After another three-interception performance from Geno Smith in week 4, the veteran quarterback could soon be on the hot seat, and some thought Raiders head coach Pete Carroll should have pulled him from the game on Sunday.
Smith’s turnovers were the difference in Sunday’s game and at one point late in the fourth quarter, it looked like Carroll was having a conversation with backup quarterback Kenny Pickett about entering the game.
With 1:34 left in regulation, after the Bears had taken a 25-24 lead, the CBS cameras caught Carroll walking over to Pickett, who had his helmet on, and the two had a short conversation.
At face value, Pickett looked like a player who was getting ready to go into the game, but unless Smith was dealing with an injury or couldn’t return to the game for some reason, the timing wouldn’t have made a lot of sense.
The conversation could have been about anything, but it had to be important because Carroll sought out Pickett and the exchange happened just before the most crucial possession of the game.
Carroll was asked after the game if he considered putting Pickett into the game, and the 74-year-old head coach didn’t dance around the answer. He said it was never a consideration.
It’s no secret that Carroll and Smith have a close relationship, and Carroll said his plan from the day he was hired in Las Vegas was to bring Smith to the Raiders.
”I was trying to get that done from the moment this thing happened. I was hoping we could do something [to get Geno Smith],” Carroll said in May.
“Geno was a backup for all those years… so there was a lot of times where we had to do stuff together to keep him going and he was keeping me going , but I was keeping him going. What he demonstrated to me [was] this remarkable connection in spirit to be ready knowing that the very next play he may be in the game. He never forgot that. His resolve about that I thought was so exceptional that when he got his turn I was thrilled for him…”
Considering the Raiders don’t have any exciting options at quarterback behind Smith, there’s a good chance the coaching staff will be patient with their $85 million quarterback.
Additionally, if Smith was the quarterback Carroll was pounding the table for from the start, how likely is he to bench Smith after a month and essentially acknowledge the decision to trade for him was a mistake?
Nevertheless, if Smith doesn’t start protecting the ball soon, he isn’t going to leave his head coach much of an option.
Carroll was paid to win football games and last week the primary reason it didn’t happen was the performance from his starting quarterback.
x: @raidersbeat
Carroll is a senile idiot. The Joe Biden of the NFL. Sticking with a QB who throws 3 interceptions a game is insanity. What is he doing besides ruining this team?
He’s horrible. Only thing worse is Brady…who’s not even committed to the team
The ONE constant thru all these miserable losing seasons has been none other than Mark Davis! No matter what he tries, it never works out!? Maybe Brady will eventually build a winner here, but it hasn’t started well!
I don’t for one second think Brady can build anything. He just wants to play GM & he’s not even fully committed to the team. He’s an announcer, he’s in a flag football tournament, he announced the other day some new deal with Hertz & between all these jobs he’s gonna run a NFL team.
Only Mark Davis could be this stupid to make this hire. All these other athletes like Michael Jordan, Isiah Thomas failed & they were solely doing their owner, GM, team president job.
It’s embarrassing, how many highly successful entrepreneurs would love to buy this team & put smart people in? We could get the next Jerry Buss, we could get the Guggenheim group to complete their brand purchases but we are flipping stuck with Mark the jock sniffer.
The very rich owner did you forget that? Love all the raider haters this year again al loves you all more for it go raiders
thake a look at the orange buffoon…. hes dying before our eyes
Brady doesn’t have a clue to how to build a team. Carroll was a terrible hire. Utterly awful. The fact that he hired his son to coach the O line should tell you everything.
Your right the son needs to go and a lot of raider haters too maybe cheer for another team your times up here
Truth.
Look, I’m not in favor of putting in another back up since he’s not the future. I’m going to address the elephant in the room, why not play Cam Miller. He has a strong arm and is mobile. He might be the future. We’ll never know with him sitting on the practice squad. Who knows giving him a chance may turn out to be CJ Stroud or Jaylin Daniels. Just food for thought.
Your right the son needs to go and a lot of raider haters too maybe cheer for another team your times up here
👍
Some of you guys need to get a clue. Just because life long devoted Raiders fans, like myself who has been a Raiders fan since 1968, criticize Raiders ownership and management for epic bad decisions doesn’t mean we are Raiders haters. What we are is fans who have supported this team for years through all the ups and downs and desperately want to see this team return to prominence. If critizing ownership and management comes across to you as Raider hating then so be it. Truthfully, I hate those Raider fans that are blindly loyal to the ineptitude that has become synonymous with this once proud franchise.
And, what other recourse do we fans, who have supported this franchise through years of ineptness and bad decision after bad decision have? While I can believe that Raiders ownership and management might want to put this franchise on the right track again, what is for certain is that both have failed miserably for the past 20 years. I’ve said it before and will say it again, how is it that the smallest NFL market franchise, the Green Bay Packers, can consistently field a COMPETITIVE team while the richest NFL franchises, the Raiders among them, with all their financial resources cannot? Just goes to prove that even goo gabs of money can’t buy you common sense.
49ers are ahead of the Rams 14 to nothing can you say rigged!