How Week 1 Will Test the Raiders' Newfound Identity

The Las Vegas Raiders' look to establish a new identity this season, primarily on the offensive side of the ball.

Fixing the Raiders' Woes on Offense

Following training camp, Geno Smith explained his mindset in Chip Kelly's offense. After years of struggling to move the ball and score consistently, Las Vegas now has a quarterback with the mindset and skill set to help take their offense to the next level.

Like most teams, the Raiders still need improvement on offense and are still working things out leading up to Week. However, Smith made it evident what his goal is this season.

"Man, it's great to score touchdowns, right? We want to score touchdowns. And I think obviously there's some things that we can improve on. There's a lot of things that we left out there, things that we have to get better at, but overall, man, I was very pleased with how we competed today. And I thought, again like you said man, we hit some long touchdowns, and we got some plays on their guys. We were all competing, and it felt really good to see that," Smith said.

The Raiders also struggled with turning the ball over, which is another area Smith can help the Raiders. Although Smith wants to push the ball down the field, he understands the importance of picking his spots wisely. He knows the Raiders must take care of the football.

"I mean yeah, we want to strike. We want to be able to have a big-play offense, and we have the weapons to do so. But it's about, like you said, taking what the defense gives me, understanding situations. Every time isn't a chance to go for the long ball. There's situations in the game where you've got to just manage the game and check it down if you need to," Smith said.

"But when we can strike and we can put points on the board, no matter if it's a 10-play drive or a one-play drive, it's about getting points on the board, and I want to push the envelope as much as I can. If they want to come up and give us deep shots, we've got the guys that will run past them. So, we've just got to make the right reads, make the right plays, and when we play right, we're a really good team."

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