The more things change, the more they stay the same. At least for the Silver & Black.
Despite regime changes, that include a myriad of general managers, head coaches, play callers, and rosters, the red zone remains a dead zone for the Las Vegas Raiders. Current GM John Spytek, head coach Pete Carroll, and offensive coordinator Chip Kelly are the latest trio to experience the Black Hole known as red zone woes.
“Allergic to the end zone” isn’t hyperbole when it comes to Las Vegas. Through five games so far, the Raiders have made 14 red zone trips and scored a touchdown only five of those such occasions. That’s a 35.7 percent conversion rate which gives the Silver & Black the 31st ranking out of 32 teams. Only the New York Giants are worse going 6 of 19 in terms of red zone touchdowns for a 31.6 percent conversion rate.
The Philadelphia Eagles are atop the league with 13 red zone trips and 12 touchdowns scored (92.3 percent) and the Miami Dolphins are second with 10 touchdowns scored on 13 trips (76.9 percent), in comparison.
Not the kind of return on investment the Raiders expect from Kelly who reportedly is earning an average of $6 million per season to be the offensive play caller.
Kelly, who is the architect of Las Vegas’ offense, is heralded for creativity and putting his players in the best possible position to succeed. The results so far haven’t been kind and contrast to the reputation Kelly had heading into this particular gig. Coaching and player execution are supposed to be in sync and that just hasn’t happened for the Raiders.
The offensive line struggled mightily in Week 2 and 3 before improving the last two games. And running back Ashton Jeanty became more productive as a result. But the key cog in the offensive equation — quarterback Geno Smith — is anything but productive as the 35-year-old leads the league in interceptions thrown (nine) to go along with six touchdowns, 1,176 yards passing, and a 65 percent completion rate (106 of 163). Smith is the fourth most sacked quarterback with 16, just three shy of NFL leader and Tennessee Titans rookie Cam Ward (19).
Looking closer at red zone performance, in the space between the opponent’s 20-yard line and the end zone, Smith is 9 of 21 (42.86 completion percentage) for 55 with four touchdowns to one interception, according to Pro Football Reference.
That lone pick was a pass that was deflected by the Indianapolis’ Grover Stewart that was intercepted by Laiatu Latu at the Colts 12-yard line.
Two of Smith’s touchdown throws in the red zone went to Jeanty (both against the Chicago Bears in Week 4). Jeanty, meanwhile, has been a slow roller in the money zone, too. He’s carried the rock nine times inside the 20 for 12 yards and a touchdown, according to Pro Football Reference.
And it’s not only involving Jeanty more in the passing attack, but Smith taking advantage of the underneath throws, the continued improvement of the offensive line, Kelly dialing up the plays, that’ll breath life into the Raiders’ flatlined red zone performance. The return of starting tight ends Brock Bowers and Michael Mayer boosts the offense, however, it was only Mayer who practiced earlier in the week.
Carroll for one, wants to run the ball more and the way Las Vegas head coach talked about that, there appeared to be a shot over Kelly’s bow.
“Yeah, we got to run the football better, more, and we’re going to continue to work at it and see if we can continue to bring it to life. The running game has looked well in order right now. We needed to get more of them. That’s part of it. That’s just mixing football. That’s how you go, you do it,” Carroll explained when asked how to get Smith into rhythm “We don’t want to ever rely on the quarterback having to do the whole show and sitting in a shotgun, throw the football. I never coached that way. And so, we have to mix our stuff so that we can use our play action game and make sure that we’re perimetering the game with all the ways that you can, which we have. And I was pleased with how we saw Ashton come to life on the edge. He made some nice plays and just stretched the defense and put some threat in them with that.
“And then we got to make sure that we’re calling all the best stuff in the situations. I mean, he’s (Smith) not calling the plays. We got to call them, and we got to make sure and get him in the right spots and give him the best chance to stay out of harm’s way. And part of that is really controlling the game with what we do up front in the running game.”
How far back does the Raiders’ red zone woes go? To be perfectly honest with you, it’s to the point where this piece has a high probability of becoming evergreen and we talk about this again in 2026.
To find a Raiders team in the top 10 in red zone performance, you’d look at the 2017 group that had Todd Downing as the offensive coordinator. That year, team went 20 of 34 in the money zone and the 58.8 percent conversion rate good for seventh in the league.
The 2014 Raiders featured the top-ranked red zone offense. Offensive coordinator Greg Olson dialed up a group that went 21 of 29 in the red zone with an impressive 72.4 percent conversion rate.
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