If it weren’t for the New Orleans Saints and the Tennessee Titans, the Las Vegas Raiders would be far and away the worst scoring offense in the NFL. Throughout their first 11 games this season, Chip Kelly’s unit has only scored more than 10 points in a game on six separate occasions, meaning that, on any given day, all you may need to dominate the Raiders is two measly touchdowns.
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Following another unproductive outing in Week 12, one that saw Geno Smith be out produced by a debuting rookie in Shedeur Sanders, the front office has decided to relieve the aforementioned coordinator of his duties. The team’s head coach, Pete Carroll, informed members of the media that Greg Olson would be taking over the play calling duties on offense for the remainder of the season, and that this was a difficult yet necessary decision for them to make as a team.
“He’s got years of experience,” Carroll noted in defense of the decision to entrust Olson with those duties. “He’s been a coordinator for 13 years in the league and we’ve been together before. He knows me inside and out and I think it’s a really fortunate opportunity that we have a guy that has that much background to step into this role.”
Firing someone is never fun, but given the ongoing struggles of the offense, which currently ranks 30th in total yards and 32nd in points for, Kelly’s dismissal was always inevitable. Although, Carroll did seem to suggest that he would have preferred to have waited until the end of the season before firing the former college coach.
“I hate that we had to do this at this time,” the 74 year old remarked as he began to look at the floor and shake his head.
“We worked together for a long time, trying to come together and try to communicate so that it fits the style of play that we wanted to play with. We didn’t quite get it done… We were kind of staying the same and staying the same, and it wasn’t good enough for our fans and for our guys, so that’s why we made the move.”
It would take nothing short of an absolute miracle for Olson to transform this Raiders offense into a productive unit by Week 13, so fans shouldn’t expect much. At this point in time, Las Vegas will likely spend their six remaining games on developing and discovering the younger talent that is sprinkled throughout the roster.
Smith’s propensity for turnovers will almost certainly continue to plague them as well, so until the franchise is able to make it to the off season and begin to find their next quarterback, it’s hard to imagine the Raiders waving a flag that isn’t white.
