RAIDERS SQUAD SHOW: Las Vegas Raiders vs Jacksonville Jaguars RECAP | Progress or More Problems?

RAIDERS SQUAD SHOW: Las Vegas Raiders vs Jacksonville Jaguars RECAP | Progress or More Problems?

Hey, what’s up, Raider Nation? I’m Chantel Chand and the Raiders went for it in overtime with that two-point conversion. They didn’t get it done, but what blows my mind is that Tyler Lockit was open. We’re going to get into that in this episode today, so keep it locked here on the Lockdown Network. Raider Nation, Professor Kennedy here along with Q. Look, halfway the season’s over. You got to make some changes. didn’t come out the way we wanted after the by-week, but we’ll talk about what I’m hoping the Raiders do to their chances, maybe get a win sometime in the rest of the season. Run the ball, run the ball, run the ball. Still would like to see more of a commitment to the running game from Chip Kelly and the Raiders. We’ll jump into that on the Raiders. Raider Nation, it’s time. This is the Raiders Squad. Everything Las Vegas Raiders every week. Covering all the big hits and gamechanging plays from the death star in the way only the Lockdown Podcast Network can. Commitment to excellence starts here. The Raider Squad Show starts now. Hey, what’s up, Raider Nation? Remember, if you like the content, make sure to hit that like and subscribe button. You can also follow us on our social media channels. you’ll see in the description below the ways that you can connect us. And remember, this is also an interactive show. So, make sure if you’re watching this on YouTube or even if you’re listening to this, you can always hop on to our YouTube channel after, drop some comments, and we may be able to get to that in another episode, a later episode. But keep in mind, in the final segment, the fourth segment, Link and Q are going to be taking some of your questions and comments. So, please drop them in the chat right now. Also, we do want to say we do appreciate you for continuing to help this channel and the show grow. So whether locked on Raiders with Q is your first listen of the day and the Squad Show is your second listen of the day, we do appreciate you as well for continuing to support the channel and the show. Lots to get into in this episode. As I mentioned, Q and Link are going to be answering some of your questions in that final segment. So, make sure to keep those questions and comments coming. We do have to talk about whether or not uh Gino Smith is still going to be that guy after, you know, this game against Jacksonville. But if you look at the stats, you know, if you just look at the stats, it looked pretty decent. So, we’re going to get into that or maybe if there was a chance uh for it being AOC or pick it time, but we’re also going to be talking about the trade deadline. And uh guys, I think first obviously we have to break down what we saw this weekend. And the Raiders went for it. They went for the win, which I completely agree with after coming off of a by-week, but they weren’t able to get it done. And what blew my mind was that Tyler Lockett was wide open. I thought they brought him in because of his chemistry with Gino. And he was wide open and Gino uh did not look his way. Just your guys’ thoughts and your takeaways first on that final play. Before we get to that, really quickly, today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you’ll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. So, we’ll go with you first there, Link. What were your thoughts on the Raiders going forward and Tyler Locket being wide open? You know, first of all, the the game in itself just mirrored everything that we’ve come to expect with Raider football. I mean, you know, you have this wonderful drive where you get a touchdown and you miss the extra point. Yeah. How many times has that happened? But it seems to happen to the Raiders more times than not. And then this game, you know, unfolds the way it does, Chantel and Q. And next thing you know, JT and I are sitting up and we’re getting ready for the postgame show and we’re sitting up knowing that the Raiders are going to score. Just had that feeling. The Raiders are going to march down the field. They’re going to score. They need a touchdown. They’re going to score and you absolutely have to go for two because you cannot play for the tie. So, it was the right call. But just so many things that unfolded in that game. And look, much to your point, we’ll talk about it later with Gino Smith and stuff like that. It’s time for the Raiders to act. They made some adjustments yesterday, but it wasn’t good enough to get it done. This is a very average team that has to learn how to play a lot better. The defense got worn down. Offense couldn’t, you know, came through in spats, but not consistent enough. The Raiders put up, you know, decent total, but it wasn’t enough. So, a lot of things to break down from this last game. What do you think, Q? Yeah, I mean, there’s it was one of those that you knew that they were going to go down and score like Lincoln said. I mean, you could just feel it that there was, you know, no resistance really from Jacksonville. thought that the play calling to get them down into scoring range worked really well. Raheem Moser did a really good job when it came to kickoffs. I mean, my man had five kickoffs for over 200 yards. So, as an average of 40 and he had a 54 yard as a long one. So, uh I mean that was all good, but when you knew it was going to come down to the two-point conversion, I agree 100% that you got to go for it there. Uh if they had done that around like four minutes left in in, you know, overtime, then that’s one thing. But, I mean, with the time that was left on the clock, there’s no reason to play for a tie. That doesn’t make any sense. So go for the win. Lock it was open like you said. Jacobe was open. There was a chance that that uh Gino could have probably ran it in if he wanted to. I mean, there was so many different options, but it just didn’t come to fruition. You got to tip the cap, too. The Jaguar defender who knocked the ball down. Just anticipation. But that’s just kind of the story of the Raiders season. True story. I mean, you know, it’s like teams that are really good find ways to win that game. Teams that are bad find ways to lose that game. And the Raiders just came up short and just kind of showed you that they have glimpses of being great. Brock Bowers is obviously a big difference maker when he’s back. Ashton Genty when he touches the ball uh is a good thing, right? Good things happen when he touches the ball. It just wasn’t to be for the Raiders once again and they dropped to two and six. Yeah, Q I think you said it perfectly like this has been what the Raiders season has been. And that loss to me was exactly how the Raiders season has gone. But it was a heartbreaking loss. But I do want to say that I thought the offense did look a little bit better. And of course you mentioned Brock Bowers. He just changes the offense automatically because I think in that game I think for me he really proved that he’s the best tight end in the league just the way that he was going off in that game. Just your thoughts on what you guys think about the offense after the byee and if you do feel like there were some improvements. We’ll go with you first, Link. Yeah, there were improvements. They they came out with the the adjustment that we’re going to get the ball out of Gino Smith’s hands quicker. All right. And they did that in the first half. Jacksonville made some adjustments in the second half that kind of took some of those things away and then the offense kind of stalemated. But we did see some positives and this is the great thing that it’s not just Brock Bowers, but it’s Michael Mayer. You get Trey Tucker involved. We’ve seen this total offense get involved. If Gino Smith is not so shell shocked and so, you know, headstrong, fixated on one person. He doesn’t stare down his routes. There are opportunities there. But we’re still coming into our own guys because, you know, I said earlier I would know the identity of this team. Gina was still shell shocked from all the hits he’s taken. Yeah. And he had a perfectly good opportunity in yesterday’s game to run and get the touchdown because the man the the Jacksonville Jaguars were playing man coverage. Their backs were turned to him and he tried to throw the ball in in a tight window. And I I I play that as he’s been hit so many times. He doesn’t want to be hit anymore. Yeah. He’s not a good slider. Yes, he can he can run, but he’s not necessarily known as a mobile quarterback. So this is still the discovery of this offense is still trying to work the chemistry and the cohesiveness together. You saw more production on a Ashton Jettenti because you were able to have Brock Bowers. So you see when you have oneonone match up with a safety over the hole Gino wants to go to Brock one way or the other all the time and Brock made some incredible catches. Absolutely phenomenal especially the one touchdown grab. So we know what kind of stud he is but we also saw in the game Michael Mayer was wide open in a seam route. You don’t see that happen for most tight ends. So, there’s something to be said about the the 11, the 12, even the 13 personnel they ran. They did s show a good showing to me, guys, especially in the first half. They just didn’t have enough adjustments in the second half really to capitalize on the opportunity and the defense got worn down. Didn’t have a whole lot of opportunities to play. Look at the time of possession. The offense makes a huge difference when 89’s out there. I mean, it’s just it’s just that’s just the reality of it. When 89’s out there, everyone is better. With that being said, I still don’t think that they ran the ball enough. I still don’t think that they were had a commitment to the run game. Uh Genty started off the game two carries, 17 yards, right? There was a point where he was averaging about nine yards a carry, then fourth and one, they decide to roll Gino out and it goes incomplete. Like there’s just there to me there’s still it’s almost a resistance from Chip Kelly. And I I’m I’m just saying this from the naked eye looking at it. Just almost seems like he just refuses to have a true commitment to running the ball. I mean, Genty to end the game with what 15 carries, it’s just not enough. Just not enough. He’s that he’s that kind of guy. He needs more carries. And I know Brock’s back and I know everyone wants to feed Brock, but there was multiple games where when you have multiple routes being ran and and Brock is the under, all of a sudden one level behind him, the second level, you see Jacobe wide open or you see Michael Mayer in the in the scene. But Gino was so fixated on getting the ball to 89, which is a good thing. Again, when he has the ball, good things happen. That’s why he got into the end zone three times. But then you leave a lot of meat out there as well and you leave a lot of opportunity. And you know, you see them get down to the one yard line and they end up having to settle for a 27 yard field goal. Like that can’t that kind of stuff can’t happen. Uh Lincoln’s talked about it so many times. Short yardage, running the ball and short yardage is still a problem for the Raiders. And even Genty, as much as I want to see him get the rock, he’s down there by the goal line. They get it to him, boom, push back for a yard. You know what I mean? Then immediately it’s like that’s almost chips. Get out of jail pass. All right, that didn’t work. Let’s go do something else. Let’s throw the ball. So they still got to figure that out. Short yardage has been a problem. and true commitment to the run game still isn’t there yet. Yeah. And it kind of bothers me because we seen Genty have success and even on that play when it was fourth and one and they decided, you know, Gino’s going to throw the ball there. Even though they were getting stuffed sometimes, I just felt like I I would die on a hill where I rather see Genty run the ball than Gino throw it. And I only say that because Gino threw it like close. I think P had 39 attempts. And Ash and Genty, as you mentioned, had what was it 13? like 15 I think 15 carries. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So, 15 carries and he also had a couple of receptions, five receptions as well. But that’s not enough. Like why is Gino throwing it close to 40 times? 39 times, sorry. And Ashton Genti is not getting the ball. And we we kind of talked about this. You know, there’s only one ball. Link always says that. So, you know, there’s there’s only going to be a few times where so many guys get the ball. But when Genti is having success, I feel like they kind of go away from that. Do you guys feel like that maybe Chip just doesn’t want to commit to the run game because there has been no commitment? There’s no trust. No trust. Yeah, there’s no trust because half the time it’s either feast or famine. You know, you you you see what you get. There are times where you have a tremendous breakout. The hole opens up magically. Oh my gosh, where have this been? And we saw it, you know, yesterday’s game and then next thing you know, there’s absolutely nothing there. Penetration, guys getting pushed back. This is this offensive line has not consistently won the line of scrimmage and control the line of scrimmage. There has been there have been guys that are seeping in getting penetration, getting in the back field, making it hard for the running backs to cut even once they first get the football. So, there’s no commitment to the run because there’s no trust in the run. Yeah. Chip Kelly, in my opinion, believes that I have a quarterback who’s accurate most of the time. Yes, he takes chances and throws it in the double and triple coverage or sitting there pulling out my hair. I know I’m up there watching like, oh, what are you doing? Oh, no. Too many white shirts around. But but at the same point because you have this number of playmakers, you have your Brock Bowers, you have your Michael Mayer, you have your Trey Tucker, you have these guys coming in, even Ashton Genty coming out of the back field. There are things that you want to do to get the ball out of your quarterback’s hands. I get it. I get it. You did that in the first half. You had success. You were able to move the ball. We still have things we have to work on with the short yardage and everything else getting in the goal line, but we saw that you can move the ball. Now they make adjustments. Jacksonville makes adjustments. They’re taking those short routes away. You see how you have the corners and the safeties that are playing up close to the line of scrimmage, taking those arrow arrow and those flare routes away because you want to take the backs and those short routes out of it and then you end up throwing a pick. Yeah. Come out in the second half and you throw a pick. You you stare down a receiver, he’s really covered and you throw you try to throw it to his outside shoulder, it comes up an interception. You can’t have that. It’s a distress with the offense and everybody in the chemistry of this offense, especially with Gino Smith as well as Jim Kelly calling plays. Yeah, it just it’s just that that disconnect and that trust is is definitely there or that not that non-rust I should say is definitely there. It’s a problem. Uh you were right, Chantel. 13 carries for a Genty and then five touches as well as far as re receptions go. Uh but again, good things happen when he touches the ball. So, uh I just would like to see this offense continue to evolve. Uh obviously that Gino is going to continue to go to Brock Bowers, but defenses are going to see that as well. They’re going to know that, yeah, Jacobe Myers might be running wide open or Michael Mayer might be running wide open, but we could jump this route because he’s going to go there. That’s his security blanket. So, we’re gonna start jumping that route and that’s how more turnover is going to happen. It’s just that simple. And so, that’s that’s a problem and that’s something that Gino’s got to get out of his head and and look at this stage of the game, we’re already going into I mean, there’s nine weeks in the book, eight games in the books. This is who Gino’s gonna be, right? I mean, there’s no I don’t think there’s all a suen some magic drink that he’s going to have this week and it’s going to be like, you know what, he’s going to change the way he plays. This is what you’re going to get. And it’s funny, I can go all the way back to week one when he had that success against New England. He threw some passes that me and Lincoln were like, “No, no, no, no, no.” But then completed, right? I mean, he threw in triple coverage. Jacobe Myers, I even asked Jacob, he’s like, “I don’t even know how that ball got through, but it did.” And so, I caught it and so I ran with it. But when you have that success and you get away with stuff that you probably shouldn’t have got away with, that makes you think you can keep doing it. And now and now it’s like, “Oh, I can do that. I’ve had success with it.” No, you had success with it once, right? And it it was a bad decision then, right? And I I remember Eric Allen saying that Charles Woodson when he got one of his early interceptions in his career, he totally blew the the the play coverage, but it ended up in an interception. He took it to the house and he was like, “Hey, that was it worked out just how it was supposed to.” And he’s like, “No, no, no, young fella. actually you did the wrong thing but it came out you know the right way and so sometimes that ends up playing in your head and you think oh I can do that all the time but these teams will burn you can’t do it what we need to be careful of and I’ve seen it happen a many of times when I’ve seen a quarterback have multiple weapons on his team if you get fixated on just one or two guys and you have routes guys running routes they’re not going to run routes full speed they’re not anticipating expecting the ball we can’t we can ill afford to have that happen everyone needs to run their routes and needs to run hard the offensive line needs to block whether it’s coming up your hole or whatever, you need to block. You need to do it all the time. The guys need to run routes. Everybody is a is a viable option and should be a viable option in this this offense. You can’t get fixated. When you do, you become predictable and we’ve seen that happen in the past. It’s good to have Brock Bowers back, but he’s not the endall of of everything. We’ve got to find a way to get everyone else involved because you do have potentially good players, Mayor Tucker, Jacob Myers, if he’s still with us, all this stuff that’s happening, you know, I mean, even Lockett. So, there’s a lot of work that has to be done. Um, one question I definitely want to ask you guys, you know, you mentioned 13 personnel and that was something that they ran. That was something that the Rams also ran against uh, Jacksonville last week. They had a lot of success and the Raiders decided to do that as well. Do you think that we see more of 13 personnel as we move forward throughout the season? Q? Yeah, I think so. I mean, why not, right? I mean, your your best weapons, you know, as far as I’m concerned, Brock, Michael Mayer, and even Ian Thomas. I think Ian Thomas, you know, is very underrated. he could block as well, even though he’s missed a few of his blocking assignments this year. But for the most part, I think that they have a really talented tight end room. And, you know, if you can also get those guys out there and run the ball again, I’m just going to keep banging that that drum because I just don’t feel like the way that the Raiders came into this season and the the thoughts that we had when it came to Pete Carol and what he was going to do and what we’ve seen from this team has not been the same. And I thought that there was supposed to be some big- time commitment to running the ball. That’s why they invested a number six overall pick and the best running back in the in college football and it just hasn’t come to fruition. And so that to me has been the biggest issue. And I think that when we talk to Pete Carol later on today, that’ll be something that he says, you know, they still like to see more from the run game. And I think that that’s fair, you know. And here’s another thing too that I wanted to ask you guys because you talk about the run game and as you know, if you run the ball, then you’re also, you know, managing your it has to do with time management. And this was a big thing that I noticed and I always look at this stat. Time of possession. Jacksonville had the ball for 42 minutes and 57 seconds of a game whereas the Raiders had, you know, just over 26 minutes right there. I can tell who won the game, right? Time of possession is so important. Yeah, they ran what 77 plays. Yeah, I think they ran 77 plays for the Raiders 60. Yeah. And Kansas City had three first downs. Come on now. I mean, we we’ve seen a we’ve seen a over the course of the season, there have been several games where there’s been, you know, the depletion of plays. Yeah. You know, 52, I think 58, 30. I mean, come on now. Just these are numbers that I’ve never heard of. I don’t pay that much attention to analytics, but time of possession has always stuck out to me because who’s taking care of the football? The Raiders struggle to get first downs. Yep. The Raiders struggle to compile drives to get down the field. They struggle in short yardage. I’m cringing when they get in the red zone because oh, do they have enough plays to what happens? Like you mentioned, you get a first down on a goal to go and you can’t get it in. I mean, this is this is embarrassing. You even if you try to do three quarterback sneaks, which I don’t suggest because I don’t want to get another quarterback hurt, somebody falls wrong in their ankle. So, I think that’s why they got away from that. But, you know, this is it’s highly predictable but ineffective when it’s all said and done about the consistency or lack of consistency for this Raiders offense. Yeah, it’s just not good. It’s just not good. Just just to keep it simple, right? It’s just not good. Um and and you know, how much does you how much do you guys think that has to do with Chip just not running the ball or wanting to run the ball because that’s a big part of it, right? Because if you’re running the ball, then you’re having I mean, if you think about it, you’re going to have the ball a little bit longer, right? And so he’s he’s not committing to the run at all. So when it comes down to time of possession, you’re seeing how lopsided it is. And this was a game, even though time of possession was lopsided and Jacksonville owned them in that way, this was a game that the Raiders could have won. I I really think this was a game that they Yeah, it’s a game that they should have won, honestly. And and and you know, should have, would have, could. We know how that goes. But, uh, they didn’t ultimately. And I just feel like that they get away from the run too quickly. They’ll have a little bit of success in the first second that they have one negative run. And that’s going to happen. You’re going to have a carry for no yards. You’re going to have a carry for a loss of two yards, but you’re also going to have four yards, four yards, seven yards. Again, Genti started out the game, two carries, 17 yards. That’s pretty good, right? He was having success early on, then all of a sudden, boom, three passes in a row and then a punt. That’s I mean, that’s literally how it started out. Two runs, 17 yards, first down, pass, pass, pass, punt. Right? It just again, they just get away with away from it so quickly. And and I don’t understand it doesn’t have to be that complicated, right? just go out there, run the rock, like you said, time of possession, and when those defens defenders get tired late in the game, you know why? Because they’re on the field for 47 minutes. You know what I mean? Defense. Yeah. I mean, that’s what I’m saying. Like, that’s that’s part of it, right? I mean, someone asked Max Crosby in the locker room last night, well, you guys were doing a good job stopping them early. What happened late? And he’s like, well, I got to go look at the film. I can tell you what happened late. They were on the field the whole damn game. Yeah. You know, I mean, that that was the reality of it. They were on the field for 47 something minutes. They’re going to tire out. And that’s the beauty of the run game. Jacksonville said, “We’re going to commit to the run.” You know how many times they ran the rock? 42 times, 150 something yards they had on the day. And Liam Cohen said, “We got away from the run the last two games we played.” And they lost both those games. We got to get back to running the ball. When we’re a good team, we’re running the ball at a high level. Guess what? They ran the ball at a high level yesterday and they found a way to win. This offense throughout this season has struggled to stay ahead of the chains and to stay ahead of schedule. There have been so many times where they’ve started off a drive, first down and 10, you get tackled for loss, second down and 12. Now you’re chasing. They are not as capable of other offenses around the league to get those first downs. We’ve seen teams stretch the Raiders defense. Third down and 15, you get 20 yards. We don’t you don’t have that fortune for the Raiders offense. There are times where I mean I’m just amazed. Oh, we got a first down. The drive’s still going. How? Because that’s how the season has been. So for them to stay ahead of schedule, if they go out there and call three runs and they hit their head on the goal post, then of course the team’s frustrated, the fans are frustrated, coaches are frustrated, walking to the sideline, well, we need to do better than that. Then they come out and they’ll do three passes, they’ll fail. This is the scenario that played out in Kansas City, you know, the the the lack of plays and lack ability to get first down, lack to remain on the field. There are so many things that this offense does inc in incorrectly and when it comes to blocking assignments and route distribution that I’m surprised that we can get first downs at time. I’m like why are there two guys running right in the same area and he’s not even looking at either one of them. He’s he’s going over to the solo receiver. So I mean it’s a work in progress and I know a lot of Raider fans are are frustrated and want more. But the things that they need to address are not going to happen during this season. It’s going to come after the season. Won’t happen to the trade deadline. It’s not going to happen. So, right now, this team should be looking at playing for its future. Yeah. And one more thing that I definitely want to bring up, a stat that, you know, I was kind of happy about. The Raiders were 70% from third down. 7 for 10, but they were still 70%, which I think is an improvement because we know how they’ve struggled on third down. But also, when it came over to Jacksonville, uh Jacksonville was 9 for 16. So, you know, they were Jacksonville had success on third down. just your guys’ thoughts on their improvement, but defensively, as you mentioned, the defense was on the field for a very, very long time. Hugh, just your thoughts on those stats. Well, I mean, the the reality of is there was for Jacksonville, they had success on third down because most of their third downs were third and two or third and one. They uh second down, and that’s something that Patrick Graham had talked about last week that he has to do a better job on second down, making sure that teams aren’t getting a big positive. Well, they were. There were so many third and ones and third and two throughout the course of the game, you should see, you know, a team have plenty of success. And so that’s the problem. The Raiders defense has to be better on second down as well, right? And so that’s that’s going to slow them down. But ultimately, even like Link said, there was times third and 15, third and 18, and they’re picking up 25 yards. It just it just ultimately is a problem. And and they they find a way. I’m not a big fan of the zone defense. I understand why they’re playing it, but it’s just they just find ways to give up these big plays, and those are back breakers. You know, you think you’re about to get off the field, and then you don’t. And then that’s a big momentum shift for the other team. And you saw what Jacksonville did with it. The greatest telltale sign to know when a defensive is exhausted and tired when guys don’t wrap up. Yeah. And we saw guys just bouncing off of each other. Yet, you know, yesterday we saw Adam Butler try to lay a hit on the receiver after he caught the ball. He ended up running for another 20 yards. You got to wrap up. But that’s a sure sign of fatigue and that’s when the offense has to do their part by maintaining and staying on the field. This is a complimentary game. when the special teams have failed this season, we struggled and the special teams, you know, had struggled last yesterday, they struggled as well. So, you know, when a defense obviously, which was our identity coming into the season, which we look forward to, if they’re out there for a prolonged period of time, they’re going to struggle. Offense’s inability to score touchdowns and get first downs to complement with sevens instead of threes cause this team to struggle. That’s where we are at this position with only two wins. Yeah. Yeah. And if Daniel Carlson uh hits that extra point, you know, this might be a little bit of a different story. We talked about we’ve talked about as soon as he missed. Yeah. That’s exactly as soon as he missed, I said that’s going to come back again later. That’s it. That’s what I said the same thing too. Yeah. And uh special teams has struggled this season and we’ve kind of seen that throughout the season. But we’ve also seen uh Gino, if you take a look at the stats, guys, as I said, you would probably think, you know, not a bad game. We’re going to get into that in the next segment. So keep it locked here on the Lockdown Network. If you’re watching or listening to the Raider Squad Show, I’m Cody Ror from Lockdown Broncos and this episode is brought to you by Pelaton. Pelaton is shaping the future of fitness with the brand new Pelaton crossraining tread plus powered by Pelaton IQ. This is Pelaton’s most advanced equipment yet, giving you realtime guidance and endless ways to move. Whether you’re running, lifting, or you’re cross trainining with your favorite instructors like Alex Tousant, it’s training re-imagined to make your workout more personal, Pelaton is built for breakthroughs. With features that help you plan, stay motivated, and hit peak performance. You can let yourself run, lift, flex, and go, while Pelaton handles all the rest. Plus, Pelaton IQ provides real time strength coaching, tracking your progress and suggesting weights that challenge you so you can get stronger. Plus, the new movement tracking camera. It counts your reps and corrects your form in real time, making sure every rep is safer and smarter. So, let yourself run, lift, flex, push, and go. Explore the new Pelaton crossraining tread plus at oneon.com. Welcome back, Raider Nation. Remember, if you like the content, hit that like and subscribe button. You can also follow us on our social media channels. You’ll see in the description below the ways that you can connect with us. And in the final segment, drop your questions for Q and Link. It can be about the game, it can be about the trade deadline, anything. And the guys will be answering some of your questions. And before we get into the next segment, I just want to say I do remember this. Happy birthday, Q Meyers, because it’s Q’s birthday today. I reported before the trade deadline. Yeah. So, you’re my little sister. I’m proud of you, man. That’s all right. You’re my little brother. I got a little sister. It’s the same birthday. There you go. Exactly. Happy birthday, Q. Everyone drop your happy birthdays for Q in the comments right there. Uh Q does a great job obviously covering the Raiders, but of course uh everyone really appreciates you Q for everything that you do. You deliver the best content all the time and you’re the hardest working man in the business, I must say. Working on your birthday right now. All that other stuff was BS, but he does. I agree with you there. Yes. But happy birthday, bro. Hardest work. I don’t know how he does that. Yeah, I mean people want to take their birthday off. Q does not take any days off. It does not matter. He’s always here. So, um, another forget all that other stuff. Facts. But he does work hard. I agree with that last question. Yeah. Oh my goodness. That was hilarious. I’ll take Thank you. That was awesome. All right, guys. Um, we know we know Kuno’s ball. Uh, so we’ll go with you on this first queue because it’s your birthday. Now, the guy that does work hard is Gino Smith. Like, we know that he puts in the work, but sometimes it just doesn’t translate onto the field. And this is a tiring conversation because we’ve had it so much, but we need to continue to have it because the Raiders are two and six. And for me, when you’re two and six and things aren’t working, despite the fact that if you look at Gino’s stats, you’re like, “Okay, he had one interception, but if you take a look at, you know, what the completion rate and the yards that he had, you’re like, he didn’t have the worst game ever, right?” And so the question really is is do the Raiders continue to stick with Gino or do you go and try to see if you know um what Kenny Picket has or you know maybe Aiden Oonnell even like do you go to those guys at some point in the season because if you’re two and six let’s be serious they’re not going to make the playoffs like at this point do you at some point of the season go away from Gino? I think that they could. I just don’t think that they will right. I I think that they definitely could and if they were going to make a move, I think it would be not this week against Denver. Obviously, it’s a short week. I think it would be maybe against Dallas where they have a little bit extra time to prepare. I just don’t think that they’re going to. And the reason is they just brought in Tyler Lockett. I mean, let’s be honest about it. Tyler Lockett was brought in to be the security blanket of Gino Smith. We knew where he were going. He was going with the ball to try to end that game last night. Even though there was multiple guys that he could have gone to, he was trying to go to Tyler Lockett. We saw early in the game in the end zone. The one target that Tyler Lockett really had was where in the end zone like that was that’s that’s his comfort zone. That’s something that and a guy that he’s comfortable with. So I think that Pete Carol and company are going to give Smith every opportunity to kind of get this thing turned around and and writed. And I don’t know if he’s going to or not. At the end of the day, like you said, the numbers looked okay. And I even said on the the podcast today, I was like, well, Chino Smith wasn’t the big problem. But I mean, ultimately, he kind of still is the problem, right? Even though the numbers were good, the four touchdown passes is great, but there was opportunities for bigger plays and better plays. And instead, and feeding Brock Bowers is never a problem, but he got so comfortable feeding Brock Bowers, that defense is going to key in on that. And so when you see other guys running free, that’s why cuz they know, well, they ain’t throwing it to him anyway. He’s going to 89. That’s where they’re going. So, we’re going to try to at least eliminate the yak yards and and Brock still was able to get off. So, you know, it’s like it’s it’s a fine line. Like, you could look at the numbers, like you said, and say, “Oh, yeah, he had a good game.” But then you know that there’s still there’s plenty of meat that he left out there on the bone and that’s the problem. And so I don’t know how they’re going to overcome that. If they’re going to go to another quarterback, I would think that they’re probably going to go to Aiden Oonnell before Kenny Picket. But is that going to happen anytime soon? Probably not. Before I answer your question, I will say this. I’ve always I’ve never really put a lot of credence into analytics because I’ I’d use these sight tests. Yeah. So when I watched the game, I know what the numbers for Gino Smith said, the final numbers, but sight test, there were plays that he left on the field. Okay? And that’s my thing as far as growth as a quarterback, a veteran quarterback that’s been around the league. You cannot continue to make the same mistakes. The the biggest error in my opinion is when he had that opportunity to run in for the score and tried to force the ball in when you had you have plenty of ground. I know you’re not good at sliding, but you got to do everything you can to put your team over top. And I and and so I say that to say this, Gino’s not ultimately the problem. If he doesn’t turn over the football, and he only had one turnover yesterday, ultimately he’s not the problem. But you need to see what you have now. You have to explore the option of your younger players. So my answer to your question, Shantel, yes, play everybody. But I think you already know what you got in Aiden Okonnell, especially with this offensive line. I think you know what you have in Aiden Okonnell. He’s not the answer. I might as well give Kenny Picket a try. See, just to see what you have. Look, there’s no I I think we all agree here. The Raiders need to draft a franchise quarterback. Yes, we all agree that, right? Okay. Does it happen in this draft? Is is there that one that’s that apparent? We we’ll get down in our draft shows as we break it down to see if there is who’s going to make that next transition. But I don’t know of anybody who stands out like, you know, like a Pton Manning, right? Or or, you know, or an Andrew Luck. I don’t see that guy right there to where you’re positioning. And more importantly, this is the biggest thing for me, guys. This is the biggest thing that issue that I had when I was talking to JT as a player. I don’t know how you tank. Coaches can put you in bad positions. But then if they do that, it’s a reflection of that coaching. More times than not, that coach will not have a job if he’s coaching poorly or you’re putting people out there who can’t, you know, even compete. My biggest fear for starting and playing a lot of these young guys is because I just don’t think they’re ready yet. However, you have to see what you have. Yeah, you have you have to it has to be trial by fire. I had to play that way when I was young. You got to go out there. You’re going to take your lumps. You’re going to get beat, but we should learn from it and build because we have to see what we have in the cupboard before we go shopping in the draft next year. Yeah. No, that’s that’s real. And honestly, with those offensive linemen, I’m really looking at those guys, Charles Grant, Caleb Rogers, because the the offensive line needs to be overhauled, right? There’s no doubt about that. And to Lincoln’s point, and I know we’re not deep diving on the draft right now, as as I alluded to last week, you know, there’s there’s plenty of guys that are going to be first round quarterbacks. There’s plenty of guys that people are talking about right now, but the way I look at it, there’s guys with flaws and there’s guys with very little experience starting in college right now. And I know that all these draft, you know, the the scouts, they’re all looking for about 25 starts under their belt. So, they don’t have a Anthony Richardson situation. So, they don’t have a whatever insert whatever quarterback doesn’t have very much experience. So, I’m a little leerary on if the Raiders are going to be able to get a first round uh quarterback that they’re really high on and they think that yeah, he’s the guy that we could build the team around. But, I know for a fact that they can get a offensive lineman, they can get a big tackle. you know, there’s going there’s, you know, two or three guys that I’ve got my eye on that I think could be cornerstone benchmark blue chip style offensive lineman that they could add to the mix. So, if they’re not in love with the guy in the first round when it comes to the quarterback and they decide to go, let’s go get that that franchise left tackle or let’s go get that that big fell up front, I would have no problem with that because they need to attack the trenches. I would take the two youngest offensive linemen on this roster and put them at guard position. put them at guard and and I know they’re probably playing a little bit out of position and most most notably Rogers, but the fact is is that you get acclimated to the speed of the game. I had to do that when I came into the league. My first year I played guard and then I moved out to tackle. But that that’s one way that you get the speed of the game. And when you look at some of the upcoming defensive tackles, it’s not as you know, it’s not as high high pressure as some of the ones that they played in this last month of football, but you know, you have some opportunities after the Denver game. there might be some opportunities for you to play these young guys. Yeah, you guys mentioned the draft. I was about to rub my hands together and be like, “Okay, let’s get into it.” Um but but uh um you know, I think you guys said it perfectly on the last show like the offensive line is probably the most important. And you mentioned you like Proctor, I mentioned FO. There’s also Jake. Mhm. Yeah. Jake Slaughter from uh Florida who’s who’s a solid center as well cuz like you know whether you like Meredith or not like there’s guys that you can put on this O line, but I don’t think there is that clear-cut quarterback yet. I think there’s still a lot of questions and uh we’re going to find that out. But hopefully the Raiders do get their franchise quarterback. You mentioned coaching and and I want to get into this conversation, guys, because I really think Chip Kelly has had an underwhelming season and coming into the season it was like he’s going to be very creative. He’s going to do a lot. You know, they used 13 personnel last night which I I was digging. But I just feel like in terms of creativity and some of his decisions and the play calling, I expected a little bit more from Chip and at the beginning of the season I said he’s the guy that has to prove it because in the NFL he hasn’t. In college, Chip has done his thing, but in the NFL, I feel like Chip still has a lot to prove. What are your guys’ thoughts on what you’ve seen from Chip Kelly so far? Because the by-week has hit. We’re coming out of the by-week and uh the Raiders played a little bit better offensively, but Q, just your thoughts on Chip so far. And would you say that he’s on the hot seat? Yeah, I would. Uh, and I’m very underwhelmed from what I’ve seen from Chip Kelly. I’m one that was really excited about his creativity and the fact that the Raiders offensively have been so predictable for so many years. I thought that that was not going to be the case this year. But the rhyme and reason to the play calling and play calling is an art like and I know that he’s really good at that on the collegiate level. I know he’s done a great job with that, but you run a play in the first quarter to set up a play in the third quarter or you know just it’s a chess match. And to me Chim Kelly hasn’t played the ultimate chess match the right way. I just it just to me it just doesn’t seem like uh there’s been a true commitment to the run. I feel like the the run game I’ve been calling it the tree, right? It’s the big it’s it’s it’s the tree, right? It’s the big everything come straight up, right? It’s it’s right there. It’s what you’re climbing and then everything else off the run game is the branches. And I feel like that he hasn’t really had a he hasn’t he doesn’t have a solid tree because he’s not he’s not having a commitment to the run game and he’s trying to do all these creative things with you know these branches and it’s not working. And so I just I it’s it’s almost like let’s say like battleship offense like all right B4 boom hit B5 nope didn’t work. You know what I mean? It’s just it it it hasn’t had the rhyme or reason. It hasn’t had uh it didn’t make any any sense to me. So I think that it’s really he’s still kind of grasping his straws. And I know for the last handful of weeks it’s been well Brock Bowers has been out and it’s a big deal. He is a big deal. When Brock is out obviously the offense is different. We know that. But that doesn’t mean that all of a sudden your offense just goes to nothing because your, you know, your your best guy is not out there. You’ve got to find a way to at least put out a serviceable offense. And it feels like it hasn’t been that. I always thought coaching the high point for coaching on any level was to be able to create a system that best utilizes the personnel at your disposal. And you you you run practices, you evaluate, you’ve got all your analytics, your stats, medical reports, all the things that you could do, what this guy did in college, what this guy did last year. and you’re supposed to create a system that best utilizes those strengths. I’ve been unimpressed with what I’ve seen so far because it hasn’t developed into something better. You’ve got to find some way. Don’t know exactly. I don’t have a finger where I can put on the oh, you push this and everything will work. Doesn’t work that way. But you got to show progress and that you’re coming together. This offense has not had any progress throughout this season. For every time we see we take a step forward, for everything we did in the first half, you come back in the second half and now Jacksonville’s on. You’re going to run those cross motions, cross the line motions, and then you’re going to run those flare outs or those speed outs, and we’re going to take two steps. We’re going to throw deliver the ball on one of those quick out. They started sitting on those routes. Y through an interception in one of those routes. I mean, come on now. You got to make adjustments. You got to know that a team is going to adjust and what are you going to do differently? What some sort of wrinkle? And when I look at creativity, kind of throw around that word, you know, sparsely and and especially in the National Football League, there’s only so much you can do. It’s a cookie cutter league. So when you see the Rams like you talked about what they did to the Jaguars, well of course you come out with 12 13 personnel. That’s what you wanted to run in the beginning and now you got your allpro uh tight end back. Let’s go out there and make it happen. So it but it just wasn’t consistent enough. It wasn’t over the time where you have an answer for short yardage. We have an answer on how to get in the end zone. We have an answer how to get more sevens than threes. We have an answer to how to play complimentary football to keep our defense off the field. We’re not running hurry up when you think you’re going to get a jump on a defense. You don’t know your defense is tired. Don’t run hurry hurry up. Huddle up. Yeah. But know the timing. You know, you got to understand the pressure in the game. What’s the the timing of the game? You got to be able to read the people, the T- leaves. And so, answer your question. I’ve been unimpressed. I’m hoping that it can get better. But here’s the thing. I’m still conflicted because if we make another coaching change to another offensive coordinator, here we go again. Yeah. Exactly. I do. I just it just to me feels like based off of being at different press conferences and hearing what Chip says and hearing what Pete says, he’s dropped Pete Carol’s dropped multiple times in the press conference that Gino Smith’s not calling the plays and that we need to run the ball. I mean, he’s he said that straight up like those aren’t my words, those are his words. So, that’s why I know that Pete Carroll wants to see the ball ran more than it is right now. And, you know, Chip says, “Oh, well, you know, we’re balanced and we can’t, you know, just run run because everyone knows we’re going to run and we just can’t pass pass pass.” But right now they’re not doing anything really consistently well, right? And what they did consistently well yesterday was get the ball to Brock Bowers, which again is great. That’s fantastic. He had 12 catches, went over 100 yards, had three touchdowns, and made some incredible catches. Like it’s moments like, damn, how do he do that, right? I mean, he’s he’s really stinking good. But at the same time, you have to be able to get other guys involved. If you don’t get other guys involved, like Linka said, they’re going to sit on that route. Even if he makes a catch, they’re going to try, they’re going to wrap up immediately. other guys are going to run free and then other guys are going to stop going full speed because they know they’re not getting the ball anyway. Uh I I used to see that when I was uh covering Baylor, right? They they they would have the the play sheet. They’d have, you know, look over to the sideline, they put up the the card, it was orange. Okay, that means Cory Coleman’s going to get the ball. So the other guys at the line of scrimmage, they wouldn’t even leave the line of scrimmage. They’d move their hands like this, like they were running, but they weren’t going anywhere. Oh, the ball ain’t coming our way. We’re good. Right? It’s just you and obviously you’re not going to do that in the NFL, but you you you have to be able to get creative. Like, and when I say creative, how about a a screen? How about a screen pass? That’s not That’s 101. The Raiders just don’t do it. Like, there’s so many things that they could do. They can get the run game going in multiple different ways, right? You can see some speed outs, some little pitches. You can see there’s, you know, jet sweeps. I saw, you know, um, Trey Tucker get a couple of those early in the season. Saw him get a lot of those in in training camp. Nope. Now, you know, not not doing those now. Uh, you saw Michael Mayer line up in the backfield as a fullback a couple times, right? There’s things that you can do. Hell, I’m I’m sitting in the press box last night. I’m like, where’s Zack Crockett? Where’s Zack Crockett? Where’s Lincoln? Put Lincoln on the line and get Zack Crockett to run right up his backside. And guess what? He’ll be in the end zone like this. You already know. No doubt. It’s ridiculous. You know, there were two separate occasions yesterday where the Jaguars bracketed Brock L. And on one of those occasions, Gino still tried to throw it in there. Yeah. I’m like, dude, you cannot do that. I mean, and it was fortunate that Brock was able to come up with the play. It was a very accurate throw and he was able to come up with the play. But still, I for for that great catch that Brock had in the end zone and all the thing that we’ve seen that young man do. I’ve been impressed with him. Obviously, Michael Mayer been impressed with the way he’s come on and I know that the trade deadline is big. We’ll talk about it, you know, but I just don’t know how how operative the Raiders can be during the trade period. I mean, really, are they buyers or sellers? We always use those words, are they buyers or sellers? I just don’t know how much you can be because they have to see what they have. They have to see what they’ve got. They got to see what they’ve drafted. They’ve got to see the players they have on their roster before they say, “Okay, definitely need to compile this shopping list. I need to get a quarterback, a left tackle, which is all the things we know they need, right? But what what do you have in in in the in the cupboard until you go out there?” And uh Link just set that up for our next segment. So, in the next segment, he’s a pro team. Yes. Exactly. that I didn’t even have to tease it. Link did my job there. So, that’s dreamwork. Yeah, that’s what we’re going to be talking about on the next segment, Raider Nations. And remember to keep your comments and questions coming in the chat because Q and Link in that final segment will be answering some of your questions, taking some of your comments and we’ll uh try to get to a couple before the show ends. So, coming up on the next break, as Link said, the trade deadline, we’re going to get into that. So, keep it locked here on the Lockdown Network. You’re watching or listening to the Raiders Squad Show. When the opening whistle blows on a new repair, get your crew moving forward with Supply House. Order today and see parts on your doorstep tomorrow. 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Guys, as Link talked about earlier, you know, the trade deadline’s coming up and are the Raiders going to be buyers or sellers? And at this point, you kind of know who the Raiders are, but we still don’t know a little bit about the young guys on the team as well. Q, we’ll go with you first. Do you think the Raiders are going to be buyers or sellers? And do you see them making a move at the trade deadline? I don’t think that they can be buyers. I don’t think that they’re in position to be buyers. And and I say that with an asterisk. And what I mean by that is if there’s a chance that they can get Tariq Woolen out of Seattle, I could see them making that move. And obviously we I mean I it doesn’t take a brain surgeon to tell you why I see that connection. Uh I liked Tariq Willen a lot when he came out of UTSA. Seattle got him in the fifth round. He had a lot of early success. He hasn’t quite been at that level. Uh, I thought that he was going to end up staying there because they had a lot of guys banged up, but it seems like they got their guys back. So, I could see him being a guy that they trade out and maybe the Raiders bring him in because they still have questions in the secondary. Outside of that, I feel like the Raiders have to be sellers if if anything, if they’re going to make anything and obviously the connection that has been talked about quite a bit is Jacobe Myers and there’s a there’s a problem, right? the Raiders are comfortable with holding on to him and getting a compensatory pick, you know, if uh you know, if they don’t get the the trade capital that they want in in return. The problem with that is they’ve got a lot of money in salary cap space next year, a lot. And we obviously know that they need a lot of of talent on this team. So, they’re going to be big spenders in free agency next year. Well, the compensatory situation is a math problem. So, you know, you you basically are rewarded based off of how much you spend and how much you lose. Well, if they go out and spend as much as I anticipate them spending on some big time, you know, free and let me Yeah, there you go. Get that notepad and get if they spend a lot of money like I anticipate and then they lose Jacobe, then they might end up he might end up walking for basically nothing because the math doesn’t math. So, I mean, again, it’s a math formula. I’m not a math guy, but I can tell you that that’s the problem that they have. So, they might end up getting into a position where a team knows, hey, I know they want a day two pick for Jacobe. We’re going to give him a day three and they’re going to take it because they don’t have they don’t have too many options. So, unfortunately, I feel like that that’s probably the move that’s going to happen is that Jacobe Myers is going to get traded. For me, selfishly, I don’t want to see him traded. I think he’s a hell of a player. I think he’s a hell of a leader in that locker room. But, I get it. I get it. It’s a business and at the end of the day you have to, you know, do what’s best for your team to try to build it for the future. So that’s where I’m looking at. You know, there could be a couple other guys, but obviously the one that’s talked about the most is Jacobe. The Raiders don’t really have the the collateral to be sellers to be honest. They can’t afford you can’t afford to give away one of your best players. Who are the players you’re talking about? You’re talking about Max Crosby, you’re talking about Jacob Myers, two of your better players. the Raiders are not in a position where if you give away these players, no matter what the outcome is, you’re not going to get like three first round picks, but you don’t give up Max Crosby because he’s he’s your strength. He’s your identity. And so, there will be a lot of players that a lot of people like, “Oh, well, part ways with him. Let’s just get the Capital.” Well, again, there’s not that shorefire person that you’re seeing in the draft come available be like, “Oh, we got to have him, right? I got to have Q. You got to have him. And and we’re going to do whatever we can to position. Don’t let it go. No, but the the the thing is is that they need so much help in so many other places. They really can’t afford to be sellers. They really can’t afford to be buyers. They’ve got a team that’s really packed with, you know, play it play for contracts, you know, with the one one year terms, two-year terms to see what they have. And you’re trying to build a team. We have undergone the the sort of what what we have undergone the rebuilding phase for quite some time now. You’re not going to release any more coaches. You’re not you’re always rebuilding. You got to start somewhere. That’s why I say play the younger guys, see what you have as far as evaluation, and if it doesn’t come back that you like them, then you address it. But I see them being more prominent in free agency because of the cash cap space and what they can do in the draft. Yeah, they have they have the second uh amount of salary cap space next year. Like they’re they’re well over a hundred something million dollars. So, they’re going to be very very active in free agency. And you know, you know how that is. That’s a crapshoot, right? A lot of these guys are free agents for a reason, right? Everyone got excited. I did a backflip. I’m not a gymnast. I did a back flip when they landed Christian Wilkins. Mhm. See how that worked out. Five games. Didn’t you? Yeah. I think I’m still I think I’m still on the IR from that. You know, a couple of guys that I think could be moved and I don’t think that the Raiders have to go out and move them. But you think about Capital and who they could move. And I agree with Link. I don’t think you trade Crosby, Genty, or Bowers. They’re those three are off, right? Like we need to keep them. But I think guys like maybe an Adam Butler who’s a veteran, right? He’s like 31 years old. He can probably bring some value to a team that is a contender or even like a Malcolm Coons who I feel like hasn’t really performed as well as we thought he would coming off a a very serious injury or even a Tyrie Wilson, right? And and Tyrie has has been a guy that I think we’ve seen improvement this year. But other than that, like is there any other guys that you think could be moved and what are your thoughts on those three names? Well, those three names, I mean, no disrespect, I think Adam Butler’s probably been the most productive out of all those. I mean, I don’t even think it’s I think it’s a no doubt about it. He’s been productive. The other guys, what have they produced? Yeah. You know, like what is Malcolm Coons in reality? What would he really get in return for him right now? What does he have one sack on the season? Yeah. I mean, that’s tough. You know what I mean? Like, what’s he going to get? A sixth or a seventh round pick? Okay. You know what I mean? Like, you can have him or, you know, or not. And Tyrie, I mean, this is a former first round pick. He obviously has not lived up to his billing. Uh, you know, they could probably get a what a fourth or fifth round pick for him maybe, right? I mean, it’s not it’s you’re not going to get very much return on investment. That’s for sure. So, it goes back to the point of Lincoln saying, do you can you really afford to trade off these players? I mean, you’re already struggling without them. And if you start trading off all these players, then you’re telling the rest of the locker room, hey, by the way, we’re done. We’re done now. We’re just going to it’s audition mode. Which, look, we all are talking about it anyway. But, you know, you don’t want want to send that message to the guys in the locker room. So, it’s it’s one of those fine lines. Is it worth is the juice worth the squeeze? That’s the question that you have to ask. There’s a couple of guys that could get some value. Obviously, Max, you know, but he’s off the he’s he’s not that’s not happening. Brock’s not happening. Gent’s not happening. But, you know, I’ve said it before, I know nobody likes it. There’s a outside chance that maybe JPJ has moved, right? And I think it’s a bad decision. I really do. But because there obviously is some kind of disconnect, you know, maybe there’s that. Eric Stokes, he’s had a really good season. Even though it’s been quiet, he’s had a really good season as a corner. Supposed to be quiet. So, yeah, that’s a good point. That’s a good point. Maybe maybe a team that needs a corner is like, hey, you know what? That that Eric Stokes guy is playing at a high level. Again, I think that the Raiders, that might be a guy that you look to keep and bring back, right? Because he’s been playing at at such a good level. I think Eric Stokes has done really well for the team, a former first round pick. But it it all depends on how they’re feeling about the direction of the team, what they need, and what they think they can get in return. So, there’s a couple guys that I can see them taking calls on, but ultimately I really don’t feel like that they’re going to make any moves unless it happens to be, like I said, Jacobe Myers. I like Ashton Genty. I think the future looks bright with him in the Raider uniform, but I did not like they fact they gave up on Josh Jacobs. I did not like the fact they gave up on Nate Hobbs. did not like they gave up on a lot of players that have come through this place through the through these doors and just never really took off or really never had that year. Malcolm Coun on the heels of you know having eight sacks blows out his knees dawn for a year. We’re still trying to figure out where he is. Tyrie Wilson, former first round pick, can’t keep giving up first round picks if you plan on building something. I know they don’t have the value and I understand that but we need to get more production out of the guys that we have and rather than just shipping them off and finding that they are productive elsewhere. Yeah. So that’s what JPJ would be guarantee. Right. Without a doubt. Wouldn’t he end up going and being like all pro? Exactly. Choking people left. Right. That would be the that would be Raiders true through and through like oh that guy all a sudden becomes a Hall of Famer the minute that they trade him. Exactly. And here and here’s the thing like I think I don’t know what’s going on there with JPJ but like you said Q the right word is disconnect and I don’t know how much they value JPJ where it’s like what would they give him up for? Would they give him up for like a fifth? Because I think we would think he’d be like a second or third round pick like a first round talent coming into talent. The the biggest knock was was the concussions and the the the head issues. That was the biggest knock. That’s how he fell from first round to the second round when the Raiders got him. Yeah. He’s still a good player. Yeah, he is. And he’s one of the best offensive line the Raiders have minus Colton Miller. You you the Raiders need offensive line people, not less. And he’s and and honestly, he’s got the most nasty on the offensive line out of anybody, right? Even Even though Colton is very sound with his technique, he’s not a he’s not that MIM. He’s not that mer in the middle, right? He’s not that Mer dude. He’s he’s kind of he’s good. He’s solid. But JPJ is that guy where you could build around say, you know what, the identity of our offensive line, it’s going to be that dude. You could do that with him. Yeah. And really quickly guys, uh when we talk about young guys getting burned and the rookies, um you know, the rookies have didn’t get too much burn last night in terms of a guy like Dante Thornton who was a healthy scratch. Any information on what’s going on there, Q, because I feel like we should have been seeing more of Dante Thoren coming out of, you know, training camp. We were hearing so much about him, but he’s not getting a lot of playing time in a healthy scratch yesterday. Tyler Lockett numbers game. I mean, it’s a numbers game. I mean, it’s at the end of the day, it’s a numbers game and and they they uh they brought Tyler Lockett in for a reason. Uh they made him Gino’s security blanket and so he’s going to be up on the on the 53man roster. He’s going to be the one that’s on a game day roster. And so, you know, somebody’s got to got to take the hit and so Thornton on Sunday took the hit and and that’s unfortunate, but that’s just how it’s going to be when when you bring in another guy, you know, somebody’s going to going to suffer. Like Jack Bes, did he have any targets on yesterday? Right. I mean, it’s just the the young guys aren’t really getting any burn. You know, I saw Daren Porter out there defensively, which was good. It was good to see him. I want to see him get get more lthered up. That’s the only way he’s going to get better, right? You can’t say, “Oh, you know, don’t put him on the field anymore.” The guy’s only been on the field for a handful of snaps. Like, you’ve got to let him, you know, see what he, again, going back to what Lincoln said, see what you have. You got to find out. And so, a lot of these guys need to start getting some burn. I just don’t know how they’re gonna divvy up the snaps when it comes to, you know, a guy like Dante Thornton, a guy like Jack Bes. All of a sudden, you bring in Tyler Lockett, right? You have Trey Tucker. I mean, again, it’s a numbers game. Everybody can’t play. We’re two and six now. You walk into that locker room as a head coach and you’re Pete Carol and you say, “You know what? All the young guys got to play. You got to make a conscious effort. Every everyone’s got to play. I got I got to have these guys out there. We drafted them. We picked them up for a reason. Now we need to see them play. It’s not always going to be perfect, but they the Raiders need to find a way to correct their special teams. They need to find a way to get more productive on offense. And I’m not saying these young guys sitting on the bench riding the pine are going to be the answers, but you have to see what you have out there. Much to Q’s point, you to answer your question, Chantel, it just became a numbers game with Dante Thornton. That’s what it came down to. It’s a numbers game. You only have so many spots available. We got to play these players. We just got this guy. You know, Gino knows him. Pete Carol knows him. So that’s why he’s in the game and Tyler Lockett. you know, you got to play these young guys and and the time is now. Yeah, I definitely agree. They got to play those young guys and that kind of makes me upset that Dante Thoren had to sit out because Tyler Lockett um was was, you know, getting that chance. But nonetheless, we’ll get into it on the next episode as well when we talk about the Thursday nighter short week Raiders Broncos. And you know, the Broncos have one of the best defenses in the league and they’re going to have their eyes on a guy like Brock Bowers and things are it’s going to be an interesting one, guys. But we’ll get to that on Thursday. Coming up in the next segment, Q and Link are going are going to be answering some of your questions, taking some of your comments, so keep it locked here on the Locked On Network. You’re watching or listening to the Raiders Squad Show. The NBA is back and there’s no better place to get in on the action than FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Even if you missed the start of the game or want to ride the hot hand, FanDuel has live bets on everything from who will score next to fourth quarter comebacks. Plus, you can even combine your live bets into a same game parlay for a shot at a bigger payout. It keeps every game exciting, especially when your team’s making that late push. Right now, FanDuel is giving new customers $300 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. So, head to fanduel.com to sign up and play your game with FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Welcome back, Raider Nation. Remember, if you like the content, make sure to hit that like and subscribe button. You can also follow us on our social media channels, and you’ll see in the description below the ways that you can connect with us. We’re going to get into some questions and comments now with a Q link, and we’ll go off with Jay Raider 75. If we were able to move on from Chip, who do we have on the staff that would be a better play caller? Oh man, that’s a great that’s a great question. I I have no idea to be honest with you. I have no idea who would be the better play caller. Uh Chip Kelly is the guy that’s, you know, the $6 million a year man, right? So, he was a guy that that I was expecting to really be able to put a good, you know, thumbrint on this uh this offense and really make it look good and creative and it just hasn’t been that. I don’t know. They they probably go outside the building to be honest and bring in someone that Pete Carol is more comfortable with. I I wish I knew. I don’t have an answer to the question. There’s not been any consistency. So, I don’t even know what you build off of, right? For for what you have in hiring from within. I mean, what do you build off of? What do you keep going? Because it’s not like they’re missing anything. It just incomplete. Can’t play, right? Yeah. Let’s go over to Anthony Moreno, who says, “How much do you think the lack of the game How much do you think the lack of the run game is due to Chip not wanting to versus lack of faith in the O line?” Link, we’ll go with you first on this one. Lack of faith in the O line. Have you seen or not wanting to run the ball? Not way. Yeah. Have you seen the way that sometimes it’s penetration and you see the holes that are clogged up? You see the fact that there’s nowhere to go. The Raiders do offensive line has not done a good job at consistently buying the off the line of scrimmage and blocking the front seven even when they loaded up with 123 personnel. There is just nowhere for Ashton Genty to run. And so that is the lack of faith in offensive line. That’s where you see that lack of the running game happening. Yeah. No, I agree. There’s definitely a lack of faith in the offensive line. I also think that it’s it’s trying to outsmart the room sometime. Oh, we’re going to we just ran, you know, 17 yards on two plays. All right, we’re going to do this. And they’re not going to see it coming. I I think that sometimes these coaches outthink themselves, right? They get too cute at times. Sometimes you just got to use the kiss method. Keep it simple, stupid, right? I mean, that’s just what you got to do at times. And I don’t think that they do that enough. I think that they try to outthink themselves and they end up just hurting themselves in the long run. And let’s go over to Michael Nelson who says, “Why does this defense have so many holes in the secondary and underneath gaps? What’s wrong with manning up, man? Look, I mean, that’s that that is No, that’s the big problem is the fact that there are so many holes and there’s always somebody that’s sitting down in that soft zone. U you know, you can man up, but the problem with maning up is if you miss, then you’re cooked. True story. You know what I mean? So, they they they they play the zone to try to protect from the big play, but then they give up the big play, right? And so, it’s just it’s it’s a damn if you do, you damn if you don’t. But I personally I love the Raiders of old where it was, hey man, we’re going to play uh the cat defense. I got this cat, you got that cat. Let’s go. Right. And and and beat him up on the line of scrimmage, you know, play that that that that cover zero and uh and you had to hold your own. That’s what I I prefer. But you don’t see that that much. It’s really hard because you don’t have a consistent pass rush. Teams take away Max Crosby. There’s nobody in the back field, so you can’t really rely on man. Yeah. Yeah. Now, you could try to blitz, but you’re going to expose your secondary. You know, they had a young safety out there, McCulla, playing yesterday, part of that that safety backfield, and it just played well. I thought he did pretty good, but it’s been overall it’s been inconsistent because putting him in space, he struggled. Yeah. And that when you have this zone defensive style that Patrick Graham is, his safety struggle in space a lot of times. Palm made a great pick. You know, jump in front of the receiver down the goal line, having awareness. That’s but for the most part, there’s been a lack of communication from the safety perspective to the corners. So, that’s why you see such big holes on the second level, minus the tackling, poor tackling and second, second level. Well, I absolutely do. I love Wells comment. Doesn’t remember the days of Hayes and Haynes. Yeah, I do. Right. Coming through the door anytime soon. Mike Haynes, I get to talk to him all the time, man. I’m in such a blessed opportunity. I get to talk to him all the time. That’s not happening anymore, right? Unfortunately, I would love to see that, but what were those guys compared to what the Raiders have? Those guys were lock down corners. Those guys were guys that could jump routes. Those guys were ball hawks. Raiders don’t have that. The last ball hawk they had in the secondary was Cwood. Yep. They don’t that guy’s not walking through the door. Like right now, even though I said Eric Stokes is having a a a quiet good season, it’s not like he’s got five or six picks. No, nobody in the secondary scares defensive coordinators like Patan in Denver. I know he’s injured right now, but you don’t want to throw to him. When Nambdi was out there, you didn’t want to throw his way because you knew what he was going to do, right? But the Raiders haven’t had that guy in a long time. They haven’t had a guy that’s like, “Yeah, you know what? Let’s go just throw on that side of the field. Let’s stay away from that dude.” They haven’t had that guy. They haven’t had Haynes and Hayes. They haven’t. And I would love And by the way, Lester should be in the hall. True. Throw that out there, too. Facts. Facts. And uh someone did ask in the last episode uh who the Raiders should look at in the draft for like a ball hawk. AJ Harris from Penn State. Love him. He’s physical and I I think he’s a he’s a solid guy. But we don’t know what the Raiders are going to do in the draft. Maybe that’s something we do later on in the season, you know, at the end of the season. But nonetheless, thanks so much for rocking out with us this morning, Raider Nation. We’ll be back on Thursday. And remember, it’s a short week, so the Raiders play the Broncos. We’ll be previewing that game. We’ll be back Thursday, 7:30 a.m. Pacific time, 10:30 a.m. Eastern time. Thanks so much for rocking out with us. And we’ll end with Isaiah saying, “Happy birthday, brother to Q because it is Q’s birthday.” So, drop your birthday wishes for Q in the chat. We’ll be able to take a look and maybe read some comments in the next episode. Thanks so much, Raider Nation. We’ll be back on Thursday and uh get ready for that preview against the Raiders division rivals, the Broncos. That’s coming up next on Thursday. We’ll see you then, Raider Nation. Happy, bro. Appreciate you. Appreciate you. Happy birthday. Let’s work. That’s right. Yeah, exactly. Go to work. Shout out

The Las Vegas Raiders lost a heartbreaker against the Jacksonville Jaguars, and we’re breaking it all down! Did the Raiders show improvement coming off the bye week, or are the same issues holding them back? We dive into the offensive and defensive struggles, name our player of the game, and ask the big question — should the Raiders keep rolling with Geno Smith? Plus, with the NFL trade deadline approaching, will Las Vegas be buyers or sellers? Join Linc & Q as we answer your questions and react to all the latest Raiders storylines.

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