Despite their Week 4 loss to the Chicago Bears, the Las Vegas Raiders did get Ashton Jeanty going. The rookie running back recorded 138 rushing yards and 17 receiving yards for three total touchdowns.
Now that Jeanty has the confidence, the attention turns to another rookie that the Silver and Black need to jumpstart, and that’s Dont’e Thornton Jr. So far this season, Thornton Jr. has recorded five receptions and 94 receiving yards with zero touchdowns.
After the loss to Chicago, CBS Sports NFL analyst Ran Carthon discussed how little the Raiders have been involving Thornton Jr. in their game plan.
“Now that Ashton has established himself as a runner through this week, I think the threat of the running game becomes a real one, and people will pay more attention and give more action, which will help them complete the ball down the field,“ Carthon said on “CBS Sports HQ.”
“But no one stretches the field, no one takes shots downfield, and you have a young rookie receiver in Dont’e Thornton who is a vertical guy—a go-get-it, vertical type.
“Yet he hasn’t been used much downfield to create those explosive plays. Hopefully, that’s what’s coming next in this Chip Kelly offense: The play-action threat to get the safeties to hold, and then you have a shot downfield because Geno can still throw deep, but Geno has to be better.”
Raiders Star Vows to Improve
One of the key things Smith will focus on this week is getting Thornton Jr more involved along with other areas he wants to improve. After the loss to the Bears, the 34-year-old was blunt in assessing his own performance, especially regarding his game against the Bears amid the poor form he’s showing over the last few weeks.
“No. 1, take care of the ball, not throwing interceptions,“ Smith told the media after the loss. “That’s the simplest way I can put it to you. First of all, I owe it to my teammates to go out there and play better. I felt like we had a great week of practice; I felt like the process was there.
“I felt like I was feeling good about what I was seeing. The game plan was great. Guys fought their tails off. We deserve to get this win and I let those guys down. So, there’s a lot of things I’m going to have to fix within myself. That’s the reality.”
Geno Smith Shares Emotions After Raiders Loss
Smith also acknowledged feeling anger and frustration with his own performance. The Raiders had opportunities to win against the Los Angeles Chargers and Bears, but turnovers ultimately swung the games in the opponents’ favor.
“More so just anger. You know, I know I got to be better. And, for me as a player, like I said, man, I pride myself on my process and the way that I go about things, and you know, there’s some things that I got to do better. I mean, it’s flat out, and it’s in terms of my play on the field. You know, I felt like, like I said, we had a great week of practice. Preparation was there. [The] guys were dialed in.
“You saw how Ashton ran the ball today; you saw how the line played today. You saw how our guys were getting open and how our defense played inspired. How our crowd was electric throughout the game, you know, and if you look at the difference in the game, it was the turnovers, you know, so I mean, simply put, I got to be better.”
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