Our latest edition of the Las Vegas Raiders Insider Podcast offers you a complete recap of the Silver and Black 23-20 loss to the Indianapolis Colts.
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00:00 Hi everybody, this is Hondo Carpenter from Sports Illustrated's FANNATION Las Vegas Raiders Insider Podcast.
00:08 Where literally just a short time ago, the Las Vegas Raiders fell 23-20 to the Indianapolis Colts.
00:16 It was not the result that I expected to see today whatsoever.
00:19 We're going to break that down and we're going to discuss it today and talk about what happened.
00:24 Where some things went wrong, where some things I think went right.
00:28 And I'm going to give you my assessment of where I think the franchise is, what I think is happening and what I think is going on.
00:35 First of all, the Raiders defense didn't score two touchdowns, which we had talked about.
00:42 You can't expect that every week. That's just an anomaly.
00:46 You can't even really expect that every season.
00:49 You can expect your defense to score, but they've done it twice in the last two weeks.
00:54 And that's a unicorn, that's unique.
00:58 But I want to start out by saying this, the Raiders beat themselves today.
01:04 But don't be like one of my Twitter followers said, and I apologize, I should have remembered who it was.
01:11 So whoever you are, if you watch this, I want you to know you should get the credit.
01:16 Don't be Jason Kelsey last week. The Colts beat the Raiders.
01:21 Now the Raiders certainly helped them.
01:24 You can point to some very bad calls, but I want to also tell you there were some very bad calls that went against the Colts too.
01:33 If you want to know the truth, this is probably a very well officiated game because it was so poorly officiated against both parties.
01:41 I think you could easily make that argument.
01:45 So again, there were bad calls. I don't think the P.I. on Jack Jones was legit at all.
01:52 I don't think the penalty on the field goal to Jack Jones was legit at all.
01:55 In fact, he's coming across the line as the ball's moving. That means it's active. It's a go.
02:00 I don't think that was a penalty at all. But then there were some penalties.
02:04 There was a P.I. against I think it was a P.I. against Indianapolis for the guy didn't even touch him.
02:10 So I just thought it was officiating to me was a wash.
02:13 I know a lot of people said the Raiders lost because of officiating. No, the Raiders lost because they beat themselves.
02:18 And they certainly, you know, for example, the offensive line for Indianapolis went right at Max Crosby.
02:25 Their plan and their intent was we're going to keep him and Coons from beating us.
02:30 That's the way we're going to play this. That's the way we're going to do this.
02:33 That's exactly what they did. They had a very, very good game plan.
02:36 Now, the Raiders offense, I was not expecting it to be as abysmal as it was today.
02:42 And it was terrible. And this had nothing to do with the Colts.
02:49 There were some big shots that ain't no college dismissed.
02:53 There was a trade Tucker just wide open down the field.
02:56 He was so wide open that it literally looked like I was the defending cornerback.
03:02 I mean, trade Tucker had him beat, I'm going to guess, 20, 25, 30 yards wide open down the middle of the field.
03:10 Just had his eyes on Devante and missed him. But there were several shots that were missed.
03:17 Now, I also think the play calling was terrible for the Raiders today. Not the whole game.
03:24 I thought this was the worst performance of Bo Hardegre. And I think he's done a lot good.
03:29 But today was really bad. I mean, you're third and one and you're not just lining up running the ball or doing a quarterback sneak.
03:35 And you're doing all these back and forth passes behind the line of scrimmage.
03:39 It's one yard. Get your ass down the field.
03:43 I probably shouldn't have said that. Get your butt down the field. Excuse me.
03:47 But it just made no sense to me. Just made no sense.
03:51 You want to be a physical team and you're throwing the ball behind the line of scrimmage, back and forth, back and forth.
03:56 Like it's a game of pickle. Do kids still play pickle? It's a game of pickle behind the line of scrimmage.
04:01 It's one yard. There were some fourth downs that I was surprised that AP didn't go for it.
04:09 My buddy, Vic Taffer, the athletic great guy, by the way, asked him about it.
04:13 And he said, I don't think they were fourth and ones. They were.
04:17 One of them for sure. And didn't go for it.
04:20 I mean, they were kicking the ball on the colt side of the field multiple times.
04:25 That aggression was just not there. That surprised me a little bit.
04:28 Now, clearly, that's AP. And I don't think he would say this, not because I think he's a wimp.
04:34 I think he's a gentleman. And I think he knows what he inherited.
04:37 I don't think he had confidence in his offense.
04:40 But, man, there were a couple of field goals that would have been 57 yards indoors.
04:44 You let Daniel Carlson do it unless Daniel's not 100 percent.
04:48 And I'll ask him this week in the locker room if he was. I believe he was.
04:53 So. I think you go for those, but.
04:59 I know the school of thought our defense is really good, let's go pin him down there,
05:02 but you're already on the cold side of the of the field.
05:06 So I thought the Raiders hurt themselves a little bit.
05:08 I think AP tipped his hand that he doesn't have a ton of confidence in this offense.
05:14 I think Devante Adams is a superstar. Everybody knows what I think of Devante.
05:20 But there are other players on this team and they're just at times forcing the ball to Devante.
05:26 Now, let's give him credit. That's not Devante's fault.
05:31 But, you know, again, let's look at Devante tonight.
05:34 Twenty one targets. Caught 13 balls, 126 yards, two touchdowns.
05:39 I mean, he had an amazing game, but there were some throws like that one that went to him
05:43 that should have went to Trey Tucker down the field.
05:46 There's like five throws that weren't completions that I think were that they went to Devante.
05:53 He wasn't there. So he could have still, you know, been.
05:59 13 of 16 and had the same yardage and touchdowns, but you got to get more people involved.
06:03 I understand Michael Mayer's not there. I get all that again.
06:13 And I'm looking at this thing. Here's the people who caught passes Devante.
06:17 Jacoby, Zameer, Hoop, Tucker, Abdullah.
06:22 Any names not any names sticking out there that didn't get in?
06:26 I mean, I just I just think that there has to be more now.
06:30 I'm not making excuses. This is a game they should have won. No excuse.
06:34 There will be no excuse making here. And it wasn't the officials.
06:38 They're I believe that they're better than Indianapolis.
06:42 Indianapolis just had better holistic coaching on their defense.
06:48 Gus Bradley against Bo Hardegre.
06:52 You saw at the end of the game when they go to the two minute and they let Aiden attack down the field.
06:58 Man, you look at how he moved the ball. I mean, Aiden, when you look at his stats,
07:02 a lot of this. Is it the end, but you look at this, I mean, Aiden O'Connell, 30 of 47, 299 yards,
07:12 two touchdowns, no interceptions, 96 passer rating. He protected the football.
07:19 Again, I put more on Bo Hardegre in what I thought was terrible play calling.
07:26 At key points, not the whole game, but at key points that I think hurt this team.
07:34 Hurt him. And that's just the way it goes now.
07:38 Bo's a first year play caller. He takes over after the trade deadline.
07:43 They had to get rid of some of the playbook because the Raiders couldn't run it.
07:48 Josh McDaniels wanted to. He has he got no mini camps, no OTAs, no training camp.
07:56 I think that Bo Hardegre demonstrated to you today.
08:04 Some concerning things, but again, he showed you some bright spots.
08:08 Again, if you know you have to attack, then go attack. Early in the game, I think they missed it.
08:16 And then once Aiden gets into a rhythm, he's got some confidence.
08:20 Now, next question I'm going to get is Hondo. He's garbage. Get rid of him.
08:26 OK, I'm not willing to say the kid's garbage, but I'm not willing to say he's QB one either.
08:32 I've been saying this all along. I think you got to go draft a quarterback.
08:37 Who has some mobility or trade for one. Who's young, has some mobility.
08:46 Either way. Either way. But and then let him compete.
08:52 And if you go get a rookie, you name him your QB one going into OTAs and mini camp and make him compete.
08:59 Best man gets it. Or if you go trade for a guy. Then you make that guy the one.
09:07 And still let Aiden develop. But I just think it was I put a lot of Aiden's struggles early on coaching.
09:19 Now, not missing trade. That's all on a whole thing was on it.
09:24 And we don't know if he's being told by his coaches, you know, don't do this, throw here.
09:29 But I don't know how not throwing to Trey Tucker when he's got no one around him.
09:34 You're not even worried about an interception there. That's just a mistake by Aiden.
09:38 And guess what? Rookies make mistakes. That's the name of the game.
09:44 I've seen nothing that changed my opinion of Aiden.
09:51 I've seen nothing that changed my opinion of Bo, and I'm going to be very blunt.
09:55 I've seen nothing that changes my opinion of Antonio Pierce.
10:01 I'm going to tell you, I don't know what you saw, but I'm here.
10:06 And I saw Raiders players that made really bad penalties and mistakes today fighting until the last second.
10:14 There was no quit in them. They were fighting for AP. They're also down cold and Miller.
10:19 They're also down. Josh Jacobs are also down their number one tight end and Michael Mayer.
10:25 OK, those are all restarters on your offense. That's not excuses.
10:31 That's legitimate. Still should have won this game. But my job is to present to you the reality.
10:38 You're down three guys, two of them that we know are superstars, one in Mayer.
10:44 That's a burgeoning superstar. You lose Thayer Mumford, who had been playing really well.
10:52 So I'm sorry. I. This is a game they should have won.
11:03 This is a game that they beat themselves, but Gus Bradley give him a lot of credit.
11:08 He's a great defensive coordinator. Great. And. They did just enough to win.
11:16 I want to talk about something that really impressed me.
11:19 Zemir White runs for 71 yards. He's running for three point six carries three yards a carry.
11:26 I was stunned at times. They weren't feeding him more.
11:33 Because, you know, he's a rhythm back, meaning he gets better as the game goes on.
11:38 He's if you've never seen him, I can tell you as a guy, it's been with him.
11:42 I don't even know how many times he's a chiseled piece of granite.
11:46 He has muscles in his body in places that I've never seen on mine.
11:51 I didn't even know was humanly possible to have muscles there.
11:54 I mean, he's granite. And he's strong and he's tough.
11:59 And when guys go head to head with him, he punishes them physically.
12:04 So, again, I think that's on board. I agree. So I just think offensively, we this is a Raider team that yet again couldn't get above 20 points.
12:15 It is what we thought it was. It's over a hundred million dollar offense with a 40 million dollar defense.
12:22 And it is what it is. I said the beginning of the year, I thought this was a nine and eight team.
12:28 If Jimmy Garoppolo stayed healthy all year, we know now they're seven and nine.
12:32 The best they can be is eight and nine. I think they're going to beat the Broncos next week.
12:38 So one game off my prediction, but there are holes that are legitimate.
12:42 I know there are free agents that want to come play here.
12:46 I know there are coaches that want to come coach with AP.
12:50 And those free agents, by the way, want to play for AP.
12:55 So disappointing loss. I think that's 100 percent fair game.
13:00 They should have won, no doubt. But again, no quick.
13:06 I've seen nothing today. That makes me feel like.
13:16 My opinion on AP changes, I still think he's done plenty enough to get this job.
13:21 These players respond to him. Someone asked me recently.
13:29 If I believe AP would retain all the coaching staff, I can tell you, no.
13:35 I do not believe that. And that's not a guess. I don't believe that he would.
13:41 But I think he has enough of he has that locker room.
13:46 And the players that matter in that locker room. And he knows what he doesn't know.
13:52 He's very teachable. As you can see, when he brings Tom Coughlin and Marvin Lewis in,
13:59 he understands the Raider dynamic. He is a Raider. He's going to make changes to upgrade the offense and to upgrade some positions on his staff.
14:09 Again, nothing about him. Now, this also comes when there's a report today that Jim Harbaugh, the coach at Michigan, has hired Don Yee.
14:18 If you know who Don Yee is, very powerful agent in the NFL.
14:22 And he is the agent for Tom Brady, who is going to be a part owner of the Raiders.
14:28 It's not a matter of if it's when he's going to be. And that is significant. That is significant.
14:39 There's a lot of people that want Jim Harbaugh as coach, and he's a great coach.
14:44 In fact, I'd encourage you to go back and watch the video I did with Braylon Edwards.
14:49 You may remember the great NFL wide receiver who played for him at San Francisco.
14:55 I would really think you would enjoy that podcast a lot.
14:59 But I think him, Don Yee, and I think it's going to come down to it's going to be Jim Harbaugh or it's going to be Antonio Pierce at this point.
15:11 Just because of how strong the locker room feels, and I think AP has set enough. I want to be super careful of what I say.
15:24 I just believe Antonio Pierce's vision has been shared.
15:31 I think at this point he's got the inside edge. If it's me, I hire AP. And that's not because I dislike Jim Harbaugh.
15:41 Because I don't. I think Jim Harbaugh is a great football coach.
15:46 But I would give the edge to AP. So the complete recap is I think the Raiders beat themselves with some of their mistakes.
16:02 But you cannot take away the credit from the Colts.
16:07 I thought there was some really good game planning by the Colts coaches.
16:12 Again, I thought bad calls on both sides of the ball against both teams.
16:20 So to me officiating was a wash. Again, brutal. I think that one on the field goal was brutal.
16:30 Because the Raiders had showed some propensity. They'd been moving the ball.
16:36 But again, you can go back to another drive when they scored where there was a bad call against the Colts.
16:44 And if they hadn't got that call, the Colts wouldn't have given up a score.
16:48 So I think it was a wash. But to me, I think when you look at the Lions game, officiating is so bad in the NFL.
16:56 We've been talking about this every week with Johnny Shopp when he joins our podcast every week.
17:02 It's just been terrible. It continues to be terrible.
17:06 I still think there needs to be another official up in stairs in the box who can review any call.
17:12 I think that's important. I hate to add to the bureaucracy, but these games are so big.
17:18 I think you have to. But I think today just comes down to the Raiders have been playing at such an unbelievable defensive level.
17:28 They still only gave up 23 points. That it's unfair every week in the NFL to ask one side of your team to just carry it.
17:38 It's unfair. It's not reality. And I live in Realville.
17:43 And so tonight the Raiders came up against a Colts team that the defense was still relatively good.
17:53 Let's look at Minshew. He 15 of 23, 224 yards. He didn't beat them.
18:03 I mean, he had one TD, but Taylor, Jonathan Taylor had 96 yards rushing.
18:11 I mean, I think this was a game where the Raiders defense was OK. OK.
18:17 And the Raider offense was just horrible. Not the whole game.
18:25 But horrible enough that the Raiders defense just couldn't get them over the top.
18:30 It was a loss from a team that was pretty much what we thought they were.
18:36 They're an offense away, but they're not in rebuilding mode.
18:40 They got a lot of great pieces. And it's going to be fascinating to watch.
18:47 So from all of us here at Sports Illustrated's Fan Nation Las Vegas Raiders Insider Podcast,
18:52 this is your complete recap of the Raiders 23-20 loss to the Indianapolis Colts here in Indianapolis.
18:57 They fall now to seven and nine on the season. We'll have plenty more for you.
19:03 Remember, we're also part of the Fans First Sports Network. You can follow me.
19:06 By the way, several weeks ago, one of you told me I used to call it Instant Grams.
19:11 Hey, Hondo, there's no S on grams. Well, someone has also taught me it's not instant.
19:16 It's Insta-gram. So I apologize about that. I want to get it right.
19:20 So you can follow me on Instagram @HondoSR on Twitter, now known as X @HondoCarpenter.
19:27 Check us out there. Remember, we're part of the Fans First Sports Network,
19:30 where every day you get our regular podcast where it's just audio only on Spotify or Apple.
19:35 And we do an additional podcast as well. It's five or ten minutes with just some inside information.
19:40 We'll see you all there back in Vegas tomorrow. Appreciate all of you. Have a great night. God bless you.