The Raiders’ offense was a mess in Friday night’s preseason opener at Minnesota, and quarterback Matt Schaub knows he’s going to get a large share of the blame.
Schaub played three series with Oakland’s first-string offense, and all three ended in punts, without a single first down.
“We went out and we didn’t play near to expectations or our standard and we need to go back and figure out how to play that way next week,” Schaub said after the game.
Schaub’s backup, second-round rookie Derek Carr, wasn’t much better. Carr threw an interception on his first series, and all the rest of his series ended in punts as well.
Not until third-string quarterback Matt McGloin came in did the Raiders start to move the ball. On his first series McGloin drove the Raiders into field goal range (although the kick was blocked), and McGloin later ran for a 10-yard touchdown to give the Raiders their only points of their 10-6 loss. (Oakland failed on a two-point conversion attempt after McGloin’s touchdown.)
Raiders coach Dennis Allen admitted his team didn’t look good.
“Disappointed in the way that we played. I thought we’d come out and be sharper than that and execute better than that,” Allen said.
The Raiders need to execute better than they did on Friday night.