Now, it’s time to get your morning started the right way. It’s the Morning Tailgate with Clay Baker, Vinny Bonsignor, and Lindsey Brown. Broadcasting live from the Finley Cadillac Performance Studios on Raider Nation Radio, 920 AM.
We are live at the Finley Cadillac Performance Studios, the Morning Tailgate. Clay Baker, Vinny Bonsignor, Lindsey Brown, we’re here with you. All right, this is going to be quite the show. We got post-game locker room sound from the captains, Devonta Adams. We’ll hear from Max. You’ll hear from yourselves. We will have time for your reactions. We got the text line 69187. We got the phone 702-365-9200. We have a lot to get into. Jesse Merrick also joins us at 9 o’clock. But we also want to ask, what hurts the most? We’ll get into all of it as the Raiders now fall to 1-2 in a game that was teed up for them on a Sunday night against the Steelers. And they fall flat, losing 23-18. What’s up, everybody?
What’s going on? How are you doing?
Yikes. That’s how I’m doing. I’m doing about a yikes on a 10 right now between that game and just the last 12 hours since the game has finished.
We’re going to hear from the fans, and they have every right to… Whatever you want to bring today, you know, venting, crying, screaming, yelling, whatever the case might be. But if I was a Raider fan, you know what the biggest hurt for me would be? It’s just this continuation of the same old stuff year after year, game after game. And as Devontae, and we’re going to hear from Devontae, the Raiders captain who had some pointed words, and I think he was spot on with those pointed words. Enough about the talk. Enough talking about it. Enough emphasizing about it. Enough pointing it out. Enough talking about, oh, we saw this on film. We can get that fixed. Our problems are fixable. Self-inflicted wounds. It’s not so much what the other team is doing. It’s what we’re doing to ourselves. Got to correct that. Enough with the talk and just do it. And I think if, you know, I’m not speaking for Raider Nation. They’re going to have their chance to come in here and explain their thoughts. But that’s, to me, it’s just the continuation of it. And… Where does it end? When does the good stuff start and stay consistent? Three games into the season, it feels like the same old kind of stuff. That’s not good.
Last night was a worse loss than the Buffalo Bills by a yard and a half. Probably more than a yard and a half. Because last week you lose to a good team. You don’t play your best game in a bunch of different phases and ways, but… You should have had this one yesterday. Like you said, it was on the plate.
It’s a beatable team.
It’s a beatable team. And the undisciplined moments that this team is prone to, that’s what’s most frustrating for me because I haven’t been around long enough for this continuation. But let me tell you guys, I’m learning fast. I’m learning very fast because I try to trust what I see and the data that I take in and the information I take in. And I was feeling really positive about this team coming out of preseason. Maybe that’s my fault. for doing that. Maybe it’s my fault for buying in a little bit too much to a performance with the Denver Broncos. Maybe I’m buying in a little bit too much saying that this offensive line is supposed to be better when we didn’t really face anybody for the first two weeks and all of a sudden we face somebody legit and we can’t do anything. The strength of this team is supposed to be the offense last night and they were the weapon that they hurt themselves with.
Well, they’ve been doing it all year.
Again and again. Like you said, the continuation.
They haven’t scored 20 points yet all year.
Yeah.
57 points in three games, right? Something like that?
Yeah.
I’m not a mathematician, but when you divide that by three, it doesn’t come out to 20. It doesn’t come out to wins.
One of the highest paid offenses in the entire league. One of the most prolific offenses if we would just use more than two people. Right. It’s going to be a critical day today. It’s going to be a critical week, straight up. We’re opening up to more calls today, and then obviously Tuesdays are for use days as well. But you have so many players that are entrusted with guiding this team, that have the experience to guide this team. And maybe it just needs a little bit more time to percolate. But they’re not rookies. Jimmy Garoppolo is not a rookie. Right. He’s making some rookie mistakes. And he played a pretty god-awful game last night. I hope he’s okay. But he played poorly.
Absolutely. He’s in concussion protocol. So we’ll monitor that. And here’s the thing, Lindsey. You said buy-in, right? And we were very explicit, and I feel like we articulated this well. The buy-in was at their highest level, at their peak. This was about a nine-win team. If you looked at the roster, you looked at the division that they were in, you looked at the conference that they were in, you looked at the schedule that they’re going to play. At their highest level, nine wins, which could put you in the playoff hunt.
Because it’s all tough. Right. All those factors that you’re listing off.
Absolutely. At their highest point.
Yeah. If they’re firing all cylinders.
Haven’t seen that at all this year.
Yeah.
Even that Denver loss looks mediocre now compared to what the Denver Broncos just laid on them yesterday, 70 points. Yeah. 17 points against a team that just gave up 70 makes it a little – you look at that loss now in a different lens after Miami was able to do what they were able to do.
How legitimate is that win? Yeah. How special is that win? Nothing. Can we beat anybody but the Broncos? Because that’s really not a medal that I’m looking to put in a trophy case anywhere.
Especially after yesterday. Yeah. So that was the buy-in. And I think that’s the most – like that’s fine. If you can play to your level and win the games you’re supposed to win and get to your highest level, that’s an achievement. You did what you’re supposed to do. But to fall short of that over and over and over again, to fall short of playing your best, to fall short of playing your best when your best is required, to fall short because you’re shooting your own self in the foot with the interceptions and the stupid penalties and the lack of efficiency in certain areas, the blown coverages, the fact that the offensive line, I’m not saying that they’re resting on their laurels last year, but they’ve taken a step back this year.
So far, yeah.
I don’t care about the fact that he wasn’t sacked, Jimmy, the first two games.
They didn’t face anybody.
Right. And that was honestly one of my biggest fears going into yesterday’s game was this is not a nobody defensive line. This is a darn good defensive line. Anytime you have a what on the defensive line, it’s going to be a challenge. And the Raiders simply were not up to that challenge from an offensive line standpoint. Not in run blocking. Yeah, they got a little loose late in the game.
Considering Considering what they were giving up the first two weeks, their run defense wasn’t supposed to be good. We look human once again for the third week in a row.
Josh Jacobs getting hit behind the line of scrimmage. I haven’t seen his big burst yet. I still think he’s a little bit slow right now.
a little bit better in that second half, I thought, that he had a little bit more space to work with, but he doesn’t have the read through the holes, and he doesn’t have that burst. Right, yeah, the burst is not there. The burst isn’t there. Only maybe twice I saw it yesterday. Yeah, he doesn’t have that zip where it kind of gets, it gains a half a step on all those guys right at the line of scrimmage, right?
Yes, exactly. Once again, on how all of this is kind of combined, obviously Jimmy G can’t throw three interceptions. A couple of them One in particular was just egregious.
Number two.
You just cannot throw that. Yeah. But to kind of also give a little bit of grace here in terms of the meshing that needs to happen, he’s never been a quarterback that you could just put it on his shoulders and go win us a game. He needs complementary pieces too, a line that blocks offensively. a steady running game, you go look at what the San Francisco 49ers always had a potent running game. So for him, that’s the kind of offense that he needs to be in to complement the run game. If there’s no run game, I’m not saying Jimmy G is useless, but most quarterbacks are now You’ve taken away a big power that they have to be able to play off of the running game. We even saw the touchdown throw was off a play action. So the defense on fourth and short, they’re thinking run. The Raiders run the play action. They find a wide open. That’s what needs to happen more often, like on first and ten and second and eight when the defense is actually respecting the run game because the run game is hurting them That’s not happened at all this year at all. And that was supposed to be one of their strengths.
It should have been. And I think we kind of felt like even in the preseason and during camp, the offense will carry the team while the defense was able to catch up. But, you know, 35 points over three games, it’s shown you that the offense, it’s not where it needs to be by far. And I also think that 32 targets to Devontae and Jacoby Myers – is also not spreading the ball around to all the other weapons. Hunter Renfro just getting two catches.
Zero targets for Trey.
Trey, Tucker, no targets. Zero targets to Michael Mayer.
They didn’t even put him in the backfield. They lined him up outside every time.
Actually, I should say, I know exactly. One target to Michael Mayer. For a two-point conversion.
Or are you talking about the interception of the target? Yeah, that was fun.
You know, you drafted these guys. I know that there’s a learning curve. But at least try to get them implemented in the offense because there’s things that both of those players bring to the table. There’s things that Hunter Renfro brings to the table. So start tapping into that. And I’ve got to say this really quick because I’ve been thinking about it all night in those two hours or so that I slept from last night. You look at the offense that Jimmy G was – everyone talks about, well, he had this familiarity with the Patriots offense. I mean, that was years ago when you think about it. And I’m sure things have changed too. Like the offense that he functioned in at a fairly high level, I’m not – don’t take my word for it. For a limited time. Just look at the numbers that he put up when he was in San Francisco and he was healthy. He was – All the numbers were good. He didn’t turn the ball over the way he’s turning it over right now. He was a highly accurate thrower. He didn’t throw long. We get that. But it was very efficient. He was really good in the red zone. So my thing is… What about trying to do some of the things that he did in San Francisco? Like if you’re Josh McDaniels, don’t you want to maybe help him along a little? Because it feels like he’s being asked to do something completely different now than he was doing in San Francisco. It also doesn’t hurt that the run game isn’t there that he can play off of. But it feels like when Marcus Johnson comes on, he pointed this out on Twitter, there’s some things that they’re asking him to do differently than what he did in San Francisco. And quite frankly, I’m wondering if they’re taking what his strength was and kind of kicking that to the curb and asking him to do some things that maybe aren’t his strength. And you can’t do that as a coach. You’re smacking your head up against a wall when you’re asking somebody to do something consistently that maybe they’re not as proficient at and not doing the things that they are proficient at. So that’s something that I’m going to ask Josh McDaniels today. Are there some things that you can do? Because this isn’t the quarterback that we saw in San Francisco right now.
And here’s the question that I have, because it became very apparent in that second half that even if they made it interesting at the end, but it did seem like they had enough in the tank to really come back and win that game. So why not spread the ball around in the second half to get some people going, get their confidence up, maybe get a couple more targets just to get everybody lathered up a little bit more? Well, we kept the horse blinders on and they kept going to the same people. over and over and over again we have a whole segment planned for about jimmy with pattern recognition and progressions and stuff like that and and that’s where it’s like i don’t know if it’s a play calling i think it’s the way that he’s reading the field and then whether there’s his guy isn’t open he’s gonna go find his other guy and then if he’s not he’s gonna wait he’s gonna wait he’s gonna wait and i’m gonna find my guy and that there’s no one else out there because i don’t know how else to explain it because Renfro is open, wide open on several plays where Jimmy’s just looking the other way or he checks down. Josh Jacobs is not good in the run game, but he’s great as a check down guy. They can do a really good job of doing that screen pass. Why aren’t we implementing that more as like a go-to rather than the dump off? And if that’s something that can get him going, why don’t you switch that and then maybe get Zamir a couple things? And I thought we were going to diversify this running back room as well. We’re not going to run back the same carries as last year. It’s tracking that way. It’s tracking that way. Did you even see Zeus on the field yesterday? Yes.
He was out there a couple of times. But, yeah, I agree with you. And it’s just – you know, but second half, once they fell into the 23-7 hole, I get what you’re saying, you know, try to lather some people up. But they were in desperation mode. They’re trying to win. And they actually played their way into –
Because the Steelers are that bad. And all they did was kick field goals that first half.
I am curious. This is the only – I’m not going to call it a positive because I have to wait to see if it is a positive. But there were some things that they did in the second half, fourth quarter. Forget the second half. It was the fourth quarter. that, okay, it looks a little bit better right now. They started running the ball a little bit better. I felt like even though it wasn’t a lot of different – well, they went to – I think they got the ball to Carter on a nice little play. They finally utilized him for, what was it, a 13-yard gain, I think it was. DeAndre Carter, obviously, Jacoby, and obviously – Devontae Adams, but it looked a little bit better in the fourth quarter. Let’s see if that’s something. I wouldn’t have, even if they won that game, I’m still being critical of them today because they shouldn’t have been, as Max Crosby said, we shouldn’t be in that position where it comes down to should you go for it here, kick the field goal, do the math, got to score. You’re down by 16 points. I know when people say you’re down by 16 points, you only got to score two, twice. Actually, you just got to score four times. Two touchdowns and two two-point conversions. So, you know, there were a lot of hard decisions that the coach had to make and figuring out, should I kick the field goal here? Should I go, you know, all of that. Don’t put yourself in that position is the point that I’m trying to make. And you don’t put yourself in that position by taking care of business earlier in the game. And right now, there’s no consistency early to start games. They score, you know, an early touchdown almost every week so far. And then it goes away.
It was a struggle to get that touchdown, and then it took a blink and a half for the Steelers to go down 75 yards. I mean, they just stole it right back.
Blown coverage right there.
And then those two sequences happened, and then Marcus Peters gets hit in the hands with a wide-open look to home plate. Brutal. I kept… I can’t believe he didn’t catch that. To quote some other football person, if that was a spear, he’d be dead.
I kept thinking going into that game that he was going to get one, too.
It was his game to do it.
Yeah, he was making some good plays.
Yeah.
Except for the one, I don’t know whose fault it was, whether it was his or Marcus Epps on the long touchdown. But he definitely got burned, it looked like. And then there was no help for him on the touchdown that you’re talking about.
There’s so much.
But he was lurking. There were a couple of times where he was on it. He knew what was coming. Just didn’t make the play. And if you make the play right there, it’s a 14-7 game. And the crowd is alive.
The crowd is alive.
It changes the complexion of the game.
It changes the complexion of the game. Next thing you know, you’re in control.
They haven’t been able to – they have not been able to at all this year take any semblance of control. Even against the Denver Broncos, they’ve trailed at halftime every single game. So they haven’t given themselves any kind of a cushion. And then in the last two weeks, they’ve had to play hero ball just to try to get into the game. And the game against the Denver Broncos, they needed a gallant goal line stand, a long touch. You know, again, it came down to the nitty gritty right there in the Denver game. It shouldn’t have, but it did. The Buffalo game, I’m not saying they should have won that game at all, but it shouldn’t have been 38-10. And in this game, to me, this was a winnable, beatable opponent, and they just couldn’t get out of their own way early enough to avoid digging themselves another hole that they had to play hero ball to try to get out of, which they couldn’t do.
After a difficult loss like that, teams look towards their captains to find some sort of resolve and the direction of where you’re going next. Devontae Adams spoke yesterday. We have that audio. We think we should take a look at it right now. We’ll play it after this break because what he said was very telling. We’ll tell you what that means next. It’s the Morning Tailgate on Raider Nation Radio, 920 a.m.
