winners. I also might help to once again If the Raiders get some Talent at the Coaching Positions!!!
They are STILL finding ways to lose, as Friday’s game showed. Also, the HC doesn’t seem to know how to manage a game. I’ll ask this question, again, Exactly what does AP bring to the table as HC? It will be difficult to beat out the other division foes if our HC can’t figure out how to manage the game correctly.
I agree with everything this writer said. Getsy was the problem. I’ve always been a big fan of AOC but Gardner did have his worst season in terms of the number of interceptions he’s thrown. The team made an effort to sign Kliff Kingsbury, which would’ve been a match made in heaven for him and Gardner. But he opted to sign with the Commanders instead. They both understood the Air Raid offense and that would’ve made all the difference in the world. But Kingsbury is with another team and history has made it’s judgement. I feel bad for Gardner for having an asshole as an offensive coordinator. But you can’t change the past.
I just hope that whomever has the largest voice in making decisions this off-season has some type of overall philosophy and a sound decision making process that combines an honest (and accurate!) assessment of the current Raiders roster, proper roster building strategy (including positional value), and takes in the totality of the organization’s performance (and not just the final few games). This is what has been mostly missing in the Mark Davis era. No more platitudes about the “Raider Way” or getting back to “Raider Football.” Just sound philosophies on what works in the modern NFL, where the roster is at, and which positions need to be given priority, and who the best choice to be the Head Coach of the next GOOD Raiders team might be. If Tom Brady can do that, great. But it can’t be the seat-of-his-pants management style Mark Davis usually operates from, nor can it just be yes men and other people involved who would not hold similar positions in other, more successful organizations.
Its’ too ridiculous to believe Luke Getsy ruined this team’s ’24 season or that they didn’t know they needed to get a decent, good or star QB before the season started is way too well, outrageous/ ridiculous!
For over 10 years fans have accepted that Al ruined the Raiders and they needed a change but what they didn’t understand was the media/ NFL still had issues with the Davis family and the league wants our ‘brand’. Moving on doesn’t mean that you accept anything/ everything Raiders/ NFL says we should do. BTW…what did Al do/ didn’t do to ruin Raiders? he had decent staff, he was a genius and he had a well paid, good-outstanding roster most of those last nine years of his life/ career.
A genius/ veteran GM/ owners- Al
A guy who was a super star and winner w/ 0 front office experience- Brady/ Seymore
A guy who helped build the modern NFL and helped create Raidernation- Al
A guy who is called “the g.o.a.t.” and who is a super star and getting more love/ fame as a retired player but still w/ no front office experience Brady/ Seymore
A guy who has built some of the best teams in NFL history and found some of the best coaches/ GMs’ in pro sports history- Al
A guy who has seven SBs’ and is a legend but without any history of being a student of football or knowing how to scout/ judge college talent.
A guy who was loyal to his players and wanted to give his fans real NFL football and wanted to win- Al
A guy who is the NFL’s golden boy and is a marketing giant and making NFL big money- Brady/ Seymore
Fans want to win but you don’t need to get conned by the NFL who ain’t never tried to help the Raiders. Fans need to question the Raiders’ moves. Just because a guy won on the field don’t mean he can build a team. We have a good ownership stop blaming MD for what his employees have done. You really gonna support a guy w/ no experience as an exec run a front office?