After the Las Vegas Raiders fell in Week 5 to the Indianapolis Colts, the calls for Kenny Pickett to take over under center grew louder. It was a disastrous performance from the offense as they could only muster six points in the 40-6 defeat.
Moreover, the turnovers for Geno Smith continued. Smith completed 25 of 36 pass attempts for 228 yards, but the veteran quarterback turned the ball over yet again with two interceptions.
Ahead of the Week 6 game against the Tennessee Titans, former NFL running back Rashad Jennings weighed in on whether it’s time to make a change at quarterback.
“I mean, obviously they did bring over Kenny Pickett just to be a backup,” Jennings said on the latest episode of “The Pre-Game Podcast.” “But these are the type of times, folks, and you know, these are the times where you ask those questions in a room: is it time to split time? Do we give a chance for Pickett to get in a few plays and see what it does, or not?
“Yes, of course, when your record is what it is and your quarterback hasn’t played extremely well—and he’s leading to the NFL and interceptions—sometimes you wonder. But I have no doubt that the organization and the head coach, especially Pete Carroll, is going to evaluate it properly and put the best player out there for the team next week.
Time to See What Kenny Pickett Can Do for the Raiders
After the Week 6 loss to the Colts, former Raiders wide receiver James Jones isn’t calling Pickett the starter. Still, he criticized head coach Pete Carroll for not putting Pickett in once the game got out of hand to see what he could do.
“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 Appear Not to Be Giving Up on Geno Smith
Smith was signed to provide veteran leadership for a young Raiders offense. Surprisingly, some of the errors you’d normally expect from first-, second-, or third-year players are coming from the 34-year-old quarterback. Still, Carroll clarified why Pickett wasn’t brought in once the game against the Colts 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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