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Raiders vs Chargers: Geno Smith promises ‘extremely hard’ review after NFL defeat

Geno Smith and Pete Carroll on the Raiders vs Chargers

Written by Ben Miller
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Raiders vs Chargers: Geno Smith promises ‘extremely hard’ review after NFL defeat

Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Geno Smith says he has “got to learn” from a forgettable performance as his team lost their first home game of the NFL season 20-9 to the Los Angeles Chargers.

Smith’s costly mistake led to a Chargers field goal on the first offensive play of a game the 34-year-old finished with 180 passing yards on 43 attempts, three interceptions, and three sacks.

“This game is all about learning from your experiences,” reflected Smith, who completed 24 of his 34 passes for 362 yards and a touchdown on his first start in the position for the Raiders as Pete Carroll’s side won their opener 20-13 at the New England Patriots eight days earlier.

“I’ve had similar games in the past where the ball has bounced in an unfortunate way or I haven’t made the best decision on a given play or the best throw.

“That’s a part of the game but you can never just say you can flush it – you’ve got to learn from it. I’m going to be super-hard on myself; extremely hard on myself, because that’s all I know.”

Las Vegas Raiders vs Los Angeles Chargers: Carroll backs Smith

Carroll called the defeat “a real missed opportunity in general” but predicted Smith would be “right back at it”.

“He had a lot of time back there to look and see,” said Carroll. “He didn’t like what he saw underneath and gave those guys some shots down the field, which he’s tremendous at doing.

“I’m not supporting some of the choices, there – I need to see what happened, though. I need to see if he had other options.

“He’ll feel more confident as he goes out again. We were impatient with the throwing game and that’s why the ball went down the field so far.

“I don’t think we needed to do that. I don’t want to talk too much about the specifics of that until I see the film.”

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Geno Smith praises Raiders fans

Smith and Carroll remained upbeat about the Raiders’ prospects. “I’m going to find ways to get better from this film and we’ll be better as a team, as well,” said the two-time Pro Bowl selection.

“I don’t think anything was a surprise out there. We executed well at some times and other times we didn’t.

“We had a 21-play drive and ended with three points. You want to make sure you’re scoring touchdowns on teams like this.

“They’re a championship team and we’re going to have championship teams every single week. We’ve just got to focus, get better, execute and play our game.

“We’ll find ways to be more efficient and look towards the future. We’ve got a lot of good things ahead of us – we’ve just got to work at it.

“The atmosphere was great. A Monday night game – first home game of the season – it was awesome.

“I really wanted to get a win for the fans and put on a better showing. We’ve got to own home field, make the proper adjustments and get right back to it.”

Pete Carroll: Las Vegas Raiders ‘will get better’

“We didn’t play well enough,” accepted Carroll, who was appointed on January 24. “We came out of it OK, in terms of getting banged up, so I’m happy about that.

“I really like what’s going on with the defense. There are so many ways we’ll get better. We’ve got to go back to work quickly.”

The Raiders return to action on Sunday (13:00 ET / 10:00 PT / 18:00 BST) at the Washington Commanders, who suffered their first defeat at the Green Bay Packers on Friday.

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