Ed Graney: Here's an obvious take -- Raiders OC Chip Kelly's offense isn't working
Published in Football
LAS VEGAS — Chip Kelly needs to be much better at his job.
The offense he coordinates for the Raiders needs to produce far more than it has.
So much for obvious takes.
It hasn’t gone as planned. Far from it. This isn’t what the Raiders expected when they made Kelly the NFL’s highest-paid assistant coach with a deal that averages $6 million per year.
This is light years away from the results the organization envisioned.
But this is reality. The Raiders are 2-5 entering a home game against Jacksonville on Sunday and have been dreadful in various areas. None more so than when trying to move the ball.
The numbers are glaring: The Raiders rank 31st in scoring offense and 30th in total yards. They’ve scored nine points or less in three different games.
And you thought last season was bad offensively.
Not good enough
The blame goes deeper than Kelly, however.
The players aren’t holding up their end. Kelly has an offensive line that isn’t up to par and a quarterback that isn’t playing like the veteran he is.
Geno Smith was supposed to lead the Raiders after being acquired from the Seahawks for a third-round pick in March. Instead, Smith has 10 interceptions, the second-most in the NFL.
Like last year, the Raiders also can’t run the ball a lick. Rookie running back Ashton Jeanty, the No. 6 overall pick in April’s draft, get hits in the backfield more often than coach Pete Carroll chews pieces of gum.
“We really do see the glimpses of the continuity that it takes to run the football,” Carroll said. “We have no question about what both (Jeanty) and (backup) Raheem (Mostert) bring to us. We’ve got to make sure that we’re giving them the opportunities. In the game last week (against the Chiefs), when we really wanted to run the football, we couldn’t make a first down, so we didn’t have the opportunities. But I can see it and feel it, and it looks like we’re really connected, and so we need to show the results of that.”
Sorry. It doesn’t look connected from any angle.
The Raiders’ 31-0 loss to the Chiefs showed something major needs to change on offense. But this is apparently the hand Kelly and others wanted dealt. This is the quarterback and running back they believed could make a difference. This is the offensive line Kelly constructed in terms of who played where. This is as much on him as anyone.
Fact: It’s true this side of the ball has been hit with key injuries. It’s never good — especially when you consider how bad things are up front — to lose left tackle Kolton Miller to an ankle injury in Week 4.
The same goes for tight end Brock Bowers, who has missed three games with a knee injury. Top wide receiver Jakobi Meyers (knee/toe) also missed the game in Kansas City.
Getting healthy
Bowers and Meyers are expected to return against Jacksonville. Their additions are a positive, but the Raiders have shown little to suggest getting them both back in the lineup will make things instantly better.
Kelly talks about what he calls STPs — sacks, turnovers and penalties. All have bitten the Raiders at one key point or another. All have combined to make the numbers what they are.
“I think you can’t play one-sided,” Kelly said. “You can’t be one-dimensional when you play football. You can’t throw it every down; you can’t run it every down. If you do it, defenses are too good.”
I’m not sure it has been about the defenses as much as his offense.
It hasn’t worked. It isn’t working.
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