Inside the Raiders: Blowout loss to Falcons has fans worried — and rightly so

It was so bad it’s hard to know where to start.

And it could have been worse. If the Raiders’ defense hadn’t kept forcing Younghoe Koo to kick field goals — five in all — how many points would the Atlanta Falcons have scored?

As it is, a 43-6 loss is a solar plexus punch for anyone who dared to dream this Raiders team would emerge from its near-miss of a Kansas City sweep resolute in the belief that a march to the playoffs was inevitable.

My own prognosis hasn’t wavered since August. The Raiders could be good enough on offense to be a nine or 10-win team if their defense could come up with enough stops to make it happen.

For one week, that hypothesis was set on its ear. The Raiders actually weren’t bad on defense against the Falcons. It was the offense, coached by Jon Gruden and led by Derek Carr, that imploded against an opponent that had been sliced and diced with regularity en route to a 3-7 record at kickoff.

Denver played without a viable quarterback and lost by 28 points to a team that had two losses on its record. The Raiders played with Carr coming in at the top of his game against a team with seven losses and were blown out by 37.

The CBS pregame show included happy talk of Gruden’s connection with Carr and Carr’s colorful and entertaining audibles. The Raiders close loss to the Chiefs seemed to enhance their reputation instead of diminishing it.

Three hours later, the Raiders were 6-5 and on the outside looking in on the playoff picture. Aside from the four division winners, three teams make the playoffs. Cleveland is 8-3 while Miami and Indianapolis are 7-4 and Baltimore is 6-4.

The Raiders still have to play Miami and Indianapolis, so it’s not a lost cause. But forgive a large portion of Raider Nation for its collective skepticism. They’ve seen this act before, and not just in last year’s 34-3 loss to the New York Jets that began a 1-5 finish after a 6-4 start.

In Jack Del Rio’s last year in 2017, the Raiders coming off a rare playoff year were physically brutalized in a way that far exceeded the final score of 27-10 against Washington. They never recovered. It was the game that started the process of Gruden coming back to Oakland.

I’ve always thought the worst game for the Raiders in Gruden’s return was a 34-3 loss to the 49ers on a Thursday night when they made Nick Mullens look like Joe Montana. But that team could be forgiven because of its lack of talent. To a lesser extent, you could say the same thing about last year’s team when the slide started against the Jets.

The Falcons loss is a new low in Gruden Part II. It challenges the coaching staff and roster to prove the first 10 games against tough opposition were nothing more than a prelude to another crash and burn.

Yes, the Raiders were missing players, but it was a more normal week of practice than the weeks leading in to Tampa Bay or the second Kansas City game. Their offense was efficient, powerful and explosive, and the Falcons came in giving up a league worst 6.4 yards per play. The Raiders gained just 243 yards and turned the ball over five times.

Carr questioned the Raiders’ practice habits during the week and called the result “trash.” Gruden said it was his fault and apologized to the fan base.

In the COVID-19 environment, the Raiders will have no chance to get back home, look each other in the eye do any in-person soul searching. With the virus raging nationwide, the NFL decreed all teams would shut down their facilities Monday and Tuesday. Corrections will be made virtually.

“This is unheard of kind of stuff. It’s pretty interesting that we can’t go in the building,” Carr said. “I understand they’re trying to make us and our families as safe as possible and we appreciate that. But as a team, especially after something like this, you want to get back to work. You don’t want that taste in your mouth for a couple days.”

Carr then tried to look at the bright side, surmising that getting away from each other for a couple of days may not be a bad thing.

Assessing the biggest points of concern with five games to play:

Where was the block party?

The offensive line has caught bouquets all season, and deservedly so because of all the moving parts and its ability to protect Carr and block for Josh Jacobs and Devontae Booker. But if any proof was needed that Carr requires an impeccable front to thrive, it was supplied against Atlanta.

Kolton Miller had a big holding penalty at the 3. Brandon Parker struggled after doing some solid work. Carr wasn’t anywhere near the smooth operator he was against the Chiefs both times and pretty much against everyone else. Jacobs had no room to run. Gripe about the play-calling all you want, but without good blocking, there are no good play calls. With good blocking, a toss sweep on fourth-and-1 works just fine.

The Raiders won’t get Richie Incognito back this season, but right tackle Trent Brown could make an appearance Wednesday at practice. If he’s not ready for the Jets, the last quarter of the season could be in play.

Whatever your feelings are about Brown and how much time he’s missed, they need him.

Penalty problems

One week after giving up four first downs by penalty to Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs, the Raiders gave up five more first downs by penalty to the Falcons. They had 11 penalties for 141 yards, and some of them were killers.

Holding, illegal hands to the face, pass interference and a dubious roughing-the-kicker call on Dallin Leavitt were lowlights. The Leavitt penalty erased a missed field goal and led to a touchdown.

The way the Raiders’ offense is structured, down-and-distance is huge. Penalties throw them off schedule. The Raiders defense simply isn’t good enough to give up free first downs and get away with it. And special teams penalties can be game-changers.

A team that looked reasonably sharp and disciplined was anything but that against Atlanta and that’s how you lose to teams with inferior records, let alone teams with good records.

The 2019 example

The comparison with last year’s finish is unavoidable, and “rightly so,” as Gruden said.

It’s the winless Jets (0-11) on the road and then a three-game homestand against Indianapolis, the Los Angeles Chargers and Miami with the regular season finale at Denver.

The way the Raiders looked against the Chiefs and through much of the first 10 games, getting to 10 wins seemed reasonable. The Atlanta game, more so because of the way the Raiders played rather than the loss, makes that number look like a serious challenge.

As much as Raiders fans are proud of their history, so much of it is ancient in terms of the glory days. Recent history has been far more unkind.

Leave it to the eternally optimistic Hunter Renfrow to see the silver and black lining.

“I think it’s a good opportunity to go to the Jets,” Renfrow said. “They kind of derailed our season last year, so what an opportunity for us to go there and get some redemption.”

Redemption won’t arrive until the Raiders reach the playoffs. Until then, fumigating the stench of what happened in Atlanta will have to do.