The Las Vegas Raiders didn’t do much of anything right in Week 5 against the Indianapolis Colts. The team lost 40-6 and made a lot of ugly mistakes.
One of the worst came from safety Tristin McCollum, who got called for roughing the kicker after running into Spencer Shrader as he attempted a kick. On the play, Shrader tore his ACL and MCL. He is done for the season due to the play.
While there was nothing malicious about the play, the NFL is punishing McCollum. The league announced that the safety is getting a $5,722 fine for the hit.
McCollum isn’t a very highly-paid player, so any fine is going to hurt. He needs to be smarter when he’s trying to block a kick going forward. The Raiders’ special teams have been a disaster this season, and they can’t overcome plays like this. Las Vegas has to hope that McCollum has learned his lesson going forward.
Raiders Hopeful AJ Cole Can Play
The Colts weren’t the only team to have a key special teamer hurt on a block attempt. Punter AJ Cole hurt his ankle when the Colts blocked his punt.
Fortunately, he was able to stay in the game to hold kicks for Daniel Carlson, but he was not able to punt. The Raiders gave him most of the week off from practice, but he was able to return on Friday.
The hope is that he can play, but the Raiders did add another punter just in case. Luckily, tight end Michael Mayer is set to return after missing two games due to a concussion. He’s a very important blocker for the Raiders on special teams, according to head coach Pete Carroll.
“We need to get punts off, we need to protect field goals,” Carroll said Friday. “We need to do things like that to win ball games as you can see. … The team needs it, I’m going to be there doing it.”
Raiders Need to Win Turnover Battle
The Raiders have been terrible at taking care of the ball this season. Quarterback Geno Smith leads the NFL with nine interceptions, but the defense hasn’t been helping much, as they only have four takeaways on the year.
Carroll knows the Raiders need to be better about winning the turnover battle.
“Taking care of the football is absolutely primary focus. Unfortunately, we’re not doing that well enough yet,” Carroll said.
“If you’re plus one in turnover ratio in a game, you win like 77% of time. OK, so let’s get to plus this week,” he added. “Let’s get to plus next week, and let’s see what happens to our football team. You’ll see the whole complexion of the games change.”
Smith is a big reason for the turnover issues, but offensive coordinator Chip Kelly is confident he’ll turn things around.
“Every pass play in the NFL or in college or in high school is a timing deal,” Kelly said Thursday. “You’re always trying to match the drop of the quarterback with the protection to the depth of the routes that you’re running. There’s a timing aspect to all those things. So, it’s just the more familiar we get with them. But this is the same guy who was ripping the ball all over place in the Patriots game. So, I’m really excited about Geno, I’m really excited about his future, and I think he’s a hell of a quarterback.”
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