Las Vegas Raiders Insider Podcast tackles the disrespect of the Raiders, the future of the team
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00:00 Hi everybody, this is Hondo Carpenter from Sports Illustrated's Fan Nation Las Vegas
00:06 Raiders Insider Podcast.
00:09 Very pleased to be joined as I am each and every week by my dear friend Matt Holadek
00:12 from thespun.com, the editor and publisher.
00:15 I really encourage you to make sure that it goes in your favorites.
00:20 I read The Spun every single day.
00:23 Every day.
00:24 It's part of my normal routine.
00:25 When I get up, there are certain things I inspect in certain order and I look at it
00:28 every day.
00:29 It goes in your favorites.
00:30 You're going to hear a couple of reasons today why I think it's so fascinating.
00:35 It is a microcosm of sports.
00:40 I cover it microly, meaning very close.
00:43 I'm Raider-centric.
00:44 He's a macro cover of the league.
00:48 So you're going to get all kinds of stuff from a broad perspective.
00:51 It's why we like to have him on the show each week.
00:53 It's why you enjoy him.
00:55 So let's bring him in.
00:56 Hi Matt, how you doing buddy?
00:58 I'm doing great.
00:59 Happy belated, well, Merry belated Christmas to everybody out there.
01:03 Happy early New Year as well.
01:05 So obviously the Raiders got a nice Christmas present, gave a nice Christmas present to
01:10 their fans on Monday.
01:12 Absolutely.
01:13 Nothing better than being in the Big Apple at Christmas time.
01:16 I'm jealous of you brother.
01:18 So let's get right into the Raider game.
01:20 We got a lot to talk about today.
01:22 It's game, I mean, it's hard to believe it's game day again.
01:24 Here we are.
01:25 It's a Saturday.
01:26 We got the Raiders play tomorrow, but still a lot of good stuff going on.
01:31 Let's dig in on what happened last week.
01:33 Then I want to get and look ahead to this week.
01:36 The Raiders go in there.
01:39 I predicted the win and it was 95% of the reasons I predicted.
01:44 I didn't see them holding Aiden O'Connell touchdownless, but I did see everything else.
01:52 But the Raiders go in and in front of, I think it was 29 million people watched the game,
01:59 something like that.
02:02 Huge numbers.
02:03 I saw Arrowhead, which I have never seen before with thousands of empty seats, booing the world
02:11 champion Kansas City Chiefs.
02:13 That stunned me.
02:16 Somebody will say, well, then you don't know much about football.
02:18 No, you've never been to Arrowhead.
02:20 It's a different animal at Arrowhead.
02:24 I was talking to security guards.
02:25 I was talking to longtime people who are there with the Chiefs that said they'd never seen
02:32 that.
02:34 Give me your thoughts on the totality of that and then break it down into the Raider-centric
02:40 part.
02:41 Well, I think when you look at the overriding storyline of the game, it's going to be more
02:48 Chiefs-focused.
02:49 What's wrong with the Chiefs?
02:50 Why have they been slumping?
02:52 Can their offense be fixed?
02:54 And to tell you the truth, I don't think so.
02:59 This year, I think it can be fixed, obviously, in the offseason, but I think this is kind
03:02 of who they are this year.
03:05 Not saying they can't win a playoff game or two or you don't have to worry about them,
03:11 but I don't think this is, and this is a team that I predicted to be back in the Super Bowl
03:14 this year before the season.
03:16 I don't think this is a Super Bowl team, the way that they've been playing.
03:20 I think it's been long enough of a sample size to say that there are some real issues
03:27 here.
03:28 Obviously, it's been talked about ad nauseum about the issues with the wide receivers,
03:34 but Travis Kelsey, he's the focal point of every defensive team.
03:39 They're really trying to take him away, but he hasn't been having the huge impact that
03:44 he's had in past seasons.
03:46 The offensive line has put Patrick Mahomes under duress a lot.
03:51 It just isn't what you're expecting to see in the Chiefs.
03:54 That's really the main plotline, but I think now switching over to a focus on the Raiders,
04:00 I think you can't say enough about how good that defense was.
04:04 We've talked about Patrick Graham a lot on here this season, but he had those guys ready
04:09 to play.
04:10 Listen, when the Raiders, the early second quarter, the Chiefs had driven down and scored
04:16 a touchdown.
04:17 They were winning seven greats.
04:18 You'd think, "Oh, maybe they're going to get control of the game now."
04:22 They take advantage of a miscue there, Bilal Nichols with the fumble return.
04:26 Then Jack Jones, for the second week in a row, makes a great play jumping around, taking
04:31 it in for a touchdown.
04:32 That really put the game in control of the Raiders.
04:36 I think when you look at what the Raiders were able to do, they won an NFL game against
04:41 the Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes, which makes it even more impressive.
04:44 Any NFL game, they didn't complete a pass for three quarters.
04:47 I know you and I have watched a lot of Big Ten football with a lot of offensive struggles,
04:52 particularly throwing the ball.
04:54 Usually you don't win a game when you can't complete a pass for the last three quarters,
04:57 but the Raiders were able to do it because their defense was outstanding.
05:01 I think the running game, the offensive line and Zemir White went a little bit under the
05:05 radar, but they were able to close that game out, and he really looked good running the
05:09 ball.
05:10 All right, I'm going to ask you, because I think this is a fair question, and it irritates
05:17 me.
05:18 As you know, I root for good people.
05:20 I've got friends in every organization in the National Football League.
05:26 But I also, you know the respect I have for the Raiders.
05:30 The organization is phenomenal.
05:31 The people are phenomenal.
05:33 Mark Davis is a great guy.
05:35 There's nobody in that organization that I don't like.
05:39 But everyone's talking about Patrick Mahomes is struggling, Aiden O'Connell sucks.
05:49 Not everybody, a lot of people.
05:51 Here's my question.
05:52 Why don't the Raiders get enough respect for their defense that maybe they really impacted
05:58 Patrick, which I was there, they did.
06:02 And maybe people not step back and say, "Okay, the Chiefs' defense is very good.
06:07 They impacted Aiden."
06:09 As well as, after the game, AP said, "We didn't want to get into a point-scoring match with
06:15 them.
06:16 The play-calling changed.
06:17 Let's eat the clock."
06:19 I'm not saying Aiden was great.
06:21 I'm not saying that Aiden is QB1 forever and he's Kenny Stabler.
06:25 But I'm just saying, it amazes me how the narrative switches.
06:29 When it's the Raiders, they suck.
06:31 When it's the Chiefs, oh, they're struggling.
06:35 That dumb for me, would you?
06:36 I mean, Aiden O'Connell is still a rookie, still early in his NFL career.
06:41 So you're going to expect some ups and downs.
06:43 And we talked about, he's faced a lot of good defensive coordinators and good defensive
06:46 units.
06:47 Steve Spagnuolo and the Chiefs, that certainly fits that bill.
06:51 I knew that it wasn't going to be easy for him to put up big numbers.
06:56 And I think when you look at the fact that they were winning the game, they were in control,
07:00 their defense was holding the Chiefs down, the weather, all those things.
07:06 It was a more conservative game plan for the last two, two and a half quarters by the Raiders,
07:12 and understandably so.
07:13 And it worked.
07:14 Listen, I think that the most important thing for Aiden O'Connell was to get more data,
07:21 more evaluation points for him the last couple of weeks of the season.
07:25 They have two more games to do that.
07:27 Yes, they're still alive in the playoff race, still alive in the division race.
07:31 But you're going to get a chance to see him play against another, you know, well, the
07:37 Colts are still competing for a playoff spot.
07:39 I don't think the Broncos will be by week 18.
07:41 I think they're going to be kind of probably done by this weekend.
07:44 But anyway, he's going to be playing against, you know, a team with something to play for
07:49 this week.
07:51 So I just think it's a young player with growing pains.
07:54 And again, I'm not saying if I'm that if you're the Raiders, he's your definite starter next
07:59 season.
08:00 If you feel like you can get a quarterback in the offseason, whether it's draft or trade
08:05 free agency, whatever, and it makes sense, by all means, go do it.
08:09 But I think that it's it's not this isn't really the time to jump on the kid when he
08:16 was kind of just playing the hand he was dealt with for that game.
08:20 And I was at the game and it was windy and rainy and sleety.
08:26 And man, I'm not making any excuses.
08:29 But don't ask Aidan O'Connell to do what what Patrick Mahomes couldn't and expect that it's
08:34 equal footing.
08:35 All right.
08:36 I want to turn to Taylor Swift because you guys had a thing at the spawn that I thought
08:42 was hilarious.
08:44 And I want to talk to you about it.
08:47 I had people literally.
08:52 When the Chiefs came to Las Vegas and when the Raiders went to the Chiefs.
08:57 Hey, I had one guy who's a very large ticket marketing company.
09:02 Do you have any information on will Taylor Swift be there?
09:06 I'm like, no, I don't care.
09:08 Why?
09:09 Then the person offered to give me some money if I found anything out, because it would
09:14 affect how we price tickets saying, hey, Taylor's going to be there.
09:18 You guys did a survey.
09:19 Seventy percent of fans say that they think Taylor's been good for the NFL.
09:23 I'm going to go ahead and agree with them.
09:26 It's annoying.
09:27 I get it.
09:28 I understand.
09:29 I understand it.
09:32 But it's brought new eyeballs to the league.
09:34 Your thoughts on you guys, this story.
09:37 And this isn't the Tommy DeVito thing.
09:39 This is money.
09:40 This is the it's also brought big, big money.
09:43 And that's always also Johnny Manziel.
09:45 Oh, yeah.
09:46 Going back.
09:47 That's about a decade now, which is crazy.
09:49 I thought it was.
09:50 It's, you know, the bottom line, the NFL is the bottom line and she's brought in good
09:56 business.
09:57 She's brought in more eyeballs.
09:58 Like you said, she's brought in different clientele.
10:02 Does it get perhaps a bit exhausting watching the cameras and all the talk during games?
10:07 Sure.
10:08 I understand that.
10:09 Or all the articles.
10:10 I'm sure there are people that read our website that are annoyed at all the times we write
10:13 about Taylor Swift.
10:14 I can understand it.
10:17 But I think overall, it's been a, you know, a boon for the league.
10:21 And I think that the NFL is kind of happy with the way it's unfolded.
10:26 And I think you're going to continue to see her for the last two weeks of the regular
10:30 season.
10:31 I do anticipate even with their struggles, the Chiefs winning the AFC West, they're going
10:36 to host at least one playoff game by doing that.
10:40 So you're going to see her at Arrowhead for at least one playoff game and the camera will
10:45 be on.
10:46 So it's going to continue to be a big storyline.
10:49 And I think overall, it's been a not a typical partnership or what you would expect to see,
10:58 but it's worked out well, I think, for both parties.
11:01 And I think it's kind of been kind of fun.
11:04 And I also we wrote about I think it's a lazy storyline to kind of say, well, it's a distraction
11:09 for the Chiefs.
11:11 I don't think so.
11:12 I think they're just not that good this year.
11:14 I think there's a lot of issues with that team personnel wise.
11:20 And I think I don't think Travis Kelsey, if his performance is down, I don't think it's
11:24 because he's distracted by Taylor Swift.
11:26 I think it's because perhaps he's the focal point of defenses and they don't have anyone
11:31 else to really kind of take the pressure off.
11:32 And he might be slowing down physically because he's 34 years old and has been in the league
11:37 for 12, 13 years.
11:39 And that's what happened.
11:40 So I think overall, it's been good for all parties.
11:46 Let's go back to the Raiders again.
11:49 Patrick Graham, you may remember last year, I took a ton of criticism by telling people
11:54 to get off his back.
11:56 He was good.
11:58 We now see change in regimes, what AP lets them do.
12:05 If this guy does not get head coaching interviews, then the whole thing is a sham.
12:12 This guy has, I mean, he's smart.
12:14 Guy's one of the smartest people I've ever been around.
12:16 Tremendous coach.
12:18 I hope the Raiders step up and pay him a ton of money and keep him.
12:22 But this guy is the real deal.
12:25 Your thoughts on Patrick Graham and his future prospects.
12:28 I would expect him to get head coaching interviews at least.
12:32 And if he doesn't, I think it would be a major shame and a knock on the other franchises
12:40 to at least not get this guy in the building and talk to him.
12:46 If Antonio Pierce becomes the permanent head coach of the Raiders, which he's really making
12:50 a heck of a case for himself at this point, I think retaining Patrick Graham would be
12:56 one of my first priorities for Antonio Pierce, unless he has an opportunity elsewhere or
13:02 gets a head coaching offer of his own.
13:04 Listen, this is a guy who has for the last four seasons at two different stops.
13:11 His defenses are always competitive.
13:13 His defenses are always keeping their team in the game when the offense is the weaker
13:19 unit.
13:20 He did it for two years with the Giants.
13:22 He's done it now for two years with the Raiders.
13:25 His game plans are always sound.
13:28 He always finds a good way to deploy as many guys as possible and get contributions from
13:33 different guys.
13:34 I think that he has proven his worth in the league as a defensive coordinator by far by
13:41 now.
13:42 And I'm really excited to see if he does draw deserved head coaching interest this offseason,
13:48 because like we said, he certainly should.
13:51 I'm the Chargers.
13:54 I back up a Brinks truck and bring him to LA and say, "Now go hire the best offensive
14:00 coordinator you can," because we haven't had that.
14:03 And man, all of a sudden, I think the Chargers become instantaneous competitors.
14:09 Their only weakness to me has been coaching.
14:11 All right.
14:12 I want to switch to a different subject.
14:15 I want to talk about Russell Wilson.
14:20 I think that Sean Payton, in my opinion, I agree with Robert Griffin III, has been disrespectful
14:25 of him the entire time he's been there, telling him, "Quit being a politician and kissing
14:30 babies and leaks coming out about things that he said."
14:36 There was a struggle at first, but he's been playing really well.
14:40 They decide we're moving on from him.
14:42 We're benching him, which is fine.
14:43 That's their prerogative.
14:46 I have no issue with that, just like I had no issue with the Raiders and Derek Carr.
14:50 Where I had an issue was, like Josh McDaniels or not, they never came out and trashed Derek.
14:58 They always would say the team has to perform better, whatever.
15:02 They gave him the opportunity until they were out of the playoffs with that loss at Pittsburgh.
15:07 Then they made the decision, "Okay, we're going to move in a different direction."
15:11 I just did not like the disrespect for Russell.
15:14 Let me say this.
15:15 I like Russell.
15:16 I know him.
15:17 I covered him in the Big Ten.
15:20 Good guy.
15:21 I have no issue when any team wants to move on from any player.
15:26 I just have an issue with Payton and how he did it.
15:30 He just seemed a little sanctimonious to me.
15:33 Your thoughts, am I wrong?
15:35 I think one of the things where it stems from is the Broncos obviously made a massive commitment.
15:41 To Russell Wilson with the trade and his contract and everything.
15:45 But Sean Payton wasn't the head coach at the time.
15:49 And now, Russell Wilson played better in 2023 than he did in 2022.
15:54 It's not like there's not a place for him in the NFL anymore, but he's not the quarterback
15:59 that he was because he's not the athlete that he was where he's able to extend plays and
16:03 make these otherworldly throws that he used to on the same regular basis.
16:09 Because of that, his contract is not, he's not living up to that contract.
16:14 So that's why they made the decision to move on.
16:16 Fine, I get it.
16:17 Like you said.
16:18 Listen, is it a cold world where you see guys getting benched with a couple, you know, simply
16:24 for financial reasons so that they can't get hurt and the injury thing doesn't kick in?
16:29 It is, but that's the reality NFL.
16:31 It happened to Matt Ryan.
16:32 It happened to Jeff Barr.
16:33 Let me interrupt you for one second.
16:35 I don't think it's a cold world.
16:36 The guy's getting 40 million to walk away.
16:38 No, he's still getting paid.
16:39 I don't think he's a victim.
16:42 My problem was with the sanctimonious attitude of Peyton because I would have preferred him
16:47 to just say, you know what?
16:49 I didn't sign Russell.
16:51 He's not really the guy that I want to run my offense.
16:53 I respect him, but it's not worth risking another 49 million.
16:58 We're going to be benching him, moving on.
17:00 I mean, you could have handled it respectfully.
17:03 The whole time he's been there, it's been shots and leaks about him.
17:07 Like he's trying to bemoan the guy, make him look like a bad guy.
17:12 I can tell you numerous times where the Raiders' previous regime talked Derek up.
17:21 Hey, he's a good guy.
17:24 You know what?
17:25 This or that.
17:26 It wasn't with him.
17:27 It was, okay, Russell's going to fail and I'm going to make sure every one of you know
17:31 about every zit, wart, and pot mark.
17:34 Well, I think there was also another interesting report that came out during the week after
17:40 the decision was made from my good friend Diana Rossini at The Athletic saying that
17:46 Russell Wilson has known for months now that he's done.
17:51 And they've continued to start him.
17:53 He's continued to start and he's pretty much seen the writing on the wall or been told
17:57 of the writing on the wall that he's done in Denver.
18:00 So I think this decision, like you said, was made a while ago.
18:04 I think that, I don't know if it was made from the second Sean Payton got hired, but
18:09 I think it was probably made or trending that way early on in his tenure in Denver.
18:15 He figured Russ isn't going to be my guy long term.
18:19 And I think that, listen, Cabronco's made another significant investment in Sean Payton.
18:27 The fact that he's making this decision tells me that they are committed to Sean Payton.
18:32 They want to see him through and think that he can be the guy to resurrect the franchise.
18:39 We'll see.
18:40 I mean, it's a it's a definite bit of a gamble because Sean Payton, who I think is a really
18:46 good play, call a really good head coach.
18:48 He doesn't have Drew Brees now.
18:49 Can he go get that quarterback in the offseason?
18:52 We'll see.
18:53 But it's definite risk for the Broncos.
18:56 To me, I think the Broncos situation recently has been really fascinating because you look
19:03 around the NFL and teams that are bad for a while, been down for a while, get a lot
19:10 of heat and justifiably so.
19:13 I feel like the Broncos, I don't know if people really realize this franchise hasn't made
19:18 the playoffs since it won Super Bowl 50.
19:21 That's eight years ago.
19:22 It's not like there was a drought like the Jets or the Lions or somebody like that.
19:28 But they haven't made the playoffs since then.
19:29 And they've had a losing season.
19:31 Now, if they lose one more game this year, it'll be seven years in a row, I believe,
19:37 they've had a losing season.
19:39 So this is a significant drought for a franchise that's known a lot of success from the late
19:46 70s through 2015.
19:49 So it's really fascinating to see, I think, because I don't know if it's gotten necessarily
19:53 the attention nationally that it deserves or that it would happen if it was other franchises,
20:01 you know, when the Browns were struggling or the New York teams now or things like that.
20:06 So I think that's really interesting.
20:08 Right.
20:09 Let's talk Raiders tomorrow.
20:13 What's your prediction?
20:14 Well, I thought the Raiders, you know, you know, going into the year, you said nine wins.
20:19 I said seven.
20:20 They've already matched seven.
20:22 I think they're going to win.
20:23 I think they're going to beat the Colts.
20:24 I think they're going to win their last two weeks.
20:26 Well, I mean, I'll give my more my more detailed prediction for the Bronco game when we talk
20:31 about it.
20:32 But I think they're going to win the last two weeks.
20:33 I think they're going to finish nine and eight.
20:35 So they're going to finish with that record that you predicted.
20:37 Now, I do think the Chiefs win one of their last two games, at least.
20:43 I guess it's a good chance they lose to the Bengals.
20:46 But even if they do, I think they beat the Chargers.
20:49 I think the Chargers just I know they played the Bills tough, but they're kind of mailing
20:53 it in at this point.
20:55 They don't have Justin Herbert.
20:57 So I think the Chiefs win the AFC West still.
20:59 I think the Raiders missed the playoffs barely, but I think they finished with a winning record.
21:03 I think that that is I think it should be enough for Antonio Pierce to get the head
21:09 permanent job.
21:10 I know I'm not out there every day.
21:11 I'm just looking at it from afar and looking at it from what I observed and from what people
21:16 around the league like you and other people write or say.
21:20 But I think that he's I think they win against Indianapolis.
21:22 They beat Denver in the finale.
21:24 I think that he should be named the head permanent head coach as soon as possible in January.
21:31 Yeah, he should be it.
21:33 No doubt.
21:34 All right.
21:35 So what's the score?
21:36 I have I think it's going to be another, you know, kind of a defensive battle.
21:41 I think the defense will carry the weight for the Raiders and I have a 20 to 17 victory.
21:47 I'm going.
21:48 Twenty seven.
21:49 Thirteen Raiders.
21:50 Because the Indianapolis defense isn't it's not it's not great.
21:59 But it keeps I mean, the Raiders keep scoring multiple defensive touchdowns every week.
22:05 I don't think that is sustainable, but my point is Indianapolis defense is not as good
22:11 as Minnesota.
22:14 It's not as good as Kansas City.
22:16 Right.
22:17 So this might actually be one of the weaker defenses they faced in a little while, because
22:23 you look at they played the Chiefs twice.
22:25 They played Minnesota Chargers Chargers.
22:28 Well, the Chargers the Chargers are bad.
22:30 So throw the Chargers game out because that was just wasn't NFL football.
22:35 But the Jets defense was good.
22:36 So this will be, I think, a test where I think you hopefully see the offense make some strides.
22:41 And I do think the Raiders win the game.
22:43 I got to ask you real quick, because I know you're in Gotham and you are a Giants guy.
22:47 Are you riding Tommy DeVito strain?
22:50 No, I think, you know, obviously he's Tyrod Taylor's been announced as the starter for
22:56 this week.
22:57 I think that's the right decision.
22:59 I think the Tommy DeVito storyline was a lot of fun in a lost season.
23:04 It gave, you know, the Giants and Giants fans about a month, four weeks or so of, you know,
23:10 good times and a lot of laughs.
23:12 And they did win three games in a row.
23:14 But he's not I never thought he was the future of the franchise quarterback.
23:19 I think he's made himself some money because of the bounce around the NFL, at least as
23:23 a backup or third string guy for a while.
23:27 But it was fun while it lasted.
23:28 But I think that I think that the cuplets have been have been totally fried at this
23:34 point.
23:35 I agree.
23:36 He is the great Matt Holadek from the Spun.com.
23:38 Remember you're listening to Sports Illustrated's Fan Nation Las Vegas Raiders Insider podcast,
23:44 part of the Fans First Sports Network.
23:46 Remember, follow me on Twitter at Hondo Carpenter or on Instagram at Hondo SR.
23:53 Also remember, if you don't want to watch our videos, you can listen to them on Spotify
23:57 or Apple as well as I do a second podcast every day.
24:01 It's just five or 10 minutes.
24:03 Riding with Hondo and Dexter usually sit and do it in the car or do it in my office.
24:08 And it's just something that stuck out to me, maybe from practice or somebody talking
24:12 to a source, something that I got just I want to pass on to you and disseminate.
24:17 Check that out as well.
24:18 So from all of us here, thanks, everybody.
24:20 Happy New Year and tomorrow's game day.
24:22 We'll see you tomorrow morning before the game.
24:24 We'll have a podcast before the game.
24:26 And then of course we'll have their podcast after the game.