Raiders Hit Rock Bottom: Kelly Fired, 10-Sack Disaster, and Field-Level Reaction

RAIDERS FIRE OC CHIP KELLY AFTER OFFENSIVE FREEFALL

The Raiders officially pulled the ripcord on Sunday, firing offensive coordinator Chip Kelly just 11 games into his first season with the team — the second major staff shakeup under Pete Carroll and the second straight year Las Vegas has dumped an OC midseason. The move comes hours after a 24–10 loss to Cleveland dropped the Raiders to 2–9, and capped off a month where the offense has looked completely broken.

Kelly was hired to overhaul one of the league’s worst units after winning a national title at Ohio State, but the results never came close. Entering Week 12, the Raiders ranked 30th in scoring, total yards, rushing, EPA, and red-zone efficiency, and they had scored fewer than 10 points four times — the most in the NFL. “We’re trying to get it right,” Carroll said after the loss, but Sunday’s meltdown made it clear the experiment had already run its course.

Kelly is the second Raiders coordinator fired this season, following special teams coach Tom McMahon. Now the Raiders search for yet another offensive direction, hoping someone can finally wake up an offense that has fallen off a cliff.

For more on Chip’s firing and who I think should take over as interim offensive coordinator, check out my instant reaction to the move from last night:

RAIDERS POSTGAME REACTION PODCAST

If you want the full story on what really happened in the Raiders’ loss to Cleveland, don’t miss my postgame reaction podcast straight from the field at Allegiant Stadium. I break down the 10-sack meltdown, Pete Carroll’s decision-making on the offensive line, Geno Smith’s missed chances, and how Shedeur Sanders and the Browns took control late. It’s an honest, in-depth look at what went wrong, what’s fixable, and what has to change moving forward. Watch the full breakdown above.

CRAZY STATS

1. Geno Smith joins Jeff George (Week 1, 1998) as the only Raiders quarterback to be sacked 10 times in a game, per ESPN research.

2. Entering the game, Browns QBs in their first career NFL starts were 0-17. Thanks to Shedeur’s win, they’re now 1-17.

RAIDERS LOSE 24-10 TO SHEDEUR AND THE BROWNS

RECAP:

The Raiders dropped their fifth straight on Sunday, and the storyline was painfully familiar: the offense couldn’t protect, couldn’t finish drives, and couldn’t keep pace as Cleveland walked out of Allegiant Stadium with a 24–10 win. Las Vegas has now allowed 20 sacks in the last three weeks, including 10 more against the Browns — with Myles Garrett accounting for three on his own and eight different Cleveland defenders getting in on the action.

The protection issues wiped out any chance of rhythm for Geno Smith, who threw for 285 yards but spent most of the afternoon running for his life. Allegiant Stadium didn’t hide its frustration either, booing repeatedly as the Raiders punted eight times and turned it over on downs twice. “If you don’t score, you can’t win — and we couldn’t score,” Pete Carroll said afterward. “Quarterback was under duress the entire time… our ability to match up with their pass rush didn’t work out well.”

Defensively, Maxx Crosby turned in another monster effort with five tackles for loss, but the unit still gave up the explosive plays that swung the game. Rookie Shedeur Sanders made just enough of them — including a 52-yard strike under pressure and a late 66-yard catch-and-run touchdown — to seal it for Cleveland. “Unfortunately, we’re just not good enough right now,” Crosby said. “That’s the reality.”

The loss drops Las Vegas to 2–9, with nine defeats in their last ten games. And with the offense stuck in neutral and protection issues worsening, the questions about what needs to change only get louder.

ANALYSIS

This one’s on the offensive line, there’s no doubt about that. Allowing 10 sacks and 23 pressures in a game is crazy. I don’t care if you’re Geno Smith or Tom Brady, you’re not going to have much success behind and group like that. Thanks in part to those sacks, they were behind the chains all night. In the first half alone, they averaged 14.3 yards to go on third down. Having said that, the Raiders still had their chances. Geno missed Tre Tucker on a couple of occasions when they took their deep shots.

You could say that again. For the eighth time this season, the Raiders defense forced a 3-and-out on the opposing team’s opening drive. That’s tops in the NFL. Once again, the Raiders failed to capitalize on that. In fact, on their first three drives, they netted a total of zero yards. Thanks to a pair of letdowns in coverage by the punt team, the Browns had short fields to work with and took a 14-0 lead into the second quarter. And let’s be real, the Raiders weren’t going to score 14 points on this defense. In a matchup with two bad offenses, you can’t spot the opposing offense's field position either in or just outside the red zone. It will spell disaster every time.

For more on the offensive line, and a move I’m still struggling to understand, keep scrolling.

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CRAZY MOVES ALONG THE O-LINE CONTINUE

We’ve talked at length about the Raiders issues along the offensive line but the decisions they’re making there are equally as baffling. Last week, they didn’t even dress their third round pick Caleb Rogers, and instead chose to bring Antonio Mafi up from the practice squad while moving Jordan Meredith to right guard, and starting Will Putnam at center. That group struggled mightily against the Cowboys. The staff then decided to run it back with that group on Sunday agaisnt the Browns. Then when Will Putnam got hurt for a couple series, they put Alex Cappa in at center and kept Meredith at guard. As far back as I could find in the PFF snap charts, I couldn’t find a single snap for Cappa at center in his NFL career and from what I understand he played tackle in college at Humboldt State and never took snaps at center there either. So, after the game I asked Pete why they decided to move Cappa to center (and when he first started taking snaps at center) rather than moving Jordan back to center and letting rookie Caleb Rogers get some burn, and he offered up this reasoning:

I just don’t get it. I understand if the kid had a bad week of practice but to not give your third round pick a shot, in week 12, with all those injuries, and after the veterans have struggled this much, it’s just wild to me.

WHAT’S NEXT?

We’ll hear form Pete at his weekly Monday press conference today. This will give us our first opportunity to dive into why he felt this was the time to move on from Chip Kelly, and not earlier in the season after one of the more head scratching games from a play calling perspective.

Catch ya next time,