LAS VEGAS — This was the type of miserable loss the Las Vegas Raiders believed they would no longer have to endure.
Sunday’s 36-22 defeat at the hands of the previously winless Carolina Panthers was humiliating. And as things got out of hand, like when the Panthers took a 33-7 lead early in the fourth quarter, coach Antonio Pierce felt some of his players gave up.
“As the game went on, I think there were definitely some individuals that made business decisions,” Pierce said Sunday, “and we’ll make business decisions going forward as well.”
That’s a concerning feeling for a coach to have so early in the season, but it was not unwarranted.
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Before Sunday, the Panthers hadn’t led in a game since they beat the Atlanta Falcons last December. They lost their first two games of the season by an average of 30 points. Arguably their best player, defensive tackle Derrick Brown, was lost for the season in Week 1. They benched quarterback Bryce Young, whom they drafted No. 1 overall in 2023, in favor of 36-year-old backup Andy Dalton after the youngster was booed mercilessly by his home fans in Week 2.
That’s the team the Raiders (1-2) let come into Allegiant Stadium and run up the score.
Several Las Vegas players were asked after the game if they noticed any teammates not giving full effort.
“It’s tough for me to identify that,” receiver Davante Adams said. “I’m not sure.”
”I don’t know,” defensive end Maxx Crosby said. “It just wasn’t good enough. That was a bad loss.”
The final result was a 14-point loss, but the game wasn’t nearly that close. With the Raiders trailing 21-7 at halftime, the home crowd had already seen enough to start raining down boos.
“We got our ass whooped,” Pierce said. “I would’ve booed us, too.”
🔴📽️ Live: Antonio Pierce and Gardner Minshew address the media from Allegiant Stadium. https://t.co/7x9MMbUOCP
— Las Vegas Raiders (@Raiders) September 22, 2024
The offense was horrid.
Offensive coordinator Luke Getsy called a terrible game. In the first half, he was determined to establish the run after it became clear the Raiders didn’t have the personnel to do so. Neither Zamir White nor Alexander Mattison could get anything going on the ground as the Raiders averaged just 3.4 yards per carry and were limited to 55 rushing yards.
The offensive line couldn’t open up holes in the run game and couldn’t pass protect. The unit allowed three sacks and six quarterback hits, and things could get worse depending on the severity of the knee and ankle injuries that knocked right tackle Thayer Munford out of the game.
Quarterback Gardner Minshew was frequently off target. Adams had uncharacteristic drops. It was a lot of bad all around.
Through three quarters, the offense managed just seven points against a Panthers defense that had allowed 36.5 points per game through two contests. Outside of their late resurgence against the Baltimore Ravens, the offense hasn’t been consistent all season.
What could the solution be? “I’m not sure, man,” Minshew said.
Everything’s coming up @Panthers right now
📺: #CARvsLV on CBS/Paramount
📱: https://t.co/waVpO909ge pic.twitter.com/nYyeTJpFr0— NFL (@NFL) September 22, 2024
In the fourth quarter, Minshew was replaced by backup Aidan O’Connell. Minshew wasn’t awful — he completed 18 of 28 passes for 214 yards, one touchdown and one interception — but he has left the door open for O’Connell to play at some point. On just one drive, the second-year quarterback completed 9 of 12 passes for 82 yards and a touchdown.
“The game was kind of out of hand,” Pierce said. “We’ve got two quarterbacks that battled. (We decided to) let the other guy go in there and see what he can do.”
Whether or not Minshew keeps the job moving forward, substantial changes will be needed if the offense doesn’t improve. The unit’s issues go far beyond whoever’s throwing passes.
“We’ve got to do something to fix it,” Pierce said. “If it’s to throw to open up the run, (change) the scheme, (change the) players, coaching — I’ve said it before, I’m not going to sit here and just keep watching it. … That’s not us. That’s not the identity. That’s not what I want it to look like.”
Meanwhile, the Raiders defense was just as pitiful.
The pass rush was nonexistent. The run defense remains poor, and Carolina running back Chuba Hubbard took advantage to the tune of 114 yards on the ground plus five catches for 55 yards and a touchdown.
The secondary had a series of costly breakdowns and was picked apart by Dalton, who completed 70.3 percent of his passes for 319 yards and three touchdowns. His favorite target on the day was receiver Diontae Johnson, who had eight catches for 122 yards and a touchdown.
The tackling at all three levels wasn’t up to par, the third-down defense was lousy and the red zone defense was dreadful.
The Panthers offense, which had scored just 13 total points through two games, needed just three drives to surpass that total against the Raiders. The Las Vegas defense had been more reliable than the offense, but it has fallen well short of the lofty standard it set last season. And with defensive end Malcolm Koonce out for the year and safety Marcus Epps suffering a significant knee injury on Sunday, it may be difficult for the unit to bounce back.
“A lot of people have to look in the mirror,” Crosby said. “It’s a wake-up call.”
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At first glance, it’s hard to imagine the Raiders team that pulled off a dramatic 10-point, fourth-quarter comeback to topple the Ravens on the road last week was capable of such a poor performance. Looking back, however, it’s something to which the fan base is accustomed.
Last year, there was the 3-0 shutout loss at home to the Joshua Dobbs and Nick Mullens-led Minnesota Vikings. In 2022, the Raiders were upended at home by first-time coach Jeff Saturday and the Indianapolis Colts. The Raiders made the playoffs in 2021, but they could’ve been a higher seed if not for a road loss to the four-win New York Giants. Back in 2020, the Raiders got throttled 43-6 by the Atlanta Falcons, who went on to win just four games that season.
The Raiders have had at least one baffling loss — and often more — every season since 2020, when they relocated to Las Vegas. But that was supposed to change under Pierce. While he was the interim coach for that loss to the Vikings last year, he was at the helm for a historic 63-21 win over the Los Angeles Chargers four days later and a convincing upset of the eventual Super Bowl-champion Kansas City Chiefs the following week.
The 2024 season started with a deflating 22-10 loss to the Chargers, but those bad vibes were quickly washed away with the victory over the Ravens. Pierce made sure to give the Panthers plenty of respect this week, suggesting the Raiders had their “best practice in a long time” Thursday and were ready to “carry that on into Sunday.” But Pierce’s team failed to do so, and this now feels like a team headed in the wrong direction yet again.
The Raiders weren’t pegged by many to contend this year. Experts thought the defense would be stout, but expectations for the offense were low with Getsy and a journeyman quarterback in Minshew at the helm. In his first year working with Pierce, general manager Tom Telesco took a patient approach to building the roster. They made a big splash by signing defensive tackle Christian Wilkins this offseason but were otherwise conservative, which is why they still have over $27.7 million in cap space according to Over the Cap. This was likely always going to be a transition year.
Nonetheless, an embarrassment of this magnitude remains inexcusable. Afterward, Adams decried the Raiders’ lack of consistency.
“It’s got to become a part of your identity,” the veteran receiver said. “It’s got to be who you show up as every day. We haven’t established that as a team.”
The Raiders haven’t offered us much reason to believe they will.
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(Photo: Kirby Lee / Imagn Images)
