The Las Vegas Raiders have already played a game since their Week 9 game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, but the NFL is just now dishing out punishments from the game. During the Raiders-Jaguars matchup, linebacker Travon Walker was ejected from the game after punching offensive tackle Stone Forsythe in the face.
He had to know that additional punishment was on the way, but luckily for him, he avoided suspension. The NFL announced that they are fining Walker $12,172 for the punch.
Walker was fortunate that Forsythe was wearing a helmet. Had he not been, he may have faced a stiffer punishment. Walker’s ejection didn’t end up hurting the Jaguars much, as they were still able to beat the Raiders in overtime. Linebacker Devin White was also fined $6,500 for an unnecessary roughness penalty.
Geno Smith Talks Rookie Struggles
The Raiders were just inches away from beating the Jaguars and getting their season back on track, but failed. They had another chance to turn things around in Week 10 against the Denver Broncos, but could only muster seven points despite the defense holding the Broncos to 10 points.
The Raiders’ rookies had a rough showing, but quarterback Geno Smith made sure to defend them.
“Everybody’s learning. Rookies, veterans, mistakes happen in the game, but in order to be a good team, you have to play clean,” Smith said after the loss. “I keep saying that every week, you have to play a clean game. You can’t have missed assignments, you can’t have penalties, you can’t have penalties negating big plays, can’t have turnovers. Those are the things that hurt teams. When the Raiders stop beating the Raiders, we’ll go out there, and we can beat anybody in this league, but we have to stop being ourselves first. It seems like that’s been a recurring thing every single week. I know it’s not for a lack of effort, I know it’s not for a lack of guys wanting to do well. I think guys are just learning as we go.”
Smith Addresses Brock Bowers’ Lackluster Game
Tight end Brock Bowers finally returned from injury against the Jaguars, and he lit up the Jaguars’ defense for three touchdowns. Instead of focusing on getting Bowers involved against the Broncos, the Raiders were only able to complete one pass to him.
That’s clearly not going to be a recipe for success for Las Vegas. Smith spoke about the struggles to get Bowers the ball against Denver.
“There’s heavy emphasis on Brock,” Smith said. “Obviously, when you go out there last week and have three touchdowns and have the performance he had, guys are going to see that on film and do whatever they can to stop him. We still have to find ways to get him the ball. We have to move him around and put him in a position where he can just go 1-on-1, but teams are going to double. They had a plan for him, and other guys had an opportunity to step up, and that’s what they did.”
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