Unfortunately for the Las Vegas Raiders, one of the ongoing themes for their offense has been an inability to take care of the ball. In particular, for Pete Carroll’s squad, it has been quarterback Geno Smith throwing interceptions as he has a league-high seven through the first four games of the season.
Smith already has two games with three interceptions this year, and it has been costly for the Raiders. While the defense has done a good job in limiting the amount of points the opposition scores off these turnovers, it still takes points off the board and is a major reason why the Raiders sit at 1-3.
And in talking to the media about his quarterback, Carroll noted that he isn’t concerned with Smith’s confidence, but feels the Raiders staff must do a better job of emulating game speed in practice, as that slight difference is leading to throws that are working in practice, being interceptions on Sunday, via Raiders YouTube:
“I’m not worried about his confidence. He knows, and he has to re-evaluate the timing of the choice. He was too comfortable in the throw. He ripped it, he ripped both those throws feeling like the ball was going to get there. What I’m concerned about is making sure we’re practicing him so that he understands some of those throws aren’t there.
“He hits everything in practice. He’s ridiculously accurate, and has been the whole time we’ve been together. He’s really confident, and he thought he could get it, but game speed was a little different. That’s where he grows. The game speed is a little bit different than the practice that we can create and some of those choices go to checkdowns.”
Things being just a split second off can make all the difference in the world. When discussing those interceptions against the Bears, Carroll noted that Smith felt he could make those throws in practice, but the game speed was the difference that made them interceptions.
Whatever the case may be, this is an issue Smith, Carroll and the rest of the Raiders must fix if they plan on turning this season around and making a postseason run.
Geno Smith says Raiders must find ways to get Brock Bowers the ball
Something else that would greatly help the Raiders is getting the ball to their best offensive weapon in tight end Brock Bowers. Of course, Bowers has been playing through a knee issue since Week 1, which has limited him, but Geno Smith believes the Raiders must find ways to get him the ball more.
