Geno Smith was supposed to be the short-term answer to the Raiders’ void at quarterback, and there has been some hopeful optimism that he might be the long-term answer, too.
Smith reuniting with Pete Carroll looked like the perfect jumpstart for both of their careers, but through the first five games of the season, it’s been an abject disaster.
The Raiders are 1-4 while Smith leads the NFL in interceptions by a wide margin, and Carroll’s hand-picked quarterback appears to be getting more uncomfortable each week.
There’s no obvious reason for Geno’s struggles, but his play has put the organization in an uncomfortable position. Raiders’ flagship radio host ‘JT the Brick’ spent a few segments on Monday talking about what has been holding back Smith and the offense, and the veteran host did his best to remain optimistic.
“If you’re saying that Geno doesn’t want this, then you don’t know Geno. I don’t know him well, but I know him enough to know he really is going through a tough time, and he wants this thing to work,” JT said on his Raider Nation Radio show on Monday.
“He’s going to fix it. He’s going to try to fix it, but I don’t know if he can. I don’t know if the offense is too complex for him, if the defenses are reading into his tendencies, and they just own that now,” JT continued.
“The other side of the football, the other team that gets paid to win, they’re just all over Geno right now, and Geno can’t help himself. He’s trying, but one of the interceptions he threw yesterday in the flat was one of the worst interceptions I’ve ever seen a Raider quarterback throw. He threw it into double coverage for a pick six, but the runner went out of bounds, and I said, wait, you cannot throw that pass. There’s two people right there. You threw it to them and that’s not very Geno like.”
JT added that he would give Smith at least through the Kansas City game to try and right the ship.
“I think you give Geno two more weeks,” JT said on his Raider Nation Radio show on Monday.
“I think you give Geno obviously this game. He’s coming home. An opportunity for a win against a Tennessee team that’s just won, so that ain’t a walkover. Believe me. We’ve all been down this road together. Nobody is a walkover in this league, especially at Allegiant Stadium. We got to win that game,” JT continued.
“And then if Geno bounces back and plays well in that game, then he’s the guy going into Kansas City as a veteran and the team usually plays pretty good in Kansas City, or hard. You got Geno there. If Geno can’t fix it by then, you make a quarterback change. I have no problem with that.”
x: @raidersbeat
Let’s be fair, look at the fact that his best receiver (Bowers) is hurt. Then look at who his wide receivers are. Then how about inconsistent protection this is what you get.
Not making excuses, but the NFL has been responsible for making football less violent. And, aggressive players can’t blow up sweeps, can’t touch certain quarterbacks, can’t hits in the secondary to break up plays etc.., That is the reason the Raiders have been the penalized team in the NFL. Excuses don’t put wins in the column but this is how I see it.
The man has 24 ints in his last 22 games that’s how I see it.
Well, I’m glad to hear that the player who has been bad is not trying to be bad, and would like to do better. I did not realize there was this contingent of people suggesting Geno was playing poorly on purpose and is happy with his play, but I’m glad JT was there to dispel that notion.
I just have a hard time believing he’s seeing anything from defenses he hasn’t seen before. I don’t know what the issue is. At the end of the day, he’s 35, and has mostly been pretty bad throughout his career. He had a couple of nice years in Seattle (with better skill position talent), but maybe those were outliers.