Following Monday night's 33-16 loss to the Dallas Cowboys, Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Geno Smith debuted what could be a sample of an early-2000s emo song: "Blame it on me."
Smith shouldered the criticism for the rough night, in which the offense never got off the ground, only finding pay dirt for the first time in 18 drives in the fourth quarter of a game that was already out of reach. By the end of his monologue, Smith's tongue was firmly planted in his cheek.
"You guys watch the film, I know we've got a lot of Monday morning quarterbacks who like to watch film and take screenshots and see where guys were open, so I'm sure you guys will see where the guys were open," Smith said. "I've just got to play better. I keep saying this. If something don't look right out there, blame it on me. If it don't look right, blame it on me. That's all you can do, blame it on me. If your kids mess up at school, blame it on me. Car break down on the way to work? Blame it on me."
Smith completed 27 of 42 passes for 238 yards with a touchdown and an interception for a 77.3 passer rating while taking four sacks.
The veteran quarterback is clearly frustrated following a fourth straight loss and falling in eight of their past nine following a Week 1 upset of the now 9-2 Patriots.
Smith hasn't played well, tossing his league-high-tying 13th INT on Monday night (Tua Tagovailoa), but the blame isn't solely on his shoulders. The offensive line, dealing with injuries, has been atrocious in both run and passing blocking. The weapons are absent, young or both. And the play calling from Chip Kelly is questionable -- to put it as kindly as possible.
Facing a Cowboys team that allowed 143 rush yards per game and 4.8 yards per carry entering the game, the Raiders didn't even attempt to establish a ground game. Vegas finished with 12 rushes for 27 yards (2.3 YPC). Four of those and a team-leading 14 yards came from Smith on three scrambles and a kneel. That means, on 58 offensive plays, the Raiders handed it off eight times for 13 yards (1.6 YPC). Ashton Jeanty carried the ball six times for seven yards and was stuffed for a fourth-quarter safety.
The offensive line has struggled to block all season, but the lack of even testing the Cowboys' revamped defense seems a faulty coaching decision. However, Pete Carroll defended the game plan.
"There's only one person to look at, it's me, because I was influencing the game plan," Carroll said of the offensive scheme. "I loved the way we were chunking them and we made big plays. I knew what was happening. Chip and I knew what was going on."'
"I don't really care about pleasing people with our run-pass mix," Carroll added. "I'm trying to move the football."
Coming from a man who, in his heyday in Seattle, insisted on pounding the rock, that's quite a statement.
The fact of the matter is that the Raiders haven't moved the football, regardless of whether they've thrown or run the ball. That 18-drive touchdown-less streak isn't even abnormal for this Raiders squad. Per NFL Research, Vegas is the only team to go at least 15 consecutive drives without a TD four different times in 2025.
That's bad offense. And everyone is to blame.
Whether or not Carroll and Kelly remain in charge in 2026, this offense desperately needs an infusion of talent everywhere. In the meantime, perhaps trying to use the No. 6 overall pick as more than just a swing-pass merchant might not be a bad place to start attempting to salvage what's left of the sinking 2025 season.
