Emotions run high after a loss, but players on the Las Vegas Raiders have to be frustrated given recent results, which include back-to-back bad losses.
As fans and people outside the organization look at what’s happened to the Raiders this season, you have to wonder if it was only a matter of time before frustration settled in. Derek Carr and Davante Adams have been doing their best to keep their team afloat, and a superb first half against the Jacksonville Jaguars in which they connected for two touchdowns is evidence of that.
It was a breath of fresh air coming off the previous week’s shutout loss to the New Orleans Saints.
Unfortunately, Raider Nation was witness to another second-half collapse this season. The loss was even more demoralizing when looking at the “big picture” that the team’s brass keeps talking about. The Raiders now have three blown leads of 17 or more points this season alone.
For some perspective, this team only experienced combat five times from 1968 through 2021. When looking at it from that point of view, it’s obvious something isn’t working. Now that’s some big-picture context for you.
Are Raiders players now second-guessing the team’s direction?
What’s going on with Raiders HC Josh McDaniels’ offense?
Earlier in the season, McDaniels received much criticism for not utilizing Josh Jacobs. Eventually, we saw Jacobs carry the offense, which led to a nice streak of games for No. 28, which put him in the conversation for best running back since Marcus Allen. However, after the Saints focused on taking Jacobs out of the equation, McDaniels was unable to shift gears.
On Sunday, McDaniels’ passing attack was working. Instead of keeping the pressure on the Jaguars, McDaniels opted to return to Jacobs. It left onlookers puzzled. Why abandon the Carr and Adams attack if it was mostly working?
While Carr had his share of misses on Sunday, he was mostly having a nice game. Then the wheels fell off. The Raiders went scoreless in the second half. What’s worse, the bottom fell out of the defense. The Jaguars gained some momentum going into halftime scoring 10 points, and they never looked back.