Raider Nation: Is It Time to Panic or Stay Patient?

HENDERSON, Nev.—The Las Vegas Raiders (1-1) are preparing to travel to the nation's capital for a crucial game this week, and with 15 regular-season games remaining, the excitement is at an all-time high.

After a disappointing Monday Night loss to their AFC West rival, the Chargers, the latest episode of the Las Vegas Raiders Insider Podcast explores whether patience or panic is warranted in Raider Nation.

You can watch the entire podcast below:

Pete Carroll is not one to sugarcoat anything, and his first loss as the head of the Raiders would not allow him to be any different.

Las Vegas Raiders Pete Carroll | Darrell Craig Harris, On SI

Pete Carroll spoke after a review of the film of the loss to the Chargers, and below is a partial transcript of what he said.

Head Coach Pete Carroll

Q: Do you have an update in regards to Jackson Powers-Johnson? Do you anticipate him practicing this week after missing out?

Head Coach Pete Carroll: "I would think he would be, but I don't know that for sure. Haven't been given the word yet, but he's had plenty of time now, so he should be able to be all right."

Q: As for Brock Bowers, do you expect him to ramp up a little bit more this week in terms of at practice?

Coach Carroll: "He only practiced on Friday, the Friday practice, and I think you could see we were just trying to get him out there and get him playing, and he looked okay, and so we got to him in the second half more. But we really need him. We need him being active and throughout the game."

Q: You had mentioned some of the decision making by Geno Smith on some of the interceptions. When you went back on and looked at the tape, did that sort of affirm what you thought?

Coach Carroll: "Yeah, he took shots, put the ball up and tried to give the guy a chance to make the play, Dont'e [Thornton Jr.] and Jakobi [Meyers], and they defended him well. They were back there. In retrospect, it looked like it was really difficult to be hopeful, and he was trying to make something happen."

Q: When you have a quarterback that's as talented as Geno Smith, who has some gunslinger in him, how do you balance taking risks but also being cautious, because it's almost a duplicitous role?

Coach Carroll: "Yeah, well that's experience with the guy and trust. I know what he was thinking, and I know the shot that he took, and he threw a ball that was catchable, possibly, but it was a challenge. And so a couple of them came up -- they made their plays, and they did a nice job with it. So I'm not going to slow him down. Taking the shots instinctively are there for him. But we will evaluate, and if there's a better option, let's not give them their opportunity to get the football from us."

Q: The challenge of a short week going across the country?

Coach Carroll: "Yeah, it's happening really fast. So as soon as I'm out of here, I'm on the run, and we all are. Tomorrow in the meetings, we'll do a Monday and Wednesday meeting schedule. So we'll get through 'Tell the Truth,' meaning we'll talk about the game, then we'll flip it around, and away we go on the Commanders. We won't just drop this game. There's too much to learn. We're such a new team that there's so many things to learn. We played a championship game against these guys last night, and they're worthy of that, and we're worthy of that. And in that game, a couple holding penalties, a couple throws here, a couple missing the deep ball, the 60 yarder. Those are enough to lose a football game in a championship matchup. And that's what happened, I thought. And so a lot of respect to the Chargers. They got a good club, and they're going to win a lot of games. We had our [opportunities], and that's what's frustrating about it. We needed to not fumble a snap in the red zone. We needed to not to get two holding penalties in the red zone. And we have a lot of confidence in our team, but it's when you make it that hard, you're likely going to be behind it. And so that's kind of what happened."

Q: Were you aware before the game that Tom Brady was going to be in the booth, in the coaches booth last night, or was that something that just happened?

Coach Carroll: "Yeah, I think he was there in another game too. Was there a game in preseason or something like that? Yeah, 49ers."

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