At 2-7, the Las Vegas Raiders have every right to keep an eye on the future.
Jared Dubin of CBS Sports analyzed the future outlook of bad teams around the National Football League.
Dubin broke things down into tiers, with the Raiders into the “A Long Way to Go” category. That is a fair assessment based on how the past few seasons have gone for the Raiders.
“We have the Raiders last because they basically have two players (Brock Bowers and Maxx Crosby) who are worth building around and not much else. They seem to be considering abandoning their new coaching staff after just one year. And their quarterback situation with Geno Smith is looking like a nightmare,” Dubin said.
Following his return to the field in Week 9, Raiders Head Coach Pete Carroll noted Bowers’ importance. The Raiders’ offense is built around Bowers, without him on the field, the Raiders would struggle even more than they do.
“I mean, can it be more obvious what a great player he is? We had a way to get him the ball, they hooked it up great. Chip [Kelly] got him open. Geno [Smith] hit him. Efficiency was great. Did he catch 11 balls? Twelve targets for 11 balls. I mean, just great efficiency, and his run-after-catch was excellent. His playmaking was excellent. The one in the corner of the end zone, the guy is pulling on his glove, and then he couldn’t get his hand up to catch the ball and he caught that one, too,” Carroll said.
It is undeniable that Las Vegas’ offense is vastly different with Bowers healthy and on the field, even if he is not targeted. Bowers’ first game back from injury in Week 9 was proof of this, as he exploded for 12 catches, 127 yards and three touchdowns.
Las Vegas Raiders GM John Spytek / Darrell Craig Harris, On SI
“This is what we’ve been missing, it can’t be more obvious. You can see Brock [Bowers] is such a good football player. This is what we watched all summer-long and offseason, those guys hooking up. It just makes everything better. You have a go-to guy. I thought Geno [Smith] played a great football game today,” Carroll said.
“He played excellently under the pressure of it and trying to finish it. Like you said, 9-9 in the fourth quarter, that’s what we know. The things that we saw earlier in the year when we were trying to patch together just didn’t seem like that was the character of the team that we would be. I think this is a glimpse of what our future is about. Let’s see if we can’t get this thing rolling.”
Las Vegas Raiders Pete Carroll, Jeremy Chinn / Darrell Craig Harris, On SI
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