What Chip Kelly Thinks About Raiders' Offense Without Jakobi Meyers

LAS VEGAS, Nev.--On Sunday against the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Las Vegas Raiders' offense averaged nearly six yards per play. The unit scored a season high, as quarterback Geno Smith had one of his best games since joining the Raiders. Still, it was not enough for the Raiders to win.

On Tuesday, Raiders Offensive Coordinator Chip Kelly explained a few of the decisions he made in the loss. Las Vegas' offense must continue to improve ahead of its Thursday night showdown against the Denver Broncos.

Watch Kelly Discuss Below

For a partial transcript, read below.

Q: Obviously, Jakobi Meyers is no longer in the picture, who does that create opportunity for?

Offensive Coordinator Chip Kelly: "It's got to be multiple guys. Jakobi [Meyers] was such an impact player for us, so I wish him the best. He was a great practice player, and I enjoyed coaching him. He's a heck of a kid, but we're going to have to – you got some other receivers, they're going to have to pick it up, and then you move on. The way you look at it sometimes as we have to approach it. It's like a player got hurt, he's out of a game, then what do you do? It's the next guy's up. So, [Tyler] Lockett and [Jack] Bech and Dont'e [Thornton Jr.], and those guys will have to step up, and we'll go from there."

Q: There has been significant criticism of the usage of Ashton Jeanty, do you think that criticism is fair, or do you think it's just much to do about nothing?

Coach Kelly: "I think he leads the league in rookie rushing in carries, so I think everything we do game plan-wise is about winning that game. So, it's not about how many gets, how many touches. Maybe some fantasy people are a little disturbed, but we're not coaching for fantasy people, so we're just trying to win games.

So, I mean, he's our number one back, and when we're running the ball, he's running the football. So, I think you saw him a little bit in the pass game the other day, and he's starting to evolve in that and trying to get him more involved in that way. So, he's continuing to grow, he's doing a heck of a job, really excited that we have him."

Las Vegas Raiders OC ChipKelly | Darrell Craig Harris, On SI

Q: Trading Jakobi Meyers for draft picks -- does that mean this is a rebuilding season?

Coach Kelly: "I have nothing. I'm concerned with Tuesday afternoon as a coordinator, so those decisions are all made, those are Pete [Carroll] and Spy [John Spytek] and I've got great faith in what those guys are doing. So, they just told us this morning, and our plan adjusts offensively for not having Jakobi [Meyers] in the plan against Denver, and that's it.

Las Vegas Raiders WR Jakobi Meyers | Darrell Craig Harris, On SI

So, I don't look any farther than that. We're really good at controlling what you can control. So, as a player, they control what they control. As an assistant coach, you control what you can control, and then the rest of it follows up. But I don't have any aspirations to be a general manager, so I'm not looking at any of that stuff."

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