The Las Vegas Raiders have had a nightmare start to the 2025 NFL season, as they are just 1-4. Their latest loss was, by far, the worst of the season as they were embarrassed in all three facets of the game, suffering a 40-6 beatdown at the hands of the Indianapolis Colts.
Las Vegas' offense, which was viewed as the strength of the team entering the season, has been among the worst in the league. They have averaged 16.6 points per game, ranking 30th in the league, ahead of only the Cleveland Browns and Tennessee Titans.
Their struggles have largely been due to the abysmal play of quarterback Geno Smith. He has sunk the team in three games by throwing multiple interceptions, and he also leads the league in interceptions thrown with nine.
Geno Smith's comments on Dont'e Thornton Jr. won't make Raider Nation happy
Smith added two more picks during yet another abysmal showing on Sunday against the Colts. His saving grace has been the fact that he takes accountability for his mistakes; however, he discussed his recent miscues during his postgame presser and seems to be going away from that.
"You saw the first one. The ball got tipped up in the air. It was a guy wide open in the back of the endzone. It would've been a touchdown. I saw two or three of their balls get tipped up in the air. It's just you got to go through the process, man. Again, the result is what the result was, and we hate it, and I hate it the most, but, again, the process is what I'm focused on," Smith said. "I feel like I did the right things on that play. I threw it to the open guy, and it wasn't the result that I wanted. What am I going to say? Don't read it the same way? Don't throw it to the open guy? No, I'm going to throw it to the open guy, and nine times out of ten, hopefully, it's a touchdown. That one time it was tipped in the air, and it was an interception."
While his tone and body language have definitely changed while speaking to the press, it is understandable for him to be upset after the Raiders' recent thrashing. But fans couldn't believe that he appeared to throw Dont'e Thornton Jr. under the bus for his second interception.
"The other one is a classic zone coverage. They're blitzing off the slot, playing Cover 2. We got an option route, the guy knows he's got to push up and sit," Smith explained. "He's got to be quick. I mean, this is the NFL. Again, I got a rookie receiver. We got to develop him. We got to learn. It's not Dont'e's fault. It's not anyone's fault. It's life."
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While Thornton Jr. has had a slow start to his career, it was somewhat shocking to see Smith attempt to give the wide receiver any type of blame for the interception. The quarterback stared him down the entire route and threw into double coverage, leading to the turnover.
Additionally, Thornton Jr. is a rookie while Smith is a 13-year veteran quarterback. Even if Thornton had made a mistake on the play, the veteran leader should have addressed that privately, not publicly through the media in a moment of frustration.
Emotions are certainly high after a loss like that, and Smith did explicitly say that it was not Thornton's fault. But he wouldn't have brought it up if he didn't want fans to know that the rookie should receive at least a share of the blame. That's not cool from a veteran leader, and it should be addressed.