When the Las Vegas Raiders traded for Geno Smith, there was a lot of excitement from the fan base. While he’s not widely considered one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL, he was supposed to be a massive upgrade over Gardner Minshew and Aidan O’Connell.
Through two games, Smith has left a lot to be desired. He is tied for the NFL lead with four interceptions and only has one touchdown pass. The Raiders’ offensive line hasn’t been good, and the young wide receiver corps clearly needs work, but he simply has to be better.
Brad Gagnon of Bleacher Report went through and listed the biggest problem for each NFL team and listed Smith as the Raiders’ biggest issue.
“Just as the defense suddenly becomes an asset, the Raiders get a slap in the face from their under-performing bridge quarterback. Through two weeks, Geno Smith is the league’s lowest-rated qualified passer thanks to a league-worst on-target rate (34.2 percent) and a 52.2 rating (with three interceptions) on deep attempts,” Gagnon wrote. “The line and running game haven’t offered him much support, but Smith is getting paid big bucks to lead this offense and he simply hasn’t delivered thus far.
“Outlook: Considering how much pressure he’s faced in that one-dimensional offense, it’s hard to envision the 34-year-old climbing out of this quickly.”
Smith Not Looking to Make Excuses
If a team’s biggest problem is their quarterback, they aren’t going to win many games. However, there’s a growing trend with Smith: He turns the ball over a lot.
Going back to the start of last season, he leads the NFL with 19 interceptions. One of the most important jobs for a quarterback is to protect the football, and Smith hasn’t done that.
Smith knows he has to be better and is taking accountability.
“Those are things that I got to learn from and be better at. Anything that doesn’t look right out there, you put that on my feet, you know, put that on my shoulders. I feel like I got to be a lot better for our guys. I know I have to, and I will be,” Smith said on Wednesday. “I’m never going to make any excuses about anything. I’ve got to be better. We got to be better, and we got a short week to improve on that.”
Smith Has to Improve Quickly
The Raiders’ defense has been playing surprisingly well so far, but the team can’t expect that to continue every week. The group simply doesn’t have enough depth.
If the Raiders are going to have success this season, the offense has to be very good. That hasn’t been the case in two games. With the run game being essentially non-existent, there’s a lot of Smith’s shoulders. That’s why the team is paying him nearly $40 million a year.
The Raiders weren’t expected to be a playoff team this season, so being 1-1 isn’t a surprise, but they were hoping they had an answer at quarterback for at least a couple of seasons. If he throws another 15+ intercpetions for a second season in a row, it might be back to the drawing board for Las Vegas.
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