Derek Carr calls Raiders’ loss to Saints ‘embarrassing’
NEW ORLEANS — Quarterback Derek Carr wasn’t about to beat around the bush.
Not after the Raiders imploded in a 24-0 loss to the Saints on Sunday at the Caesars Superdome, a beating that exposed new and old flaws and deepened the hole they have dug for themselves to frightening depths.
Even if Carr had tried, a face flushed with anger and frustration would have called the bluff.
No, what ended up spilling from his lips was a brutal sort of honesty that results from the bitter frustration of playing three hours of pitiful football.
“That right there is embarrassing,” Carr said. “That should never happen.”
Oh, but it did. And for all the anger it resulted in for the Raiders, there was just as much bewilderment.
Explaining how and why such a horrific showing could occur was fraught with perplexion. The list of culprits was far and wide. The failures were across the board — starting with a coaching staff that didn’t have its players ready to compete.
“We’re better than that,” coach Josh McDaniels said. “I apologize to Raider Nation for that performance. I own that. It’s my responsibility.”
The Raiders (2-5) can only hope the process of making sure it doesn’t happen again won’t be as complex. The reality is, they either find the answers or they can kiss their season goodbye.
“It’s disappointing, but we have to learn from it fast and be ready to go,” defensive end Maxx Crosby said. “That starts tomorrow.”
The issue they face is unlike any they have dealt with this season.
Their previous four defeats were the result of a handful of poor plays or mistakes that created a 14-point total margin of loss, but this one was a complete and utter teamwide failure.
A defense that has been slashed far too often this season was helpless against a Saints offense quarterbacked by Andy Dalton, who has been cast off by three teams in the past three years and is a stop-gap option until a better one emerges in New Orleans.
Dalton completed 22 of 30 passes for 229 yards and two touchdowns. He wasn’t sacked once, and the Raiders never got a hand on him.
But it gets worse. The Saints were missing wide receivers Michael Thomas and Jarvis Landry, yet the Raiders put up zero resistance while New Orleans marched up and down the field.
Alvin Kamara had 96 receiving yards, 62 rushing yards and three touchdowns. Do-it-all weapon Taysom Hill had 61 rushing yards
As bad as it was on defense, it was worse on offense. The offensive line, which had played well for three straight weeks, took a major step backward while getting punished, gashed and pushed around the entire game.
That left little running room for Josh Jacobs, who had rushed for more than 140 yards three consecutive games but managed just 43.
Carr was hurried and harassed while completing 15 of 26 passes for 101 yards and one interception. He was sacked three times and hit nine times. Not one of the eight drives he oversaw reached the Saints’ side of the field.
The Raiders were 5 of 14 on third down.
Davante Adams had one catch on five targets.
And in one ghastly sequence, the Raiders were turned away on a third and short at their 45-yard-line, then failed on a fake punt on the ensuing play. To make matters worse, they were called for a chop block penalty on the play to add 15 yards to their embarrassment.
The Saints then kicked a field goal for a 10-0 lead.
It was merely a snippet of a completely lost afternoon.
“Obviously that wasn’t good enough in any way, shape or form, and that’s my responsibility,” McDaniels said.
The Raiders could not have played any worse had they tried. That they arrived in New Orleans coming off three of their best games of the season and operating with a sense of urgency to get back in the playoff hunt made the dismal effort considerably more bewildering.
“You come out in a game like this, and you have to be ready to go from play one and clearly we were not ready,” Crosby said.
The bottom line is the Saints (3-5) jumped on them from the outset, and the Raiders were unable or unwilling to come up with an appropriate response.
“When a team comes out with high intensity like that, you have to not only match it but exceed it,” Crosby said. “We didn’t do that.”
Didn’t, indeed. And now a season that was hanging by a thread is in danger of going up in flames.
Contact Vincent Bonsignore at vbonsignore@reviewjournal.com. Follow @VinnyBonsignore on Twitter.
