Everyone, except head coach Pete Carroll apparently, could have seen it coming. The Las Vegas Raiders were outdone in every way by the Kansas City Chiefs in a 31-0 Week 7 loss. They ran just 30 offensive plays, while the Chiefs had 30 first downs and possessed the ball for just over 42 minutes.
No one is immune to blame or accountability for a disastrous effort like that, but it's hard to see a path to any changes that would make a meaningful difference this season. The bye week can be a point to re-assess and try some different things, but Carroll seems unlikely to lead any sort of charge on that front despite two 30-plus point losses over the last three weeks.
After weeks of being worthy of a benching, quarterback Geno Smith was finally pulled in favor of Kenny Pickett late against the Chiefs. Of course, Pickett fumbled on his first snap, but it was nice to see Carroll finally acknowledge what the rest of world can't ignore about Smith and the offense.
Pete Carroll puzzlingly benched Jackson Powers-Johnson against Chiefs
But before Smith was pulled, the player Carroll seems to have a problem with was benched. Every Raiders reporter who was on site in Kansas City instantly noticed when guard Jackson Powers-Johnson was benched in favor of Alex Cappa.
Powers-Johnson is hardly the first, and he won't be the last, to struggle against the Chiefs' Chris Jones, who is one of the best interior defensive lineman in the NFL. But every other starting offensive lineman played either 34 or all 35 of the offensive snaps in the game, while Powers-Johnson ceded 10 snaps to Cappa.
The Raiders were without their top two pass catchers, tight end Brock Bowers and wide receiver Jakobi Meyers, against the Chiefs. Star defensive end Maxx Crosby also exited the game with a knee injury, leaving a lackluster roster without three of its best players.
After the game, Carroll was asked about the impact of being without a number of injured players. He was then asked directly if the reason Powers-Johnson came out of the game was due to an injury, but Carroll seemed to cut off the end of the inquiry before offering a short answer.
"No, we took him out. We gave Alex a shot,” Carroll said.
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Outside of an injury that would change the equation, Cappa is not deserving of playing time at this point. It's clear he's a sub-par guard at this stage of his career, yet Powers-Johnson is still somehow being left to compete with an inferior player.
There's a case for taking key players out of a blowout loss, especially when the risk of injury outweighs any benefit of them continuing to play. But Powers-Johnson was seemingly singled out, again, when he was not the only who was playing poorly.
Carroll's approach to answering the question about why Powers-Johnson did not finish Sunday's game says it all. It also fit his long-running tendency to answer questions as if no one on the outside can see what's actually going on with his team.
The way Powers-Johnson is being handled is surely being noticed in the locker room too, which is a whole other issue. Carroll cannot continue to make an example out of him and scapegoat him for the team's poor performances.