Podcast Recap of Raiders emBEARassing Loss to Bears
In our latest episode of the Las Vegas Raiders Insider Podcast, we offer a complete recap of the Las Vegas Raiders' emBEARassing 30-12 loss to the Chicago Bears.
Transcript
00:00 Hi everybody, this is Hondo Carpenter from Sports Illustrated's Fan Nation Las Vegas
00:06 Raiders Insider Podcast.
00:07 Obviously you can see the green screen behind me.
00:10 That's literally the view that's in front of me as I sit here in the press box at Soldier
00:14 Field.
00:15 It was an embarrassing football game today.
00:20 Period.
00:22 Other than AJ Cole, I think it's fair to say the entire team should walk out of here
00:29 embarrassed from the owner to the management, to the coaches, to the players.
00:35 It was an absolute embarrassment of a game for the Las Vegas Raiders.
00:39 You were playing a wounded Chicago Bear team.
00:44 Lots of injuries.
00:45 QB won out.
00:47 You had a guy who never even took a snap at the Division II level with his first start
00:52 as a rookie.
00:54 And you got your butt handed to you from almost the beginning.
01:01 Nobody played well.
01:03 And you can't point a finger at one or two people.
01:05 It was a colossal team failure.
01:08 You've heard about team wins.
01:11 This was a colossal team failure.
01:16 No other way to process this.
01:21 Now we're going to get into it.
01:23 Talk about it.
01:24 I told you this morning in my podcast, their reasoning for going with Aiden O'Connell.
01:28 I mean, excuse me, going with Brian Hoyer and not going with Aiden O'Connell.
01:33 That was their decision.
01:35 I said this morning, it doesn't matter what I think.
01:37 It's what they think.
01:38 I think you have to make the decision because you're obviously trying to win.
01:44 I want to play whoever I think gives me that best chance.
01:48 Josh McDaniels thought it was Brian Hoyer.
01:51 Now let's not make a mistake.
01:53 The Raiders didn't lose today because of Brian, just like they didn't lose for any one player.
01:57 They lost because of everybody.
02:00 It was embarrassing.
02:03 Just check out my post game article.
02:07 Embarrassing.
02:08 E-M-B-E-A-R-A-S-S-I-N-G.
02:11 Embarrassing.
02:12 From every point.
02:17 Now there are a couple of things I said to Josh McDaniels after the game.
02:22 There are 24 games into your career with the Raiders.
02:26 This team is worse than the one you inherited.
02:28 And it is.
02:29 It's not even close.
02:32 This was the worst loss of his career.
02:35 Now, some of you are going to go back, point to the Jeff Saturday loss against Indianapolis,
02:40 the New Orleans loss.
02:41 Those were terrible losses.
02:42 But here, let's put it in context.
02:45 That was his first year when they could say, well, we don't have our guys.
02:49 You got your guys now.
02:51 That's what made it even worse.
02:52 And you're 24 games in.
02:56 If I was asked, can you describe the Las Vegas Raiders offensive style, I would call it discombobulation.
03:09 It's just bad.
03:12 At every phase.
03:13 Now, years ago, Bobby Bowden, the terrific National Championship Hall of Fame coach of
03:21 Florida State, I was interviewing him and got to spend quite a bit of an afternoon with
03:26 him.
03:27 And we were talking about teams and in several subjects.
03:31 But one of the subjects we talked about was when he said, if a player makes a mistake,
03:38 but the right play was called and everybody else on the team makes the on the field, the
03:44 other 10 guys all make the right decision, then I know it was on the player.
03:47 He says, but if I consistently have more than one player making the mistake, he goes, I
03:52 know it's on coaching.
03:53 This is on coaching.
03:54 Nick Saban says, and I know you're tired of hearing it.
03:56 I don't care because it's apropos.
03:59 If you are allowing it, you're coaching it.
04:01 And we are seeing the same problems week after week after week, same problems, different
04:07 quarterbacks.
04:08 It is what it is.
04:11 Now, they expect Jimmy to be healthy next week and he will start.
04:15 But has anybody seen anything from Jimmy Garoppolo that gives you any hope?
04:22 Bueller?
04:24 Bueller?
04:27 So where do the Raiders go from here?
04:31 Okay, completely embarrassing.
04:33 And you can go watch the video to see Josh's answer.
04:36 I know some people were very angry at me.
04:40 Listen, I'm a professional.
04:42 I'm not going to go at him, cussing at him.
04:44 First of all, I respect him.
04:46 I'm not going to do that.
04:48 Second of all, I represent a corporation.
04:50 That's not respectable.
04:51 But you ask tough questions.
04:53 You can ask tough questions and not be a jackass.
04:56 It's not personal.
04:57 It's not.
04:58 I don't dislike the man, but you got to ask him tough questions.
05:02 There's no way getting around this.
05:04 You can't get away from this.
05:07 24 games in.
05:10 And you're worse.
05:12 Your owner decided to blow up a playoff team, get rid of the general manager, get rid of
05:18 the coach and staff, and bring you in.
05:23 And you're worse.
05:25 24 games later.
05:28 Now, I live in Realville, and I know Raider Nation's angry.
05:36 I don't blame you.
05:37 I mean, let's be honest.
05:39 I'm paid to be here.
05:42 You folks pay to buy the merchandise and you fly out and come to the games.
05:45 I met a lot of Raiders here today.
05:47 I get it.
05:48 I understand.
05:49 I don't blame you one bit.
05:50 Your organization sells you just win and you're not winning.
05:54 Your organization sells you commitment to excellence.
05:57 And this is a commitment to discombobulation.
06:03 It's embarrassing.
06:04 And by the way, before you send me any tweets or hate mail for calling it embarrassing,
06:10 that's what Max Crosby called it.
06:12 Go watch the video.
06:14 Embarrassing.
06:17 So what happens?
06:20 So I asked Josh, hey, because he, the process, the process, the process.
06:25 You've seen him when I've asked him after wins.
06:26 No, we don't want to get too high.
06:28 We go for the standard and stick to the process, which is fair.
06:30 I like that style.
06:32 The problem is, is Einstein says the definition of stupidity is doing the same thing and expecting
06:37 different results.
06:38 You are seven games into your second year, 24 games in, and your process isn't working.
06:44 So I said, do you change it?
06:48 Do you stay the line or scrap it?
06:54 And for everyone thinking, oh, they're going to get mad at you, Hondo.
06:57 No, they're not.
06:59 He even said, that's a fair question because I'm the guy in charge and it isn't personal.
07:05 I'm frustrated because I'm frustrated for you guys.
07:10 I'm super frustrated for you.
07:13 Raider Nation, there was a guy last year that held up a sign.
07:17 By the way, if anybody knows that guy, please have him get ahold of me.
07:21 You guys got my email.
07:22 Have him get ahold of me.
07:23 I'd like to do an interview with him.
07:26 But you guys do deserve better.
07:29 You absolutely do.
07:32 And you want to know what's frustrating?
07:36 Is there are so many good people in this organization.
07:43 Almost all the players are great people.
07:44 There's a couple I don't like, but that's just normal.
07:48 The management, the security, janitors, I mean, this is a total organization.
07:53 I've been around a long time.
07:55 Some of the finest people I've ever worked with.
07:58 They all deserve better.
07:59 They're working hard.
08:00 It's not working.
08:01 I mean, let's just call a spade a spade.
08:04 It's not working.
08:06 And so what's next?
08:09 Well, do you just keep doing what you're doing?
08:11 That's an option.
08:13 I don't like that option, but it's an option.
08:17 Do you scrap it?
08:18 No, I don't think you scrap the whole thing.
08:21 Or do you alter it?
08:22 Yes, I think you have to alter it.
08:24 I mean, these are the quarterbacks you wanted.
08:29 You wanted Jimmy because you gave him a huge deal.
08:34 If you would have given him a one-year prove-it deal, I could say maybe you didn't want him.
08:38 You married him.
08:42 For this year and next, you married.
08:45 And if you get out, that prenuptial agreement costs millions of more dead space on the calendar.
08:54 You're going to have to stop the gap.
08:57 So you're married to Jimmy.
08:58 You brought in Brian to be that stop-gap guy to teach.
09:04 And then you pick Aiden.
09:06 These are your guys.
09:10 All three have struggled.
09:11 You're going to blame the quarterback?
09:12 You're going to blame the quarterback?
09:17 My father once said to me, "Son, if you're mad at somebody, it's probably their fault.
09:22 But if you're mad at a lot of people, it's probably yours."
09:25 Remember what Bobby Bowden said.
09:27 You got, again, you're looking backwards, but I'm looking forward.
09:30 You got a whole field littered with mammoth mistakes.
09:38 Your team continually makes execution errors, blunders.
09:46 You got to take the emphasis off of players now because it's coaching.
09:50 "Oh, Honda, you're not being fair."
09:52 I'm being 100% fair.
09:55 This is all on coaching.
09:58 No, Josh can't go out and fire all of his staff, nor do I think he needs to.
10:04 I think he's got some really good coaches on his staff.
10:06 Do I think he has a couple of weak ones?
10:10 Yeah, I do.
10:14 But what's he going to do?
10:19 What is he going to do?
10:21 Now, in fairness, they're coming off a two-game win streak against two very bad teams, of
10:27 which this one probably isn't as bad as, well, not probably.
10:32 I don't think that this one was as bad as New England, but I do think they're pretty
10:35 even with Green Bay.
10:37 In fact, I would probably make an argument Green Bay's better, and you lost because the
10:43 Raiders aren't good enough to beat the other team and themselves.
10:48 They're not good enough when that other team isn't beating themselves.
10:52 You saw Green Bay made some big mistakes.
10:54 You saw New England make some mistakes.
10:57 The Bears didn't.
10:59 The Bears were better coached.
11:02 They played better.
11:03 They looked better.
11:05 The Raiders were outcoached, outplayed, out-toughed.
11:10 And Max was 100% correct.
11:13 Embarrassing.
11:14 And I think you give them the next week, because they're going on the road to Detroit, and
11:23 I'm telling you right now, I think they lose.
11:24 I've said it all year.
11:26 I've seen nothing, especially after the way Detroit played today, because they're very
11:30 well coached.
11:32 And they have the ability to put their foot on somebody's throat.
11:37 They're going to be out for blood back for Pat Fortfield.
11:42 I want to see the adjustments that get made.
11:44 I have a couple of very tough questions that I want to ask.
11:47 But again, you have to understand, my job is I have to be fair.
11:52 Someone said to me one time, "I wish you'd ask," and they gave me this whole question
11:55 full of FUs and everything else.
11:56 Okay, you don't go to your doctor and they say, "Hey, you MF and fat butt.
12:02 You need to lose weight, you piece of crap fatty."
12:06 Be hilarious if they did.
12:08 That's not professional.
12:11 And of all, I don't dislike any one of those coaches.
12:15 That's not true.
12:16 I don't dislike most of them, especially Josh.
12:19 I don't dislike him.
12:20 But I have to ask the question.
12:22 It's fair and he doesn't care.
12:23 There's a couple of really tough ones coming.
12:26 You know what, if they go to Detroit and upset them, okay, then they're right back to where
12:30 we thought they should be.
12:33 I don't think that's coming.
12:36 And after that, I think there are some questions about the franchise moving forward that have
12:40 to be asked.
12:43 But this team now, that was a punch.
12:49 I want to tell you a couple of things.
12:52 I talked to Brian Hoyer after the game and Max Crosby.
12:55 You can watch the video.
12:57 I told you guys it was a great week in practice and the locker room was light.
13:00 And in all of my decades of doing this, I've never been in a locker room like that that
13:05 lost, ever, first time in my career.
13:09 And I asked him about it.
13:12 And both of them, you can go watch it, but both of them were like, doesn't matter what
13:17 happens during the week.
13:19 Just happens on the field.
13:21 I don't think they were overconfident.
13:22 I don't think they were arrogant.
13:25 I just think this team has some real problems.
13:32 Now again, I'm not going to get into pointing out players because this sits right on Josh's
13:38 desk and his staff.
13:43 If I'm Josh McDaniels, I'm telling all the staff on the plane and they're on their way
13:46 to the airport right now.
13:48 We're meeting when we get back there and you might as well tell your families you may not
13:51 come home till Monday night.
13:53 And if I'm Josh, I'm sitting in my office looking at his staff saying, you failed and
14:00 I failed.
14:02 Forget the players.
14:03 Everything rises and falls with leadership.
14:05 We failed in this room.
14:09 And every one of you is coaching for your job.
14:12 And what are you, I want a plan.
14:14 You're not leaving here till you bring me a plan that I read and think is acceptable
14:18 for what are you going to do to change the play where you coach.
14:24 Unacceptable.
14:27 Absolutely unacceptable.
14:31 If this would have been the Detroit game or a chief game or a Miami game, I would have
14:35 said, man, it's ugly, but they're better.
14:42 You just got your ass handed to you by the Chicago Bears with a quarterback that had
14:48 never taken a snap in Division One football, let alone the National Football League.
15:01 And look how this game looked.
15:04 What in the name of blue blazes do you think is going to happen next week at Ford Field
15:09 against the Honolulu Blue and Silver?
15:13 What's going to happen down in Miami against the Dolphins?
15:17 What's going to happen with two games against Kansas City?
15:22 Come on now.
15:23 Just keeping it in the words of the kids, 100.
15:28 So what's the complete recap?
15:30 It was a complete disaster.
15:32 Your eyes didn't lie to you.
15:34 Raider Nation's among the smartest of fans.
15:36 You guys know football.
15:37 I mean, one deep shot.
15:42 One.
15:44 But there were a lot of errors.
15:45 There were errors on the offensive line.
15:47 There were errors on throws.
15:48 There were errors on routes.
15:50 There were errors on running lanes.
15:53 There were errors on blocking.
15:55 There were errors on tackling.
15:56 Oh my God, was there errors on tackling, errors in coverage.
16:00 You watch some guys that just wouldn't even put up an effort.
16:05 Those people need to be benched.
16:09 Because if you got one or two guys that are lacking in effort, I don't care how much they
16:16 get paid, and you don't bench them, then everybody else says, "Okay, doesn't matter."
16:25 Now I'm going to tell you, a lot of angry people.
16:32 It does matter.
16:33 And again, I'll put it on coaching.
16:37 This was a colossal failure.
16:40 They are 24 games in to the Josh McDaniels era, and the team is worse.
16:53 And that's hard for me to swallow, because I'm going to tell you, I'm looking at, there
17:00 are a lot of positions, not all, where they're better.
17:03 They got more talent.
17:05 And as bad as this team is playing right now with better talent, that tells you how good
17:12 of a job Rich Visage did.
17:15 And I'm not saying fire Josh, go get Rich.
17:18 I'm not saying that, because I'm going to tell you right now, do I think it's 100% that
17:24 Josh is back next year?
17:27 I think it's more than 95%.
17:29 He's not going anywhere.
17:30 I think for him to be fired, it would have to be something.
17:33 And I'm not calling for that, by the way.
17:35 I think it would have to be something that's not even close to the radar.
17:39 However, having covered the Raiders for four years, I've seen a lot of things happen that
17:42 were on the radar, but he's coming back.
17:48 And I understand fans are mad.
17:50 I understand people ask me, will you retweet, fire Josh McDaniels stuff or petitions?
17:55 No, I'm not doing that.
17:57 I'm a professional.
17:58 I don't get involved in that.
17:59 I'm not a fan.
18:01 My job is to simply give you the status of the team, assess the team and tell you what's
18:05 going on.
18:07 And the point is, this is coaching.
18:09 And it's happening everywhere.
18:12 So I think Josh absolutely has to look at every area.
18:19 If we see this happen in Detroit, then I think there are some very difficult questions that
18:28 I'm going to have to ask.
18:30 And I'm fine with that.
18:33 I think, you know, again, he's not going to go do firings or anything like that.
18:39 He could probably do some reassignments or some stuff.
18:41 In fact, if I were him, I would, but I would have gotten rid of one for sure, maybe two
18:48 guys before the season that he chose to keep.
18:50 So he's married to him.
18:56 So coaching and the Raiders had better talent, but they lost to a better team.
19:04 Now, if you've never played in sports, you may not understand that.
19:09 There are lots of teams that have talent that lose to better teams.
19:18 Let that sink in for a minute.
19:21 They lost to a better team tonight with less talent.
19:27 That's on coaching.
19:30 So complete recap.
19:32 It was a discombobulated disaster.
19:35 The Raiders fall to three and four.
19:38 This is the 24th game of the Josh McDaniels regime and the team looks worse than what
19:43 he inherited.
19:45 This is a team with a ton of blemishes.
19:47 Now, I told this story weeks ago, but it's very pertinent right now.
19:54 I had a close person in my life who had a relative that was dying of stage four cancer.
20:05 Somebody said, "You shouldn't use cancer as an example."
20:07 I was using a real example who went into the hospital for a minor illness and this person's
20:16 family was going crazy.
20:18 The doctor says, "Wait, wait, wait, wait.
20:19 Don't worry about the minor illness.
20:21 It's the cancer that's going to destroy them."
20:23 Now, I am not equating the death of someone to cancer to football because we know it doesn't
20:29 even respond.
20:30 It's not in the same league of importance.
20:35 Hear me.
20:36 But what I am saying is I can go nitpick players and mistakes and they would all be right.
20:41 Let me tell you, it would be a list.
20:45 But when it's all over the field with your guys, that's on the coaching.
20:57 If it was one player, if they were a quarterback away, if they were a right tackle or if they
21:01 were a middle linebacker, which I think Splane's fine, but you get my point, then I think you
21:07 pick that out.
21:09 This is on coaching.
21:11 You got $102 million offense and you would have thought Dick Buckus was out here or Mike
21:21 Singletary from the '85 Bears.
21:26 Give me a break.
21:28 $102 million offense.
21:34 Embarrassing.
21:36 Not my words.
21:44 Max Crosby.
21:47 Raider Nation, I love you and I greatly appreciate you.
21:52 I know you're hurting because you guys care.
21:57 I've had articles I've written where you've seen general managers say people would love
22:01 to have Raider fans because you care.
22:06 You're not out sipping mimosas now, having little sliders with lobster and some gray
22:12 poop haul saying, "Well, we tried."
22:14 No, you guys are all mad.
22:17 Every one of you, boy, I can see it.
22:18 You're yelling at me because you're mad.
22:21 I get it.
22:23 I get it.
22:26 And the reality is this is what they're paid for, to build something long-term.
22:33 Doesn't matter what I think, doesn't matter what you think.
22:38 Matters what Mark Davis thinks and this is, he's going to trust them and give them time
22:42 to do something.
22:43 That's his prerogative.
22:44 It doesn't make him a bad guy.
22:47 It's just the reality of the situation.
22:50 You may disagree.
22:52 That's your prerogative.
22:54 But they're going to go back to work.
22:56 And now I think the onus is on the staff.
22:59 You got to fix this, guys.
23:02 We got to fix it because we just can't keep doing the same thing and expecting different
23:06 results.
23:07 Again, now, there's 13 weeks left.
23:14 13 weeks.
23:16 Well, that's not true.
23:18 10 weeks left.
23:19 Excuse me.
23:20 10 weeks left.
23:22 Fix it.
23:25 Fix it.
23:26 Go make it happen.
23:28 You got the talent.
23:29 These are the guys you wanted.
23:30 Go make it happen.
23:32 I'm Hondo Carpenter from Sports Illustrated's FAN Nation, Las Vegas Raiders Insider Podcast,
23:37 part of the Fans vs. Sports Network.
23:38 Thank you for listening.
23:39 Please subscribe and follow us.
23:41 We appreciate all of you.
23:43 We'll see you back here tomorrow.
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