On the surface, nothing went right for the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 7. They couldn't move the ball, nor keep it out of the Kansas City Chiefs' hands, which resulted in a humiliating 31-0 loss at Arrowhead Stadium.
While Patrick Graham and the defense got pummeled by Andy Reid's offense, and things could have been much worse if Patrick Mahomes and Co. were not sitting out by the end of the third quarter, the offensive performance has garnered much of the blame.
After all, the unit mustered just three first downs and 95 total yards of offense, which caused both Geno Smith and Chip Kelly to come under fire. This Tre Tucker statistic from the game, however, will make fans even more furious with Smith, in particular.
Raiders and Geno Smith spoiled an elite showing by Tre Tucker
The offense has struggled all season, and there has been an ongoing debate about whether the issue is Kelly's inability to scheme players open or Smith's poor decision-making. While both are likely factors, Tucker's outing against the Chiefs puts more of the onus on Smith.
In Week 7, according to NFL NextGen Stats, Tucker's 6.6 average yards of separation per catch led the entire league. This means that Tucker was getting more open than any other NFL wide receiver or tight end last weekend.
For Tucker to only have five catches for 33 yards with this level of performance is a travesty. Obviously, there was not much ball to go around on Sunday, but it seems like Kelly's scheme was conducive to Tucker getting wide open, and Smith failed to truly capitalize.
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When broadening the scope, however, this is not unusual for Tucker. So far this season, he has the fifth-highest average yards of separation per catch in the league, which means he is getting open at an incredibly high rate.
Tucker has clearly taken a step forward this season, as evidenced by his team-leading 29 catches, 389 yards and four touchdowns. For as often as he's running free, however, Tucker's stats should look even better than this.
But Sunday's game was the perfect encapsulation of the Raiders' season, as even when pieces of the operation are working correctly, nothing can truly go right for the Las Vegas offense. Although Tucker led the team in every receiving metric in Week 7, his lack of high-end production is an indictment of Smith.