Over the years, spanning a couple of decades now, the Las Vegas Raiders have mixed losing with dysfunction in a fashion all their own. Pete Carroll was supposed to at least fix the dysfunction part immediately when he came in as the head coach, but it has continued this season.
He has also done more than his part to fuel it on the way to another double-digit loss campaign. In the wake of Chip Kelly being fired as the offensive coordinator, the finger-pointing started with leaks to reporters. First, Kelly was blamed and essentially declared incompetent.
Kelly was then tabbed as a Tom Brady hire, as Carroll clearly attempted to distance himself. Then, Kelly's side came out. Ian Rapoport reported that Carroll essentially dictated everything his now former offensive coordinator did while in Las Vegas.
Opposing defensive coordinators likened this year's Raiders offense to the Seattle Seahawks' offense guided by Shane Waldron in 2023, which was Carroll's last year there. Elements that are a trademark of Kelly's offenses, namely, creative use of the run game out of shotgun, were absent.
Analyst rightly calls out Pete Carroll for his role in Raiders' dysfunction
Even if Kelly was effectively forced onto Carroll with Brady's influence, Carroll had enough weight to say no. Good or bad, Carroll could have chosen an offensive coordinator who was more aligned with him, but he didn't. Kelly was an odd fit from the start, and how it ended up was easy to see coming.
The current potential tentacles of the Raiders' dysfunction stretch toward uniquely weird. The Week 13 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers maintained the current dismal status quo for this season, and until the core of the situation is fixed, nothing will change.
On the Just Win Podcast, after that loss to the Chargers, Ted Nguyen of The Athletic and former Raiders offensive lineman Marshall Newhouse discussed the offense and what has been revealed to be going on behind the scenes in the wake of Kelly being fired.
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Nguyen referenced Rapoport's article and how Kelly was not allowed to run his offense. If fans are searching for the truth after the PR campaigns from both sides, it's far easier to believe Carroll lorded over the offense and forced how he wanted things to be onto Kelly, according to Nguyen.
"Maybe it was a Tom Brady hire, and it was forced upon Pete. But again, just dysfunction. The ideas and philosophies are not lining up together, which is what we’ve seen from the Raiders in the past," Nguyen said. "And honestly, there’s more that I can’t tell you guys, right now, but it’s as bad as it’s ever been. And I don’t know if Pete’s going to last after this year. I’ve never seen that before, where you bring in an offensive coordinator (and) you just don’t allow him to run his offense.”
Mix the dysfunction that has already existed for the Raiders with Carroll's snide arrogance and inability to make adjustments or take responsibility, which is further reflected by the credible idea that he didn't let Kelly run his own offense, and what do you get?
"As bad as it's ever been."