When the Las Vegas Raiders hired Pete Carroll as their new head coach, a much-needed air of credibility came with him. How that would translate to wins and losses in his first year was an open question, but more importantly, the culture was going to get a hard reset.
With the idea of trying to win as many games as possible this season, Carroll led the charge to acquire quarterback Geno Smith from the Seattle Seahawks. The two have a close relationship from their time together in Seattle, and Smith was an obvious upgrade under center in Las Vegas.
However, the Raiders lost their fourth straight game in Week 5, 40-6, to the Indianapolis Colts. Smith has thrown multiple interceptions in three of those four losses, and he should've had more than two passes picked off by the Colts.
A hot topic in Raider Nation is the idea that Smith should be, or could be, benched. Carroll said it was not under consideration late in the Week 4 loss to the Chicago Bears, but that only fueled thoughts about what it might take for Smith to be benched.
Pete Carroll's holding of Geno Smith to a different standard is not working
Trailing the Colts 40-3 after three quarters would have seemed like an opportunity to take Smith off the field, if only to protect him from injury late in a blowout. His performance in the game certainly warranted being benched, and FOX cameras captured backup Kenny Pickett with his helmet on.
After the game, Carroll said he considered making a change at quarterback, while also revealing why he didn't.
"I was thinking that there was a reason to do that, but here's the reason why I didn't do that: We need to stay out there and keep practicing," Carroll said. "We need to keep practicing, we need the reps, we need the turns, we need to run the system, we need to feel it, we need to see the guys get their opportunities to improve. It's not like a big change. I thought about it because there was a chance to do that. ... That's not what's necessary. We need to get better and to get right."
"We need to stay out there and keep practicing."? In Week 5? That was a poor choice of words by Carroll, at a minimum. In light of kicking a meaningless field goal in the fourth quarter, rather than letting the offense run another apparently valuable play, that sentiment also rings hollow.
Over the last couple of months or so, the Raiders have had a run of odd situations. From the release of defensive tackle Christian Wilkins to Amari Cooper's signing and sudden retirement. From making Jackson Powers-Johnson battle with Alex Cappa for the starting job at right guard, to the release of linebacker Germaine Pratt after he didn't travel with the team for the Colts game.
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Raiders' fans are accustomed to a healthy dose of dysfunction, but Carroll was supposed to fix it, and it's not happening. During his Monday press conference, Carroll was asked to evaluate Smith after watching the tape of the Colts' game, and he had some pretty tone-deaf comments.
"G was solid,” Carroll said.“The play when the guys jumps in the neutral zone, he’s got a change to throw the ball in the end zone, we’ve got a penalty situation. He had a guy open; he made what I think would have been a great throw. The ball got tipped up and turns into a game-changing interception. It’s unfortunate. Sometimes that happens, and his response is he sees the guy in the neutral zone, so he knows he has the freedom to make the play. … he had the right read and he was throwing to the right guy."
Carroll went on to talk about Smith's long-term outlook and attempted to explain away his second interception as well.
"G’s just got to keep doing it. He got to stay with it. We’ve got to continue to build around him, get the running game rolling, got to get our guys coming through on their plays, and he’s got to do his part also," Carroll said. "The pick that he threw that was legit, we got a little challenge in the coverage right there, and the response to the guy coming off the edge, and didn’t get what we needed done there."
There's showing public support for your quarterback, and then there's saying he was "solid" in a game where he took four sacks, threw two interceptions, and your team lost by 34 points. Blaming an uncalled penalty for one interception is quite the stretch to make an excuse for it, and it ignores how generally bad Smith was all game long.
If any other Raiders player were playing as poorly as Smith is right now, they would surely be benched for a game, if not for longer. And when asked about said performance, Carroll wouldn't say they were coming off a solid showing.
It's ultimately not too surprising that Carroll won't hold his hand-picked quarterback to the standard every other player would be held to. But it's also a bad message to send to the rest of the team, let alone the message it sends to a fanbase that won't be played for fools when he says Smith "was solid" against the Colts.