Week 8 winners and losers: Coaching staff feeling the heat after another defeat

The weather might be getting colder but the seats are getting hotter in Las Vegas

The Week 8 27-20 defeat to the Kansas City Chiefs makes it four losses in a row for the Las Vegas Raiders and pushes the team’s record down to 2-6 and 0-3 in the AFC West. The optimism from the beginning of the season has quickly faded as we near the halfway point of the campaign and many have already begun shifting their attention to the NFL Draft.

There’s plenty of blame to go around in Las Vegas, starting at the top as the Raiders’ coaching staff leads off this week’s winners and losers list.

LOSER: Coaching Staff

Antonio Pierce, Luke Getsy and Patrick Graham could be listed individually but to save time, it’s easier just to lump them all together.

The Raiders had a chance to pull off the upset on Sunday, but the game management was terrible, the offense ran for just 33 yards and 1.6 yards per attempt, and the defense couldn’t get off the field as the Chiefs went 12-16 on third downs.

This was a complete failure by the coaching staff and, over the weekend, a report surfaced that several coaches are checked out, per Sportskeeda’s Tony Pauline.

“League sources have blasted offensive coordinator Luke Getsy and tell me he is responsible for the poor play of the unit he overseas,” Pauline wrote. “The inconsistency of quarterbacks Aidan O’Connell and Gardner Minshew has reminded many of Getsy’s past.”

“…The criticism of assistant coaches is not just directed at [Luke] Getsy but also extends to Marvin Lewis and Rob Ryan. Ryan, a once-celebrated defensive coordinator, is listed as the teams ‘Senior Defensive Assistant.’ Lewis, formerly the head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals from 2003 to 2015 who also coached with Pierce at Arizona State, is listed as Assistant Head Coach. Detractors close to the situation tell me both Ryan and Lewis have checked out and are basically just in Las Vegas to collect checks.”

WINNER: K’Lavon Chaisson

Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images

Chaisson made his first start of the season and had arguably his best game as a Raider. He had a solid showing as a pass-rusher with a couple of pressures, per Pro Football Focus, and made a few plays against the run. PFF credited him with a solid 64.5 run-defense grade and two defensive stops on the afternoon.

With the focus of the season shifting to the future and the young players on the roster, it was encouraging to see the 25-year-old put together a strong outing to provide some optimism moving forward.

LOSER: Jackson Powers-Johnson

While Powers-Johnson has had his moments this season, consistency continues to be his biggest issue. Las Vegas struggled to run the ball up the middle and the rookie was part of the problem, posting a sub-par 57.2 PFF run-blocking grade. On top of that, he drew two penalties—his eighth of the year—which makes it five weeks in a row he’s been flagged.

The second-round pick is still a key factor in the team’s future plans, but he needs to clean up his technique and become more steady to finish the campaign.

WINNER: DJ Turner

Turner only had four receptions for 28 yards but all of his catches were productive, scoring one of the team’s two touchdowns and turning two other grabs into first downs. On top of that, he had a good 17-yard punt return that, combined with a penalty, helped set the offense up with a short field which led to a field goal that made it a four-point game.

So, the wideout played a significant hand in putting up half of the Raiders’ points and may have locked up the punt return job moving forward.

LOSER: Divine Deablo

In fairness to Deablo, Kansas City was picking on the middle of the field against Las Vegas’ zone defense all game and he isn’t the only one to blame for that. However, Deablo was targeted seven times and gave up six receptions for 76 receiving yards, per PFF. All three figures were the most on the team as he earned an ugly 39.0 coverage grade.

WINNER: Tyree Wilson

Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images

Similar to Chaisson, Wilson was another silver lining from the Silver and Black’s defensive line on Sunday. The 2023 first-round pick managed to record a couple of pressures, including a sack on third down that led to one of the Chiefs’ two punts. Also, he had a strong outing as a run defender with two defensive stops and a 70.5 run-defense grade from PFF.

LOSER: Jordan Meredith

Meredith was also a big factor in Las Vegas’ lack of success in the ground game, specifically when trying to run up the middle. He posted a sub-par 51.4 run-blocking grade and struggled to contain Chris Jones. Granted, the latter is no easy task, but this was an opportunity for Meredith to prove himself as a starter and he ended up falling short of that goal.

WINNER: Jakobi Meyers

While the Raiders’ offense still has plenty of flaws, the team’s passing attack was much more efficient with Meyers back in the lineup. He finished with the most catches (six) on the team, the second-most yards (52) and made a nice catch on a back-shoulder throw to score his first touchdown since Week 3. Meyers also went two for two on his contested catch attempts to turn in a quality performance in his first game back from injury.