Pete Carroll's first season in Las Vegas is not going well.
The Raiders are now 2-7 after dropping a Thursday Night Football showcase against the Broncos and any long-shot hopes of making the playoffs are barely flickering. Managing only seven points is simply not a recipe for winning football games with any type of consistency. And Carroll understands that.
“We’re not scoring enough points,” the Raiders coach said after the lss. “That’s about as obvious as you can get. . . . We’ve got to run the ball better . . . Chip was trying. He was staying with the running game to try to not let them tee off on us. We’ve got to score more.”
Impossible to argue that. Seven points are not enough. Neither are the zero the Raiders posted two weeks ago against the Chiefs. Or the six they mustered against the Colts or the nine they clawed out vs. the Chargers. Geno Smith has not been the game-changer the organization hoped for. First-round pick Ashton Jeanty has shown flashes, but not with the type or regularity or explosiveness one would hope from such a prized selection.
Thursday night saw the running back get 60 yards on 19 carries. Carroll has wanted the ground game to get established with more force and conviction this year and offensive coordinator Chip Kelly did manage to get the team 25 rushing attempts. But the points. The points were the problem as anyone could tell you—even one of the sharpest minds to ever patrol a sideline.
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