It was another rough performance from Geno Smith in the Las Vegas Raiders‘ 40-6 loss to the Indianapolis Colts on October 5 at Lucas Oil Stadium.
Smith completed 25 of 36 pass attempts for 228 yards, but the veteran quarterback turned the ball over yet again with two interceptions. As a result, calls are getting louder for Kenny Pickett to take over under center.
Former Raiders wide receiver James Jones isn’t calling Pickett to be the starter. However, he’s calling out head coach Pete Carroll for not putting the former Pittsburgh Steelers signal-caller in once the game got out of hand to see what they have in Pickett.
“When you’re losing the way we have lost a couple of games this season, [you] put Kenny Pickett in there and see what he can do,” Jones said on “Raiders Postgame Live.” “Not only that, Geno Smith has been struggling.
“So now you’re losing a game and he’s struggling, and [you’re] putting him in a pass situation only for him to make another mistake. That’s not going to help his confidence. Put Kenny Pickett out there. We don’t know if Geno Smith is the future of this team. We don’t know that.”
Raiders Need to Know If Kenny Pickett Can Produce
Jones noted that there’s been an emergence of quarterbacks who have found life in new scenarios, whether it’s Baker Mayfield, Sam Darnold, Mac Jones, or Daniel Jones, who the Raiders faced in Week 5.
As a result, the former wideout believes that maybe Pickett can continue this trend, but the Silver and Black won’t know what they have if he’s not out there.
“We know that we’ve seen Daniel Jones, we’ve seen Sam Darnold, we’ve seen the Baker Mayfield’s who got second and third opportunities to play, and they are having success,“ Jones added.
“Kenny Pickett can step into this offense and look good. That still doesn’t mean you bench Geno, but that does mean if something happens to Geno down the road, you have confidence in putting Kenny Pickett in the game.
“Right now, you don’t even know or have a clue [exactly] what he’s going to look like. You had an opportunity in a couple of games this season to get him some time in there because it has gotten [completely] out of hand for us.”
Raiders’ Pete Carroll Explains Not Using Kenny Pickett
Smith was brought in to be a veteran presence on a young Raiders offense. However, the mistakes many would expect from young players, either in their first, second, or third year as a player in the league, are coming from the 35-year-old.
Nonetheless, Carroll explained why they didn’t put in Pickett when the game was out of reach.
“Here’s the reason why I didn’t do that: We need to stay out there and keep practicing,“ Carroll said postgame when asked if there was a thought to bench Smith for Pickett. “We need to keep practicing, we need the reps, we need the turns, we need to run the system, we need to feel it, we need to see the guys get the opportunities to improve.
“I thought about it because there was a chance to do that. … That’s not what’s necessary. We need to get better and get right, so these are the games that we’re working on, and these are the games that we learn from and grow from so that we can change the course of the way games are going.”
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