The Las Vegas Raiders just couldn't play good enough complementary football in Week 9 against the Jacksonville Jaguars. This was their best performance in several weeks, but they still felt short in overtime thanks to a series of miscues.
In the first half, the Raiders struggled to get much going offensively, but they went into halftime up 6-3 thanks to a strong defensive effort. Then, just when the Las Vegas offense started to click, the floodgates opened for their defense, as they gave up 27 points in the second half and overtime.
There were several incredible performances on Sunday in Las Vegas, but also plenty of places to point the finger. Head coach Pete Carroll seemingly tossed some blame toward offensive coordinator Chip Kelly in a not-so-subtle way after the game.
Pete Carroll clearly wants Chip Kelly to use Ashton Jeanty more
During his postgame press conference, Carroll was asked about the maturation of rookie running back Ashton Jeanty, who finished with 89 all-purpose yards and a touchdown. Carroll answered the question about Jeanty, but seemingly took the opportunity to also make a slight at Kelly.
"Yeah, (Jeanty) is doing great. I just wish we would (have) got the ball to him on the perimeter a couple more times because it's about 20% of the time you're going to get him down," Carroll said. "I mean, he's just so good out there. (We) just got to get (that) done more because it's so obvious. He's a fantastic football player. He really is. He pass (protected) well. He did a lot of really good things besides just the big touchdown play that he had. But he's doing great."
Obviously, Carroll did not say anything in plain English, but Raider Nation is smart enough to read between the lines here. Las Vegas' head coach wants to get the ball to Jeanty in space more, and that is an indictment of the team's play-caller, which is Kelly.
In fairness to Kelly, he did get Jeanty involved more than he did in Week 7. But Jeanty still only touched the ball 18 times against the Jaguars, and his usage was still too sporadic for him to have the full impact that he is capable of having.
Las Vegas ran 28 plays in the first half, and they ran 33 plays in the second half and overtime. Jeanty touched the ball 11 times for 63 yards in the former period, and only eight times for 29 yards during the latter period.
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Granted, the Raiders' offensive line began to falter in the second half, as they got worn down by the Jaguars' defensive front. But Kelly still needs to be clever with how he schemes up looks for Jeanty, who is an incredible weapon in the passing game as well.
The Raiders had two separate 4-minute drills in the fourth quarter and overtime, and Jeanty got a whopping one total touch on these drives. It is understandable in a 2-minute drill to completely abandon the run, but not with roughly four minutes left, great field position and several timeouts.
But Jeanty did not touch the ball, nor was he targeted in the passing game, at the end of regulation. When Las Vegas got down to the Jacksonville 1-yard line in overtime after a pass interference call in the end zone, Jeanty got one shot to run the ball, and the Raiders' offensive line got blown up.
Jeanty went from the 9:38 mark in the fourth quarter until 0:25 left in overtime without touching the ball. Yes, Brock Bowers was dominating, and Las Vegas scored two touchdowns on the aforementioned drives. But in regulation, they did not chew up enough time before scoring.
This gave the Jaguars the ball back with enough time to come down and kick a field goal, which sent the game into overtime. If the Raiders had run the ball at least a time or two and bled more clock, the result of the game could have been quite different.
So, Carroll's gripe with Kelly is certainly substantiated. Airing out this issue in a press conference might not be the best course of action, but even in arguably Kelly's best game as the Raiders' play-caller, he left plenty to be desired and more than played his role in the loss.