RAIDERS SQUAD SHOW: Las Vegas RAIDERS vs Los Angeles CHARGERS RECAP | What went wrong?

RAIDERS SQUAD SHOW: Las Vegas RAIDERS vs Los Angeles CHARGERS RECAP | What went wrong?

What’s up, Raider Nation? I hope you had a great Thanksgiving weekend. And the Raiders, they had a new offensive coordinator and Greg Olsen, someone that’s very familiar with Raider Nation. However, the Raiders look the same. We’re going to get into all of that on today’s episode. Good morning, Raider Nation. Professor Kennedy here. Look, the offense is not complimenting the defense. It’s just that simple. And after a while, this defense gets worn down. We’ll break down the charges and look what look ahead. What’s next coming up soon. Wake up. Wake up. Wake up. It’s the first of the month. What’s up, Raider Nation? Man, some things change and the results stay the same. Well, here to break it on down and talk about what’s to come next for the silver and black on the silver and black show. The Raider the Raider Squad show today. Let’s get it. 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 desert. The way only the Locked on Podcast Network can. Commitment to excellence starts here. The Raiders Squad Show starts now. Hey, what’s up, Raider Nation? Thanks so much for rocking out with us. Remember, if you like the content, you’re watching this on YouTube, hit that like and subscribe button. If you’re listening to us on the audio side, give us a five star, leave a rate and review. That helps the channel grow. But most importantly, we want to thank you so much for supporting the Squad Show, supporting Locked On Raiders, and uh you know, Locked On Network is the number one sports podcasting network. So, we do appreciate you also just in terms of you know, showing support for the show. You continue to help the channel grow, the show grow. So, we want to say thank you so much for doing that as well. You know, if you’re making love on Raiders or the Squad Show your first listen of the day, we do appreciate you. Now, before we get into everything that we’re going to talk about today, I just want to give a quick shout out to our sponsors. Today’s episode is brought to you by Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account, and use code lockdown NFL for $20 off your first purchase. Coming up in the final segment, Q and Link are going to be taking some of your questions and comments. So, please drop them in the chat if you are watching this on YouTube. If you’re listening, you can always drop them in the chat later or hit us up on social media. And you can see in the description below the ways that you can connect with us also if you’re watching on YouTube on the screen as well. And uh we’re going to be talking about the quarterback room because we do pretty much every episode we have to, right? We got to talk about Gino’s performance. We’re going to talk about PG’s defense. But first, we got to break down everything that we saw with the Raiders and Chargers. And you know, despite the Raiders losing this one 31 to4 against the Chargers, I thought they looked better. Even though the numbers didn’t actually show that, just in terms of takeaways, we’ll start off with you first, Q. What were your takeaways from this game? I mean, I thought it looked better for a couple drives. I didn’t think it looked, you know, consistently better, which is the big problem, which is the overall problem. And there’s so much confusion about who’s calling what shots, you know, whose offense is being ran. It just, to me, it doesn’t seem like there’s a whole lot of rhyme or reason. And like I said, they had two really good drives. Uh both resulted in Brock Bowers touchdowns. And Brock Bowers is continuing to be that guy. I mean, the catches he makes is just incredible. So, you got to give him a lot of credit for that. But it just felt like again so many so many moving parts and they’re not moving in the right direction. It just, you know, again, Gino taking a bunch of sacks, the run game, even though they had an effort to get it going, can’t get going. It’s just it was it was it was tough to watch. It really was for as far as I’m concerned. And again, you just don’t really know who’s calling all the shots when it comes to the offense, the defense, the team in general. And that’s what results in. You know, I don’t think the game was as bad as the final score is, you know, because the defense did keep me in it for a while. Uh, but ultimately it was just too much and they were on the field for too long. And that’s kind of like the rinse and repeat story that we have all the time. Football to me has always been a a meaning of compliments. It’s the offense should complement the defense, defense should complement special teams. All three phases have to find a way to work together. You fire two of your coordinators this season, one special teams, one offensive coordinator, but yet, you know, even you come into yesterday’s game, you see the team still lacks a true identity. We know what they could do on defense, but defenses can only hold up for so long. And so the team the defense did its job by keeping the team in it in my my estimation about three quarters. I mean, when I looked at the halftime score, I thought the Raiders have a chance. Here we do. We have a chance. I was I was pulling for the Jets to win. They did. You see it? And I’m like, “Okay, the Raiders, I don’t know how I feel about wanting them to win, but I do want them to stop the bleeding for the for the, you know, for the main purpose of the the just the overall psyche in that locker room. Stop the bleeding. Get a win. Find a way to get a win. And I didn’t want this team to go over in the division another year like it did last year. But that went out the window because the ineptability of the offense and a and not able to sustain drives other than the two that we saw that put up touchdown points throughout the game really put the defense on the field for over 35 minutes. You can’t have that. You got to have more balance. Offensive plays for the Chargers versus offensive plays for the Raiders. It was it was almost night and day. It wasn’t as bad as it was in Kansas City the first time, but it was still pretty bad. And then we find out that Herbert’s got a a broken finger on his hand and they still find a way to beat us. So with a with a mixmatch offensive line that the Chargers had, they were still able to run the ball significantly well to, you know, to put put away the game. That’s part that part of show up on the defense, but for the most part, to me, it shows up on the offense. If you can’t sustain drives, if you can’t stay out there and get first downs, too many threeandouts, too many sacks, too many negative plays, you can’t do that. you can’t compete in the National Football League. It’s just that simple. So, right now, I don’t I’m not even concerned about who they’ve got coaching. I know they don’t have the personnel to make whatever they want to do work. Yeah. And you talk about in terms of, you know, third down efficiency, the Raiders were 2-8. And also on the defensive side of the ball, they gave up 192 rush yards. And we know that a you know Jim Harour team they love to run the ball but if you give up 192 yards on the ground then you know a time of possession is going to be lopsided. Time of possession once again was lopsided. You know the Chargers 3548 to the Raiders 2412. That’s absolutely ridiculous and that’s something that the Raiders have been dealing with but it comes down to consistency. In terms of third down efficiency they struggled on both sides of the ball. Q what were your thoughts on just the Raiders not being able to sustain drives offensively? Well, that’s just kind of been the story of the season, right? I mean, they just they haven’t been consistently good on offense. And when you start to see them have a little something, then something happens, right? They’ll either have a penalty or they’ll have a drop or they’ll have a negative play. And this team, unfortunately, is not good enough to overcome those things. So, if they have a negative, if they end up in second and long, you’re pretty much sure that they’re not going to pick up third and long, right? So, they’ve got to get a big chunk yards on second and long. And if they don’t, then third and long is pretty much a wash. I mean, 12 for 17 for the Chargers on third down. I mean, the the Raiders defense, even though they kept them in the game, they couldn’t get off the field on third down. And a lot of that was because it was third and short, right? And so, the opposite for the Raiders, right? The Raiders had a lot of third and longs where the Chargers had a lot of third and shorts. And again, that’s just not going to it’s not going to work. They were, you know, rotating in guys at the on the offensive line at the right guard spot between MafI and Rogers. And I mean, that’s cool, but is it cool? Because then you’re not getting any kind of, you know, continuity with the guy next to you. But I I get what they’re trying to do. So, it just it almost felt like that they were trying to, as I’ve said many times, play that battleship offense. Like they were going to go like A3, boom, that was a hit. A5, boom, it was not a hit. All right, let’s try something else. You know, I mean, it just it just seemed like that that’s what it was. And I know Greg Olsson is doing the best that he can with what he has to work with. So, I didn’t expect it to look a whole lot different than what have looked so far throughout the course of the season. But, I mean, it’s just kind of the results of a team that’s not very well put together as far as I’m concerned. I think a number of the offensive players put it, you know, summarized it, summarized it pretty well for me. Ashton Genty had mentioned that he did appreciate the way the plays were being called. It seemed like they were setting up the next play, which is something that offensive coordinators need to do. Okay, we got first down and 10, let’s get second down and six or second down and seven and let’s run this to make those manageable situations like you was speaking of, the Chargers are able to take advantage of. get a num a number of yards in the first and second down and you set up a third and short which leaves your entire playbook uh open for you. But I saw a conscious effort yesterday to try to have screens to try to get Ashton Genty the ball running the football to try to get Brock Bowers. I’ve noticed that over the last six weeks since people like us have been talking about where’s Brock Bowers, where’s Ashton Jenty. They’re trying to make a conscious effort. But the problem remains is that there are times where Gino gets the ball and he’s he’s a statue in the pocket and he stands still and he takes that sack and he doesn’t and and even if it looks like he has time, he’s still not getting rid of the football. Now, it wasn’t a 10 sack day like it was against Cleveland. It was five sacks. Okay. Is that is that progression? Is that getting better? I mean, how do we how do we evaluate it? But still, a sack is a sack. With that being said, negative plays and and and turnover. And you also think about the fact that this team is not capable from playing behind to come up effectively. They’re not that good. Okay? So, they they have to go, you know, pound-for-pound with the with with the fighter and stay in and stay in the mix. And they did that to a certain extent before the defense got worn down. Just not enough offense. Yeah. Not not at all. And, you know, the other thing about it is you mentioned the five sacks and it’s better than the 10 sacks that they gave up against Cleveland. But the problem is a lot of the times you saw it was only twoman routes that were being ran, right? So, there wasn’t a whole lot of options. There weren’t a lot of places for Gino to go with the ball. So, they had guys in there trying to max protect. Well, that’s great. That’s smart. But again, like I said, then all of a sudden, it becomes a two-man route. And if those guys aren’t separating immediately, then there’s nowhere for Gino to go to with the ball. So, he had time where he held on to the ball and he held on to the ball, but he didn’t have anywhere to deliver it to. And then he tried to check it down or sidearm it to Genty and half the time it got knocked down. And, you know, it just it just looked like it was it was clunky. Let’s I think that’s the best way to put it. It it we saw the effort. We saw what he was attempting to do and what the offense was attempting to do. It just didn’t look like it was very well put together. Like I said, I think the best way to describe it is just clunky. And more times than not, Kantel, the fact is you have two extra guys to stay and help max protection. And I’ve seen a lot of teams do this. They’re starting to leak guys out late and because a lot of teams are playing zone and dropping deep, but the Raiders don’t have that threat. And defenses know that. You don’t have that down the field threat. We know that you tried to pick on Trey Tucker at times, but it just hasn’t come to true because look, if we isolate all of your offensive linemen one-on-one versus our defensive linements or linebackers, chances are we’re going to get to the quarterback. And that’s what they’ve seen. The inconsistencies of the offensive line not being able to hold up a one-on-one. And even when they had, which was surprising to me, just to backtrack a little bit, the Chargers had success in the first half blitzing the Raiders. They didn’t do a whole lot of blitzing in the second half. Why? Because they didn’t feel they needed to. That’s a shame. I mean, they don’t feel they knew. We think our front four can get to your quarterback and there were times where they just had a four-man rush and it did. So, that’s that’s the plague that that continues to plague this uh team right now is the fact that they cannot hold up in the pocket and even times when they do hold up in the pocket. Gino holds on the ball for far too long and takes an unnecessary sack. You know, it’s it’s really interesting because I believe Q mentioned the O line and how there was no consistency there. there. I mean, they dealt with injuries all season long, but then you’re having Mafy come in for, you know, some s snaps. You’re having Caleb Rogers, the rookie, come in for some snaps. I wanted to ask both of you what you thought about Rogers and uh his performance yesterday. Q, not enough. Yeah, it didn’t seem enough. Yeah, exactly right. Exactly right. That that was the thing. It was like, okay, now we’re going to do a rotation. We’re going to bring Mafy up from the practice squad and we’re going to rotate him and Rogers. If you’re going to do that, just run with Rogers. I I just And look, I’m not offensive lineman, but Lincoln could probably tell you better than I can that these guys need reps with each other. If they’re going to go out there and try to perform as one unit, they need to be one unit. So, why commit to this this back and forth thing? If you’re going to play the young man, play the young man. If you’re not, then don’t. I I just like I don’t know, man. It’s just it’s it’s frustrating to watch from from my point of view just because it seems like there’s not any kind of buy in or no commitment from the coaching staff to what they want to do. It’s just like, “Yeah, we’re in. No, we’re not. Yeah, we’re in. that we’re not like, “Okay, man.” Like, what do they say? S or get off the pot? Let’s do something, man. It’s just It just got frustrating watching. Look, I’ve always believed that if the continuity of an offensive line is just putting together and playing them together, and sometimes injuries disrupt that. I get that. But there you there are reports coming out in the recent weeks that there was a there was a lack of communication. Guys were confused of what plays were called or what was actually being ran. Well, that can’t happen. We’re professionals. I mean, you should be able to call, you know, a run in in a huddle and everyone knows where they’re going or a pass in the huddle and everyone knows where they’re going. We we’ve asked them to play the young guys. They’re going to do that. They’re going to take their lumps and and I agree. They’re going to take their lumps. But much to Q’s point, decide on what you’re going to do and just do it, right? And of course, will the people as analysts and and and the fans will have their gripes. I think you need to see where younger guys are are have and what they can if they can play in this league. That’s the reason why you drafted them. So, put them out there. you’re gonna take their lumps. Don’t, especially on offensive line, don’t switch back and forth. If you can help it, don’t switch back and forth. Don’t don’t rotate like that because one, you’ll get cold at times and you you you won’t be able to understand what’s going on uh from a vantage point unless you’re listening to the plays. And two, you kind of lose you kind of lose flare to want to be in the game if you don’t if if you I’m born in the series and I’m out of series. Well, this series we only got three plays. Well, he got nine plays in the last series. Well, can I get nine plays? That’s that’s stuff that you don’t need in your locker room. It causes way more confusion. Pick a squad, go out there and play, take your lumps, whatever they come. It’s not a very good team anyways on offense. So, you know, there it’s not like you’re really missing out on anything, right? Yeah. It can’t be it can’t be much worse, right? I mean, really, it can’t I mean, look, when you’re a two when you’re a two- win team, you already know what you know what it is. You know, it’s it’s not a very good unit. They’re not all of a sudden going to turn it around and all of a sudden be the the greatest show on turn for whatever. They’re just not right. And so, you do the best that you can. I had no problem seeing Jack B get multiple targets. I thought that that was good, right? I mean, again, he’s there’s going to be mistakes made that he’s going to take some lumps. All of them are going to take some lumps. Caillou Kelly, Darien Porter, them switching back and forth. All right. At the quarterback position, it’s not as necessary as as the offensive line to all be one unit. So, maybe I could see that at least some young guys are getting some burn. But, I mean, Jack Jack B and Dante Thornton Jr. getting out of there and and and actually getting some real reps, I’m good with that. I’m good with that. At this stage of the game, what do you have to lose? Yeah, I want to see the young guys get on the field and I I like that Rogers was in there, but I didn’t like them mixing it up like that because both of you always talk about the continuity of the O line and I wonder what that does to the quarterback when he’s seeing that switch because we know that Gino is not completely comfortable and going back to him not being mobile because in Seattle I I felt like he was using his legs a lot more. We haven’t seen him do that this season a lot and I’m not quite sure because he’s not getting enough time in the pocket. But even when he does get enough time in the pocket, then he’s staring down his receivers or he’s holding the ball too long. So just in terms of Gino not using his legs as much, have you guys been surprised this season, Link? No, he’s banged up. He’s hurting. I mean, I I see him times get off the ground, pick himself off the ground. He’s limping. Noticeably limping. And I I think that he has been beaten down with the number of sacks, the number of hits he’s taken and also, you know, been beaten down by us in the press and the criticism. I mean, he says the same thing at every press conference, which to me is somewhat noble. Accepts all the responsibility. Says that he has to play better, but at the same point, it’s just it’s more or less of a, okay, I just want to get out of this question and move on. So, he’ll say all the same things. So, I feel bad for him because the amount of hits he’s taken. I’ I’ve noticed over Gino’s career that he can play well. I think at times he can be accurate. I think at times he can be, you know, he does stare down receivers, but I also think there’s a level of predictability in this offense right now because if they’re not getting the ball to Brock Bowers, they’re trying to get to Ashley Genty and then if oh, if it doesn’t go to him, okay, let me find someone else. Trey Tuck, Trey Tucker, Tyler Lockett, you know, Jack Bash, whomever. But it’s even having those notable playmakers and and possible playmakers on your offense doesn’t mean a thing if you can’t get him the football. True. True. Look, I I’ll say this. I thought that Gino was going to use his legs a little bit more this year. And you know, the funny thing the the reality of of where the Raiders are this year and where Gino is this this year is watching Sunday Night Football last night and watching Washington and watching Denver and seeing Marcus Mariota at his age try to ball out and give everything he’s got. And I don’t think any of us think that Marcus Mariota is the next, you know, the the the the greatest things to sliced bread. Like I think we all realize that Marcus has his limitations, but seeing him pour it all out on there on the line and give everything they got from scrambling to throwing it up to giving them opportunities and and keep hearing Mariota, Mariota, Mariota. There was a point in the game last night where the wife said, Marcus Mariota and I said, “Yeah.” She said, “Why is he balling out way more than Gino?” And I said, “That’s all I needed to hear.” Right? I mean, that was the reality of it is you’re talking about a backup quarterback, a guy who’s there to be a placeholder in Washington behind Jaden Daniels. And of course, it’s worked out really well with Jaden being out that at least Marcus has some, you know, skins on the wall and is able to go in there and run that offense. But the fact that the backup quarterback is trying to ball out and give you everything he’s got. The fact that a guy like Jacobe Brassette in Arizona, I’m not saying they’re successful, but they’re giving everything they got, you see them pouring it out there on the field into their team and trying to take them to the next level. And then you see Gino just fumbling and crumbling and you know and getting sacked five times and not using his legs and you know and not knowing how to slide and it just and leading the league in interceptions. It’s just like the harsh reality to me that he ain’t him right. Right. I mean, it’s just it’s just the reality that this Raiders team, the plan that they came in with, however this plan came together, because I think that what Lincoln said about all these reports that are coming out, I mean, the blame game is on and popping right now when it comes to if however they came up with this this team and this plan, it just didn’t work. It just it just isn’t. And and and now they’re just trying to limp to the finish line so they could press reset and do it all over. Yeah. It’s kind of funny because I knew this season I knew I felt like a loser when I was watching M. Jones and I was like, man, I wish he was our quarterback. And he is a backup quarterback for the NerS. All these guys are out there trying to help their team however they can, no matter what the situation is. It seems like they’re just giving everything. Whether they’re coming up, you know, correct or not, whether they’re winning or not, but you see the effort like the way that Marcus was balling last night was just incredible. The dude threw the ball like over 50 times, right? and then is running around the yard and only gave the Washington’s only in overtime because Marcus is using his legs and his arm. That’s the only reason they made it that far. I’m not a big believer. I haven’t been a big believer in Marcus Mariota, but at the same point, I do I do applaud the effort and last night he was surrounded by a good team that helped him stay in the the Denver game where I thought they looking at their record, they would be blown out and I thought Denver was going to have their way with them. They they they kept it close and that that’s why I say any given Sunday or or any night there’s there’s going to be that look at what the the Chiefs did to the Cowboys or Cowboys did to the Chiefs vice versa, you know, during this weekend. So, look, anything’s possible. You just got to go out there and play hard. I just it’s just unfortunate the Raiders don’t have enough pieces to make to play hard, look like they play hard all the time. Yeah. And I want you guys to keep Gino Smith in your mind right now because on the other side we’re going to be talking about the quarterback room and of course still continuing to talk a little bit about Gino. So if you’re watching this on YouTube, please drop your comments and questions for Link and Q because in the final segment they both will be answering some of those questions and comments. We’ll be back on the other side. Keep it locked here on the Lock Network. You’re watching or listening to the Raider Squad Show. 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Welcome back, Raider Nation. Remember, if you’re watching this on YouTube, hit that like and subscribe button. If you’re listening to this on the audio side, we do appreciate you. And remember, in that final segment, Link and Q will be answering some of your questions, taking some of your comments. So, please drop them in the chat and you can always drop them later as well as well and we might get to them on another episode. All right. So, we were talking about Gino Smith and I think we all agree that we thought he would use his legs a little bit more. We’re seeing the confidence deplete. We’ve seen it, you know, him get hit 15 times in the last two games and they’re still going with a guy like Gino because he might be the best option. But at this point of the season where the season is winding down, my question to both of you and Link will go with you first. Would it be time to finally make that switch because you know he’s been taking a beating? I need to turn on my mic. Excuse me. Look, uh, that helps. That helps. Yeah, it does help. Things that we take into mind, we know that Pete Carol is incredibly loyal and Gino Smith is Pete Carol’s guy. Okay, so we know that. But match B butt match back to Q’s point in the first segment when he talked about we’re trying to figure out who’s in charge and who’s making the o overall decisions that comes in where Greg Olsen has to stand up and say Gino can’t do it or maybe we should go somewhere different. I don’t see Greg Olsson doing that. I don’t really see them making a change at quarterback. I don’t necessarily know what the problem is with Kenny Picket. I haven’t watched him enough. I haven’t studied him enough. But again, he’s the first round talent that’s on his 14th in in so many years. So there says something there, but he is your backup. They left they, you know, when Aiden Oonnell got hurt and Aden Oonnell was probably challenging for Gino Smith, I didn’t think there wasn’t even competition, but they made it seem like there was a competition. Aiden Oconor, we we saw him. He looked at his he receivers. That was one of his biggest nemesis with his career. And I don’t know how you get away from that. I don’t know how much he’s practiced, how he’s changed that. I don’t know where Greg Olsen’s influence at quarterback coach has helped that. And now that he’s offensive coordinator, does he have time to develop? I’ve always said there’s no development in the National Football League. You either got it when you come out of college or you don’t have it. You might be able to develop it years and years afterwards, but that means some team has got to have patience with you and work with you to sort of develop your your your weaknesses, overcome your weaknesses and your minuses. I don’t see that happening. So, I don’t know if they have a better choice at quarterback is my point, right? Yeah. I don’t know if they have a better option. I don’t know if Kenny Picket or Aiden Okonnell could outperform Gino. But to your point earlier, Link, that he’s beat up, he’s banged up, he’s, you know, taking too many hits. At this point, it might be to Chantel’s point, just save him from himself. Hey, man, you’re you’re taking so many hits, you’re banged up, you’re, you know, you can’t use your legs or you’re not using your legs to to escape the pocket or at least roll the pocket a little bit. U maybe let somebody else get in there. Even if they’re not the better option, right? It’s just, hey, this is the option that we have at this stage of the game. It’s either Kenny Picket or Aiden Oonnell. Gino Smith clearly is not getting it done. I mean, the guy’s got 14 interceptions on the season, right? I mean, he’s he’s just he he’s taken 25 sacks in the last four games. I mean, it’s just it’s one thing after the other. I mean, he’s it’s it’s going to make anyone skittish what he’s dealing with back there. And at some point, maybe it’s better just to sit him down and say, “Okay, look, you’ve had all these games. We know who you are. We know what the record is overall, 2 and 10 through these games. All right, let’s let’s let’s go ahead and pass the sticks on to someone else.” Like, it’s like a Madden 21 blowout. At some point, you just pass the sticks on. So, I don’t know if the option behind them are better, but they might be necessary at this stage of the game. You know, is a little bit of an added to that. Q and Chantel, you also have to think about the locker room. If you put in a backup quarterback, what are you saying to the rest of the team? Are you saying that I’m trying to win or are you saying, you know what, we’re just trying to get through the season or go sit down. Look, the fact is that Gino’s making a lot of money and standard for a starting quarterback in my opinion around 35 $40 million. It’s that’s what that’s what they go for. Has he earned it? No. But he’s taken a lot of beatings and you know to and it’s not that he’s released all the defensive people on him. He’s expected his teammates to do to do better around him. But the same point he gets all the glory when things go right. He’ll get all the blame when things go wrong. That’s just the price he paid for being a quarterback in the National Football League. But what let what message do you send to the locker room? It’s a good point. Because look, they want to win. Yeah. All the guys that I’ve heard from and that I’ve watched and talked to, they want to win. They just want to win a game. They want to win a game. Stop bleeding. stop being the talk of the town in a negative negative way. But at the same point, if you’re the Raiders, you have to look forward to the future. We’re already studying the future. It’s Thanksgiving, right? This season’s over. You know, you just have to go through the rituals of playing the last couple of games. So, you know, what type of message do you send if you’re Pete Carol saying that? And we already said that Pete Carroll is loyal. He’s loyal to his guys and he’s going to play them no matter what. And he’s also Pete Carol’s come out and said, “Look, I’m trying to put the best guys on the football field.” Well, a lot of times these games didn’t include the guys that you drafted. So, what are we supposed to make as fans or analysts of what we’re watching? You’re not playing the guys that you draft for what reason? They’re not good enough. Does that go back to your scouting department? Who’s making the decisions? All of this the the the the Raiders and just it’s hard. It’s a hard pill to swallow. It’s hard to even talk about as alumni because I can’t see any type of progression, especially in the most critical areas that I’m passionate about. Offensive line and running the game or the running the ball. Yeah, I think yeah. Go ahead, Katie. Thoughts? The biggest thing is, and and this is what I talked about on the on the podcast today. Pete Carol and company, Chip Kelly, Patrick Graham retained, Tom McMahon retained, you know, John Spyitech brought in from Tampa Bay, they were all brought in. Tom Brady as minority owner, the other minority owners that, you know, have big business side of things, like they’re very successful. They all were brought in to stabilize this organization. And what we’ve seen so far through 13 weeks is anything but stable. Right? We have not seen stability at all. We’ve seen a report come out that Chip Kelly was calling the wrong plays. We heard that that wasn’t true. Then we heard that that was true. And then we heard that this isn’t even Chip Kelly’s offense that he was running. And we know Patrick Grahams is not running Patrick Graham’s defense. So it’s like everything that we thought was going to be a certain way. what it looked like over here. You know, the way that the p the picture was painted is not what the picture is. And so that’s the biggest problem. Stability was the biggest key. Not going to have to move off these guys. Yeah, Pete Carol’s on a shorter contract, but by the time he’s done and ready to walk away, man, this the organization, the culture is going to be right. They’re going to be back to winning. It’s going to be a smooth transition. It’s anything but smooth, right? The quarterback was brought in, traded, give a third round pick for Gino Smith. They they traded for him to stabilize the position for now. It’s not stable there. Like, show me one thing that’s stable in this organization. It’s not. And that’s the biggest that’s the biggest disappointment. That’s why I’m so like passionately upset about this situation because again, it was something that was it was it was done with all the the rotating door at the coaching spot. And there was, you know, the the the guys that are just getting their first opportunity to do something. That’s why you bring in an experienced offensive coordinator, an experienced head coach, right? You got Tom Brady, greatest of all time, part of the ownership. Okay, cool. He’s going to help out in this position. And it just seems like everything that they’ve thrown against the wall has not stick or stuck. And and and and on top of that, the way it was painted was it wasn’t going to be one of those just throw it against the wall and hope it stick situation. It was like this is a real plan. This is how we’re going to do it. Raider Nation is going to be proud. And here you look up and you got two wins. They’ll be lucky if they hit four wins like they did last year. Lucky. Yeah. I don’t think we want to get four wins. I won’t think we want to keep it at two. But I will say, see, there’s the mixed feelings because you can’t tell that to the guys in the locker room. The guys in the locker room do want to win these games. They’re going out there and they’re busting their backside, especially the defense. They’re giving everything that they can to try to keep this team in. And they’re doing a good job of not pointing the fingers, at least publicly, at, hey man, the offense is letting us down. That’s something I’ll give them credit for because you can you can start to hear. Look at Philadelphia, right? They’re successful and they can’t even get along. Could you imagine this team at at two and 10 and publicly at least they’re not pointing the finger and saying, “Hey, the offense stinks. You guys aren’t doing your job.” Because they could easily be saying that and they’re not. So, I’ll give them that. But, man, there’s there’s no stability right now with this organization. Unfortunately, I think at the end of the season, it’s going to be boom, hit that button again, and it’s going to be a whole new coach coaching search. I doubt Gino comes back and probably 75 to 80% of the guys in the locker room won’t be back either. Yeah. Which is really unfortunate. I think it’s been a complete soap opera. All of these leaked stories that have been coming out, we don’t know what’s true, what is true. Some things have been confirmed, some things haven’t been confirmed, and it’s going to continue throughout the season. But it also kind of poses the question, and we’ve talked about this, like who’s making the decisions. And when you think about Tom bringing in a bunch of guys, I feel like it it should always be the GM that’s picking everybody because then it’s his group. It shouldn’t be someone bringing in a coach, someone bringing in an OC, you know, and I love PG and I’m glad that they kept him. However, it should always be the GM bringing in his own guys and that hasn’t been the case. How much do you think that has affected this season and has kind of been the reason of why there’s been so much turmoil and why the season has been unsuccessful link? Well, because you don’t know which way who to believe, right? You don’t you you you’re getting information after the fact. I mean, after the Chip Kelly firing, then you hear he’s calling the wrong plays or there’s a lot of confusion. I mean, but we we really don’t know who to believe because we don’t know. We don’t see a natural hierarchy in this organization. Once upon a time, I knew what it was. Al Davis ran the show. You knew who it was. He hired coaches and he fired coaches. He didn’t think that much of coaches and we all knew about that. I mean, that’s the reason why John Gruden got traded in the first place. But you look at this with since the Raiders left Oakland, left, you know, they fired Del Rio, they hired Gruden, that turned out to be a disaster. He had to let Guden go amongst all the turmoil of the emails and stuff like that. And now he’s out of coaching, still in the league. Don’t know if he go get back into coaching after it’s said and done. And look at the turnover. Yep. From Josh McDaniels to AP to where we are right now. Much to Q’s point, if we push the reset button again, we’re right back where we started. Y we’re not getting any better. We’re and and I and look, it’s painful to me to see, but you know, there’s a part where you have people who are being loyal to other people, and there’s a part where it’s it’s just practicality. Look, you got to you’re not doing a good job. It’s a performance-based business. I got to let you go. But if we change if you change the entire co coaching staff, then you’re coming back in. You’re going to have a new coaching staff that comes in and says, “I don’t like that guy. I don’t like that guy. I don’t like that guy. Let’s change that and see if we can win. And then we’ll see if it sticks. We’ll see if the pasta sticks to the fridge once we throw it in after that. We might be in another two intense situation this time next year. I always threw the pasta up in the ceiling and then Oh, I threw it on the fridge. That was the way I knew the pasta already to the roof. Okay. I don’t know how you going. How you going to get down from the roof? Are you tall enough to get up there? I mean, come on now. Got hops. You know Okay. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Q knows ball. Q’s ball. We know that. Q used to hoop, right? Q’s got hops. Yeah. Go ahead. Funny though, to Lincoln’s point and and Chantel actually, it’s so funny because you guys both make great points. You know, if uh if like say Lincoln’s the head coach and I’m the offensive coordinator, but Lincoln didn’t hire me. His boss hired me. Why would I got to listen to the head coach? Exactly. Why I got to listen to the head coach? Hey man, you didn’t hire me. Your boss hired me. I’m good. That doesn’t work. And to your point, like you said, the GM should hire the head coach. The head coach should hire the OC. The head coach should decide on who the DC is, and then should go from there, right? And if the OC needs his assistant coaches to make his offense go, then he brings those guys in. There should be an order of operations. And instead, it was like, “All right, I’m picking this guy.” It’s like, it’s like they were doing pickup basketball. All right, who do you got? I got Pete Hero. Who do you got? I got Chip Kelly. Who do you got? Well, I’m keeping Patrick Graham. What do you got? I got Robbie Leonard. Like, that’s that doesn’t work. It just can’t. And and and and that’s why this is such a problem. And that’s why from the jump and we said it what two three weeks into the season I was like man I just don’t think that Pete Carol and Chip Kelly are on the same page. I didn’t know all this was going on behind the scenes. It just from from the naked eye and the way that the offense was being ran and the things the little things here and there that Pete Carol would say about well he ain’t calling the plays talking about Gino he ain’t calling the plays. I started picking up on wait a minute these guys they don’t see eye to eye. You know how they see the eye to eye is because they get on the same page right they have continuity and like Link said back in the day Al Davis did everything. The good thing about that even though towards the end obviously it didn’t work. The good thing about that is you knew where the buck started and where it stopped, right? There was no questions of, “Well, who’s calling the shots?” Al is. Well, who’s who’s calling this? Al. Who’s doing this? Al. You know what I mean? Like everything was Al cuz he was doing everything. It’s not like that anymore. And so, and so you’ve got to have continuity and this team doesn’t have that. You look at the Dallas Cowboys and everyone knows that Jerry Jones is going to be in the spotlight. He’s going to be in the air. He’s going to address the media after every game, win, loss, or whatever. We already know that. And so people who go through Dallas know who who runs the show. It’s going to be Jerry’s show. Okay, it is what it is. Be it effective or not. But at the same point, you look at the Raiders, a truly iconic uh team just like the Cowboys not having a level of stability. Well, that falls on ownership. But at this point, what part of ownership are we talking about? Because much to Q’s point, I heard grumblings that Chip Kelly and Pete Carol didn’t talk in the facility. Yeah. Which is unheard of, right? Yeah. How do you Whoa. Huh? I I saw Pete Carol working with Patrick Graham on the defense. I’ve seen what adjustments they made to the defense, but defense still has struggles getting off a third down, getting off the field and and extending drives. Sometimes the defense looks light out, lights out. Sometimes they look, oh my gosh, I just gave up that long run. What the hell happened? And all that stuff that happens that comes with it. So, it is what it is. But you just got to know who’s running the show. And I don’t even know if the players in that locker room want to admit who’s running the show. if they do know. Yeah. And I think in terms of ownership, I think Mark has really tried to bring in the right people year after year. Agree. He’s going to spend the money. Yeah. It just hasn’t panned out. And so I think but I think Mark has really really tried to bring in the right coaches, the right, you know, GMs. He has really tried to do that. It hasn’t panned out, you know, um turning back into the quarterback room. AOC was listed as the emergency quarterback. We know just based off them not throwing in Kenny Picket when Gino was limping against the Broncos in that game. Do you feel like AOC AOC should at least be C like QB2? Because I don’t think they believe in Kenny Picket. And so that to me is a little bit strange, but if they believed in Kenny Picket, I think Kenny would have been in the game by now. Q, I agree. Yeah. I mean, I I don’t I don’t think I don’t think that they’re they’re very high on Kenny Picket, which again goes back to then why did you trade for him? Why did you give a draft capital for him when you could have gone out and got a guy that was a, you know, free agent and just brought him in for a league minimum and had him be a placeholder until Okonnell got back? Like I said, nothing makes any sense. Why Why did you rush Aiden Okonnell back onto the the the roster, right? You had a 21-day window where you had to activate him to put him on the 53man roster. he was down for the season and then he’s the emergency quarterback. You know what I mean? So, it’s like what was there? Was that necessary? You might as well just gone ahead and let him ride out the rest of the season to get healthy and come back next year in the final year of his deal or whatever the like I the plan is never clear. Like I I just don’t I don’t understand. It almost feels like there’s a decision being made by the GM. Then the head coach is saying, “Hey, this is the decision I want to make.” And the GM is saying, “Well, this is the direction that we want to go.” Well, the head coach is saying, “This is the direction I’m going to go. I’m fighting for my job.” Which he is. I think it’s very clear that Pete Carol is coaching for his job and I don’t know if if he’s going to have enough and I don’t even know if he can have enough success the rest of the way to save his job. I’m not one to say fire guys, fire guys, fire guys cuz I I think that’s the worst practice ever. But at some point you’ve got to come to a real decision like is this possible? Can can this thing work or is this just going to continue to be a dumpster fire? Because if it’s going to continue to be a dumpster fire, you got to make some changes. AP last year made a decision that Gardner Mchu was better suited for the offense of this team because he was more mobile. That’s what he he told me. He was more mobile than AOC. We saw how that that worked out or didn’t work, right? We saw that that was a disaster. It ended up costing AP his job uh in my estimation making that gamble and seeing the way the season turned out. Now Pete Carol to me is a program builder. I honestly think that Mark went to Perry because he wanted to build a program knowing that he’s only got a few more years left. I mean, he’s an older man. Few more years left to coach. Try to put my program on the right track. So, coming into the season, when I saw the Pete Carol Pete Carol hire, I envisioned, okay, they’re grooming this team to get ready for another coach to step in. Probably someone who’s already on the coaching staff, maybe Patrick Graham, maybe Chip Kelly to eventually take over. All right. That’s what I kind of thought. Now, the disaster of Chip Kelly fired and we don’t know who’s calling the shots. You know, that Tom Brady makes an announcement there’s going to be changes coming to the Raiders again. Well, whoa, whoa. You put that out there like that, then people are thinking that you’re making the shots or you’re calling the shots. I don’t know if that’s true or not, or he just has an announcement to make. I understand the charisma behind Tom Brady. I get it. Okay. You want him to face your franchise. You if you’re Mark Davis, you’re saying, you know, I don’t always want to be in the spotlight. Maybe I want to have somebody else take control. I don’t have a problem with that. Just be clear who runs the show and by by by action show me who actually runs the show. Okay. The fact that you fired two coordinators in this season and we still got five games to go worries me, right? I mean, it does it worries me. It It worries me because where are we going? What’s the direction in the future? You can’t build a program if you’re constantly hitting the reset button. And so that’s what I’m most fearful of with these remaining games. What do we see? Yes, we want to see the young talent out there. We want to see them go, but changes have to be made because it’s not what you’re doing right now isn’t working and it has not translated in winning games. And the opponents that you’re going up, it’s not going to get any easier. No, you had your chance against poor opponents. You had your chance to win games and probably put yourself over. Now you’re second in the draft. You know, looking up at the rest of the league, looking up at the division, you don’t have a divisional win. There are plenty of reasons for guys in that locker room to quit. And believe me, guys, I’ve been on enough bad teams to see it happen. I don’t know how this coaching staff holds it together. I know what these players are going out there and playing for other than just to get through the season and look forward to winter break. Yeah, second in the draft doesn’t sound that bad though. I just want to throw that out there. On the other side though, we are going to be talking about someone that you mentioned, Link, Patrick Graham. We’re going to be talking a little bit about his defense and there’s been a lot of rumors that have been come out. We don’t know what’s true and what isn’t true, but however, we’re going to be breaking down the Raiders defense, what we saw against the Chargers, and just in terms of if we really are seeing the Patrick Graham defense that we’re supposed to be seeing. That’s on the other side. Keep it locked here on the Lockdown Network. You’re watching or listening to the Raiders Spot. The World Cup is coming back to North America for the first time since 1994. And with 48 teams for the first time ever, it’s going to be massive. But let’s be honest, getting tickets is usually the hardest part. That’s why the Game Time app is clutch. Finally giving fans a real advantage of when it comes to snagging seats. With Game Time, you can track price drops in real time, get alerts when great seats open, and buy tickets the moment they hit the app. It puts the power back in your hands. It makes going to the World Cup realistic instead of impossible. And that’s actually true because if you’re trying to get World Cup tickets, sometimes you have to enter a contest to get these tickets, which is absolutely ridiculous. But on game time, you’re going to be given a bunch of options about where you want to sit. You can see your seat view, and the prices will probably be a lot more cheaper. And the price you see is the price you pay, which is what I love about the Game Time app. So, take the guesswork out of buying World Cup tickets at every match, concert, or event with Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account, and use code locked on NFL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, download the app, make an account, and use locked NFL as the code for $20 off. Swipe, tap, ticket, go. Game time. Welcome back, Raider Nation. Remember, if you’re watching this on YouTube, hit that like and subscribe button if you already have. We do appreciate you. If you’re listening to this on the audio side, thank you so much. Leave, you know, a five star, a rate and review. If you got a couple of minutes, that helps the channel grow. And if you made the Raider Squad Show or Lockdown Raiders your first listen of the day, we do appreciate you. Also, I just want to mention that the Lockdown Network is the number one sports podcasting network. So, you continue to help the network grow as well. Every time you show up and support and despite the fact that the Raiders are two and 10, you still show support to the show. You drop your comments and Raider Nation, we love you for that. And, you know, I think there’s a group of Raider Nation that really really appreciates Patrick Graham. And then there are some people and that and that’s what the season has been, right? There’s been a lot of talk and there’s been a lot of dis disagreements whether that’s, you know, at the facility in the organization or with the fans that are really upset at how this season has gone, but in terms of Patrick Graham, we know how important he is to this defense and this defense has really played well at times, but when you’re on the field for over 30 minutes, you’re going to get tired and there’s only so much that the defense can do. And you know, we’ve talked about Patrick Graham and if we are really seeing his his defense and that that’s the question that I want to pose to both of you. Q. Do you believe that we’re seeing the Patrick Graham defense that we’re supposed to be seeing and that and do you think we’ve even seen it this season? No, I think we’ve seen a a blend of Pete Carol’s philosophies and Patrick Graham’s attempt to make the defense right. And you know, guys like Devin White have been in the locker room saying that they’re trying to figure it out and they’re trying to figure out exactly what they’re supposed to do and they’re trying to get there. They’re trying to form their identity defensively. Look, if you think back to Patrick Graham and his journey he’s had since he’s been a Raiders defensive coordinator. I mean, it is it is one hell of a trip. I mean, look, when the when the Raiders hired him, he he was hired by Josh McDaniels, right? And he was at that time he was taking head coaching interviews. He even interviewed with the Giants as a head coach. And I thought then and I told anyone who listen, man, this guy is going to come in, he’s going to coach it up for a couple years, then he’ll probably take a head coaching job. And we know the defense didn’t really flourish right away. Then he got moved to the booth and I thought and link you know this I thought well that’s always the first step man when when you move the guy to the booth then it’s like all right if your defense doesn’t get things turned around you’re out of here and then all of a sudden like in 2023 his defense was the strength of the team you know and they were keeping him around in games and the Raiders were losing a lot. McDaniels gets fired AP comes in they do a couple things here and there and all of a sudden they’re winning and it’s on the strength of the defense. Now Patrick Graham is hot again. So it’s like he went from hot to being not to being hot to being you know what I mean? like he’s been like a yo-yo. He’s been thrown so many different directions. So, you know, I I think that he has a really good defensive concepts. I just don’t think that what we’re seeing right now is the best version of Patrick Graham. And when it’s all said and done, he’ll probably be another one of the guys that is on the outside looking in, looking for a new spot, and I’m sure he’ll be okay. Last off seasonason, he interviewed with the Bengals for their defensive coordinator position. He interviewed with the Jaguars for their open head coaching spot. So, he’ll be fine. But it’s just it’s it feels like he’s been kind of pulled and and turned and and and and drugged in so many different directions since being a Raiders defensive coordinator. And it hasn’t been that long. It’s only been a handful of years. I remember when Patrick Graham was the defensive coordinator for the Giants and they played a good game against Kansas City. And then next thing you know, Patrick Graham became the hottest thing out there because everyone was trying to figure out how do you slow down the Kansas City Juggernaut. And so I understood his defense back then. I also understood that when he brought it over, the way I broke it down, it’s a hybrid three, four defense. There were times where they had Max Crosby, who to me is a defensive end, listed as outside linebacker, were dropping in the flats. You know, a couple weeks ago, to case in point, couple weeks ago when the the Raiders played the Browns, that Charles Snowden uh interception was a defensive lineman outside linebacker dropping into the FL. I mean, dropping into the hook zone area, hook area to pick off that ball, which the Raiders have been picked on for many times, especially the the Raiders, that defense that they played, Patrick Graham’s defense. That’s one of the biggest weaknesses uh in that intermediate zone area. With that being said, going forward, I saw I go back to my original point. Pete Carol’s bought in to build a program. Patrick Graham to me is being groomed as a head coach whether it’s here or anyone else anywhere else to be a head coach. He has that type of mind and people are looking at him like that. This defense is the team’s identity. But this defense also still has its flaws. There are times where he can’t get off the field at third down and that’s a flaw. You know, you might play good on first and second down, but you got to win on third down to get off the field. So, that’s still a shortcoming. I see a combination of Pete Arrow and Patrick Graham meshing their minds to see what the Raiders defense is right now. That’s what you see. That’s what I think it is. And I mean at this at the same time though, do we don’t we not want want that? Like at some point, don’t you say, “Hey, this is not working. We’ve worked a little bit. There’s no consistency. Do you think that there will be a chance where we get to really see PG’s defense or do you think it’s going to be this mixup match that we’ve been seeing all season long?” Yeah, it’s going to be the mix. It’ll be it’ll be the mix of of what we’ve seen, you know, again, and it’s funny on the broadcast yesterday, that’s that’s all you heard, right? That’s all you heard is that, you know, Patrick Graham is trying to make this Pete Carol uh defense work and trying to to, you know, fit his philosophies in with what Pete Carroll wants to do. Look, Patrick Graham always has an attacking defense. And this defense has been anything but attacking, right? I mean, look, I don’t think that there’s ever a time, I get it, being versatile and want to switch things up. I don’t think there’s ever a time that Max Crosby needs to be dropping in coverage, right? There there just isn’t, right? Max Crosby, his superpower is getting to the quarterback, stopping the run. His His superpowers is going forward, not dropping into coverage, and there was a time he was lined up as what, the middle linebacker on yesterday. Yeah. Right. Like, what world are we in? What world are we in? I I don’t Look, Max is fantastic. I want Max to do what Max does well, right? And does great, I should say, and that’s get to the quarterback, be disruptive, get in the back field, and uh cause havoc on on an opposing offense. I don’t need him dropping in coverage. It’s like back in the day, LeBron shooting a three-pointer. I’d take that. You know, if I’m a defense, I’m like, “Yeah, go ahead.” Like, I mean, you’ll knock it down every once in a while. That’s cool. But I rather him take take a three-point shot than take it to the rim. And there’s a good chance that he’s going to dunk on someone’s head. You know what I mean? Like, what what are we doing? So, it’s just it’s so wild, man. The decisions that are being made and why they’re being made, uh, again, goes back to who’s calling the shots on this team offensively and defensively. I I I think you’re going to continue to see the combination. And I also think that this is an opportunity for Patrick Graham to grow in his defensive philosophy by having another defensive mind on the staff with him, Pete. Carol Carroll. Uh and and look, if they go after taller, longer defensive backs, that can be effective. Uh but I also think that the reason why this team is not a high blitzing team, the Raiders, you can’t afford to put your your secondary on on an island. You just don’t you don’t have the confidence that you’re going to be able to get to the quarterback. And there are everyone has got negatives. Every player in the league has got something that some sort of flaws. You talk about a number of the the the linebackers and secondaries, some of them have issues with covering man on man. They’re better zone people than they are man on man. And you have to find the right combination and coaching these guys and understanding that. It’s just sad that what are we week 13 or 14, whatever week this is now, you know, it it’s just sad that it’s coming to your mind of like, oh, oh well well maybe that is a negative. maybe I should do something about it or maybe I should uh own it or do something different. It it is what it is. It the defense is this team’s identity. They’re they’re not lights out. We’re not We’re not talking about the old Bears or the old Ravens teams. You know what I mean? They’re not lights out, but they do play hard and they do play strong. They just get worn down. And if you don’t have an offense that can complement them or you don’t have special teams, even when they do get turnovers, the offense can’t score, the offense that struggles in the red zone to put points on the board, always playing from behind, the defense can only do so much. I don’t care who you have coaching, right? Yeah. I think the best asset to a defense is having an offense that keeps them off of the field. As for as for Patrick Graham, you mentioned it when he was up in the booth. It’s like, you know, Patrick Graham, his defense was playing really well. He’s on the field. Do you think that’s been uh you know, uh I guess do you think that’s been an effect on how the defense has been run? I guess is he just better up in the booth or do you think him being on the field does make a little bit of a difference? Well, I know he prefers to be on the field. He he said that he prefers to be on the field. You get a better feel for the game. But when he got sent to the booth, he literally got sent to the booth, right? And that’s why I thought that, oh man, he’s going to get fired because that’s normally the first step. All right, we’re going to move this guy around. If this defense doesn’t step up, then he’ll be the scapegoat and we’ll move on from I thought Josh McDaniels was going to ultimately end up firing him. Well, ultimately Josh McDaniels got fired, right? And so, uh, but I felt like that that was the next move that was going to happen to try to say, “Okay, it’s not my fault, it’s this guy’s fault.” That’s how it works at times. So, you know, Patrick Graham stayed up in the booth because it was working at the time, but I know for a fact he prefers to be on the field. He prefers to be able to talk to the players, as he said, look them in their eyes and let them know what they need to do. I think if Patrick Graham is actually running his defense with all of his guys, I think the defense is fine. I think the defense, like Lincoln said, it’s not going to be lights out. It’s not going to be the 85 Bears, Baltimore Ravens. It’s not going to be any of those, but they’re going to be good enough to keep teams in keep the team in the game, right? But the offense has to do their job. Like it was 7-7 at halftime yesterday. 7-7. Even though the Chargers absolutely dominated the first half, it was 7-7. The Raiders made a couple plays. Caillou Blue Kelly big interception in the red zone and then they had a fourth down stop in the red zone. So they eliminated the Chargers from getting on the board twice. That’s giving the team a chance. Even if the defense isn’t playing lights out, you’re still giving the team a chance. Now you go compliment what we just did. We just got the ball back for you. Yes, it’s deep in our own territory. I get that. Yes, we’re gonna have to go the length of the field, but that’s on you. I just got the ball back for you. Now go do something. Instead, it’s like play, play, play, punt, play, play, play, punt. You know what I mean? It’s just it just doesn’t work like that. I mean, you can’t you’re not going to sustain that. And they’re not going to be able to stay on the field for 35 minutes and think that they’re going to hold the team to 14 or 19 points and give you a chance to win. They’re just not. They’re going to that dam is going to break. And you saw it break. Hugh, you know that play you were talking about with Caillou Blue Kelly, that interception, that is a perfect example of Pete Carol’s influence into Patrick Graham’s defense. In the past, Patrick Graham played pure man-on-man in those instances and those areas. And the Raiders have always had problems with crossing routes, scissor routes, pick routes or anything like that. By them being able to switch off in a zone look, they showed man. Yeah. But they came the zone. It was it was a constant pass off when the receivers caught, you know, cross pass. Caillou Caillou was right in the right place, right, to intercept that ball, right? That’s a Pete Carol influence. That’s a good point. Yeah. All right. I mean, I guess my final question about PG is do you see him being kept next year because we haven’t really seen the seen the PG defense. Of course, uh there’s that Pete Carol influence, but of course that there’s a positive that Link just said in terms of the Caillou Kelly interception. But do you think that he is one of the only pieces from the coaching staff that is kept? because I think we can kind of see what’s going to happen with Pete. I think for Pete he has two options. He can either retire or he might get let go and it might be a one and done for him unfortunately for him. Right. But do you see PG being kept? I think that’s going to all determine on who the head coach is next year to be honest. I don’t think I can give you an honest answer and and and not just be trying to make something up, right? I just I I think that honestly it’s going to determine who the head coach is. If Pete Carol is the head coach, um, then probably there’s a good chance that that PG is still around. If he’s not, whoever comes in is probably going to want to bring in all his own guys, right? And and make sure that they do it. Right now, this the the with all the reports that are out about, you know, this arranged marriage and how they hired all these different coaches and how these guys didn’t get along. And who wants to come to Vegas? Like, who really worth the salt? Are you gonna get to be the offensive coordinator next year if you feel like, well, I can’t run my own offense anyway. That was Pete Carol’s offense that Chip Kelly was trying to run. Or, you know, you you feel like, well, I can’t run my own defense because that was I got to do Pete Carol. You know what I mean? It’s like it’s so hard to attract someone that has really good uh, you know, skins on the wall. Someone that that that can prove to be a difference maker. It really to me feels like the if there is changes that are made, then it’s going to have to be someone that hasn’t had any experience yet. And and I don’t mean any experience, but you know what I mean. Like nobody that’s been a head coach before, nobody that’s had this opportunity, someone that’s up and coming that just wants that opportunity, right? And we we we talked before the show about Lane Kein going to to LSU. Basically a Lane Keifin type situation when he took the job as a head coach of the Raiders. He just wanted an opportunity. He didn’t care where it was. He was going to take it. And you know, it’s just not to bring up old stuff, but that’s that’s what it feels like. It feels like that they’re going to have to hire someone that’s up and coming because they need that. They just want that opportunity. I want us to go after David Shaw as offense coordinator. David Shaw did a great job at Stanford, former Raider. He was a quarterback’s coach when I played with the team. I know what he could do with multiple tight end sets. I’ve seen him do it at Stanford. I know what he’s doing. He’s helping out in uh in Detroit right now as assistant offensive coordinator. So, I want David Shaw. I’m just throwing I’m throwing my bid out there and I want this coaching staff. I want Pete Carol to stay. I know that people are clamoring about, you know, having them out. I think he could build a program. I want and I think he’ll want to respond by saying, you know what, last year was a disaster. Let me make up for it and see what I can do. Bring this program much closer before I step down and then decide who the next coach is. But I’m also standing by the fact that we have to create some stability. We’ve lost some great players over the last year. I’m sick and tired of seeing Josh Jacobs ball in Green Bay. I’m sick and tired of seeing what you know what Nate Hobbs explaining and all these other guys are doing around the league. We had them. We had the and we had a lot of notable guys that I saw over this weekend heard their name like, “Oh yeah, he used to play with the Raiders. Oh, we had him at one point.” But because we had so much change at the top, that’s why we’ve had to change on the roster. That’s why we have a lack of consistency when it comes to good players. If you draft good players and you assess good players and you draft good players, why are they no longer in your team? For what reason? What rhyme or reason? Make sense of that. So, I’m hoping this coaching staff stays somewhat stable. They add a few pieces, but as far as offense coordinator, I’m throwing in David Shaw. I want to hear I want to see him. Yeah. Would you guys ever see a day where maybe, and I’m just throwing this out there, that PG make it might get that opportunity to be the head coach, or do you think that would be looked at? I still think it’s in I I still think it’s in the making. I I I still stand by that. I I I could definitely see that. I think he’ll definitely get a look. I think he’ll definitely get, you know, a conversation or whatever. And if this this coaching staff were to work out the way that it was set up, I feel like he’s one he’s one of the two guys that it could have been, you know, he could have been the successor to Pete Carol. Either him or Chip Kelly. Obviously, it didn’t work out that way. And now there’s a lot of fingerpointing going on. So that’s the thing. Like I don’t know with all this fingerpointing, it’s hard to it’s just hard to say that, oh yeah, that’s a good this is a good option here or that’s a good option there because everyone’s playing the blame game right now. And that’s like, you know, that’s like high school stuff, right? Oh no, it’s so and so it’s so and so’s fault. No, it’s not it’s their fault. No. And you know, it’s just it’s just too much. And again, I go back to my original point. All these guys were hired to bring in stability and it’s everything but stable. Yeah. And we’ll see if the Raiders get some more stability in the next game, which we’re going to be breaking down on Thursday. It’s going to be a tough one. But before we get into that, on the other side, Lincoln are going to be taking some of your questions and comments. So, keep it locked here on the Lockdown Network. You’re listening or watching the Raider Squad Show. Well, Raider Nation, that was a quick break, but if you uh like the content, hit that like and subscribe button. We also appreciate you rocking with the show. We’re going to go straight to uh Gertis Metal, who also donated $5 to the channel. Thank you so much. He said, “Guys, why are we starting Gino after his flipping off incident? Why are there zero repercussions? What does that say about the administration in Vegas?” Either of you can take this one. I was Well, I mean, I’ll start Q. I look I I thought he should have been suspended maybe for a quarter, couple series just to to to hit at home the the importance of being respectful and being mature. But at the same point, it didn’t happen. And again, we go back to what Pete Carroll has said. I’m trying to win football games. Um, and I don’t know if they have another option. If Adiden Okonnell is not 100%, I don’t know if they have another option. I don’t I don’t feel that they I don’t feel I don’t trust that they have belief in Kitty Pick can do it, right? That’s why he’s not out there. Yeah. I and then so I I agree. I agree with you. Um and there should have been something done by the administration just with the way things are going. I don’t know how it happens. Yeah. No, I was I was on the record last time, you know, talking about it that, you know, if in fact he’s flipping off fans, uh which apparently was one fan in particular, which still is not correct and not right, that, you know, he should be sat down. They didn’t sit him down. He he um made an apology when he stepped to the podium last week and uh let it be and that was it. And so it’s just okay. I guess that’s I guess that’s where where it’s going to go from there. The Raiders put out a statement about uh you know about the fact that they talked to him and they expect more from him yada yada yada. You know how that goes. And I was just kind of left alone there. So yeah, I’m surprised that that there was nothing done as well. All right, let’s go to uh P3 formula who says uh percentage chance Gino is starting next year. I give it 50%. Do you guys think Gino will be a part of this organization next season? even maybe possibly in a backup role to, you know, maybe a young quarterback or maybe they make a move. I I don’t know. Is Gino a part of the Raiders next season? He he won’t be a backup. That’s that’s if he’s with the team, he’ll be the starter at least to start the season off. There might be some young guy behind him that they decide to to to move on to eventually. I I’m I put my head back as soon as I saw that because I I’m hoping it’s 0% just to be be 100% honest. I hope it’s a 0%. I know it’s a 18.5 million dollar deadcap hit if uh if if they release him, but I think he’s very releasable. I think you just need to go ahead and chalk it up and say he he’s not the guy, right? He’s not the guy that they thought they were going to get from Seattle. Uh you know, and and and work so well with Pete Carol. I just think that they need to go ahead and get a a clean break from him. Uh decide what they’re going to do at that quarterback position and go from there. Look, I would rather take the lumps of a of a rookie quarterback getting getting some experience right now than what we’re seeing with Gino Smith because he’s playing like a rookie quarterback. Now, that could end up having its its its issues in the long haul, right? That could mess up a young man’s uh confidence at this stage of the game. So, there’s obviously there’s there’s pros and cons to that, but what we’re seeing from Gino Smith just ain’t it. Unless they’re going to completely build that offensive line and say, “We’re going to give you another chance.” I don’t know if he’s got the confidence. So, I don’t know if he’s got the skill set to be a good Raider quarterback. I don’t believe Jino Smith’s coming back next year. I don’t think he wants to come back. Yeah. Short and sweet. We’ll end it off with a great comment from from Raidaway 24. You said it all, Q. You said it all. Yeah. Yeah. Kudos ball. Kudos ball. Uh, Lincoln needs to be more involved with managing great player and great mind. So, just just some props there for Lincoln. Uh, we’ll be we’ll be back on Thursday, 7:30 a.m. Pacific time, 10:30 a.m. Eastern time. Remember, if you like the content, hit that like and subscribe button. And, uh, I just want to say we do appreciate you joining the show, even though we’re two and 10. And we’ll continue this support group on Thursday. Thanks so much, Raider Nation. We’ll see you then.

In this episode of The Raiders Squad Show, we break down the Raiders’ tough loss to the Chargers, including the biggest takeaways, whether Greg Olson’s offense looked better than Chip Kelly’s, and why the team continues to struggle on third down. We dive deep into Paul Graham’s defense after giving up over 300 total yards and discuss whether we’re truly seeing what his scheme is supposed to be. Plus, we react to Geno’s performance, what the QB room looks like moving forward, and whether Aidan O’Connell should be QB2 over Kenny Pickett. We close the show with Questions & Comments with Linc & Q. Join us for Raiders talk!

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