Plenty of blame to spread around for Raiders fall
ALAMEDA — A season that started with the highest expectations in Oakland is ending with a losing record and many questions about how things went so wrong for the Raiders in 2017.
With an emerging star at quarterback in Derek Carr returning with most of the major pieces from one of the league’s most dynamic offenses and some high draft picks to boost what was an opportunistic defense, many expected the Raiders to build on last year’s 12-win campaign and become a contender to challenge New England in the AFC.
Instead, the offense took a major step back after a switch at coordinator from Bill Musgrave to Todd Downing, the draft picks never really contributed on a defense that was poor until a late-season change in coordinator, and the Raiders (6-9) head into Sunday’s season finale at the Los Angeles Chargers with questions about how much change is necessary to right the ship in Oakland.
“When we show flashes of what we can be, then everyone is like, ‘Oh, there it is,”’ Carr said Wednesday. “But then we weren’t consistent enough. We’re not consistent enough all year, especially in the details of our assignments. That’s one area that has to and will be cleaned up.”
Downing is expected to be replaced after overseeing an offense that regressed, and the changes on the coaching staff could run even deeper with coach Jack Del Rio’s status even in question despite signing a four-year extension last offseason.
Del Rio praised Downing on Wednesday but there still might need to be a change.
“A lot of things have gone on in a negative direction. But I do know the guy is super bright,” Del Rio said. “He’s going to be a really good coach in this league. I believe in him. Those are not things that people want to hear right now because the reality is we’ve underperformed offensively this
year. So naturally there’s going to be those kinds of questions.”
That the Raiders would be facing these types of questions in Week 17 rather than gearing up for a playoff run seemed far-fetched way back in September when they opened the season with two straight wins.
But the problems that
arose during the four-game losing streak that followed and then again during a late three-game skid that officially ended the team’s playoff hopes even before Monday night’s 19-10 loss in Philadelphia were put in place far earlier.
Despite a 12-4 record last year, Del Rio decided to make a change at offensive coordinator from Musgrave to Downing. The hope was Downing’s strong relationship with Carr would lead to
even more improvement from the quarterback who was given a $125 million contract in the offseason.
Del Rio then decided to stick with defensive coordinator Ken Norton Jr. despite struggles on that side of the ball. Former Chargers coordinator John Pagano was brought in as a defensive assistant to improve the communication on the back end but that didn’t materialize and Norton was fired after 10 games.