Tag: slow start

Josh Jacobs calls out Raiders teammates for starting ‘stiff and dull’ and ‘coast a little too much’

Josh Jacobs calls out Raiders teammates for starting ‘stiff and dull’ and ‘coast a little too much’

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Despite the Raiders defense only giving up one scoring drive to Washington in the first three quarters Sunday, the Raiders still entered the fourth quarter behind.

They also didn’t find the end zone until the fourth quarter. It was clearly the return of the slow start for the Raiders, something that plagued them over the early part of this season and dating back to last season.

At some point this season, it seemed like the Raiders had finally put those slow starts behind them. But over the past few weeks, those games increasingly look like a frustrating reminder of what this team is capable of, but rarely actually accomplishes.

“It’s definitely very frustrating and really annoying really just starting slow every week. I feel like it’s taking too long to be who we are,” said running back Josh Jacobs, who scored the Raiders’ only TD with ten minutes left in the game.

“I kind of voiced that a little bit today,” Jacobs continued, noting that he aired out his frustrations with his teammates.

“I just kind of come to the offensive line and to the receivers and tell them we got to be who we are or who we think we are and we got to have some juice and some energy and some type of swag to us. I feel like we just come in stiff and dull in games sometimes and I don’t feel like it should take somebody having a big play for everybody to take to that mindset of wanting to be on that. So, that’s just kind of where I was at with it, Kirby [Wilson] used to tell me all the time to inspire the guys with how you play and the effort you put on the field and that’s what I try to do, but some games will just be like, I don’t know.”

Sunday’s slow start was among the worst they’ve had this season. And that’s saying a lot.

The first quarter saw the Raiders with just one first down compared to seven for Washington. And the time of possession was expectedly lopsided with Washington having the ball more than twice as long as the Raiders.

By halftime, the Raiders had a net 120 yards of offense and had converted just two third downs. They managed to get their first points on the board with 08 seconds left in the second quarter on a 52-yard Daniel Carlson field goal.

The big play Jacobs could be talking about is the 34-yard completion to Foster Moreau late in the third quarter. It was Moreau’s first — and ultimately his only — catch in the game. It set up a field goal to make it a one-point game.

Their next drive saw Carr connect with Hunter Renfrow for 28 yards and then DeSean Jackson for 14 yards. A pass interference by LB Cole Holcomb in the end zone covering Renfrow put the Raiders in first and goal from the one. And Jacobs finished it off by breaking a couple of tackles at the line and breaking out left for the touchdown.

So, what does Jacobs think is the answer to solve the Raiders’ slow starts?

“I think it’s just coming in confident in the game,” said Jacobs. “Not trying to be out of your character, really, just executing the plays and what is called. And just being in the right spots. Whether it’s offense, defense, or special teams. It’s being in the right spot and when the time comes to make a play, make a play. I think it’s very simple really, honestly. I think it’s a mindset. We kind of just coast a little too much. That’s definitely frustrating.”

Jacobs criticized his own play as well, saying he ran the wrong way on a couple of routes and runs, so he isn’t removing himself from the need to improve. And he’s certainly not wrong to call out his teammates as well. Hopefully, some coaches were in earshot as well and take his words to heart.

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Chiefs LB Anthony Hitchens shares thoughts on defense’s slow start

Anthony Hitchens spoke on the #Chiefs’ poor run defense and how it has also impacted the team’s ability to rush the passer. | from @TheJohnDillon

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A tough Week 2 performance for the Kansas City Chiefs has them at 1-1 heading into their matchup against the Chargers. Their offense has kept pace with the prolific production of years past, but has also faltered in crunch time due to lacking play from the defense on the other side. With several key games ahead and the meat of their schedule looming, improvement is needed to remain relevant through January.

Kansas City needs as much help as they can get against the run, which will start with better play from their linebacker corps which has disappointed in the first two matchups of the season. Led by veteran Anthony Hitchens, the middle of the Chiefs’ defense is reeling after a bad game against 2019 MVP Lamar Jackson. The group aims to improve against Justin Herbert and Los Angeles on Sunday.

Hitchens spoke to the media ahead of Thursday’s practice, telling reporters that the necessity of stopping the run is a function of the run-first blueprint that has become key to beating Kansas City for less accomplished teams.

“In order to keep our offense off the field and Pat [Patrick Mahomes], you want to run the ball, you want to kill the time and milk it and make it a long quarter,” Hitchens explained. “That’s what teams are deciding to do and the only thing we can do right now is try to get better at it. Obviously, we haven’t been playing our best in our run defense, but we haven’t in years past and we flipped it around. So, it’s just going to be another challenge for us. We get out there early, do walkthroughs before practice and just try to get it right. We’ve got a bunch of right guys; we’re working at it. All you can do is work at it. We won’t know if it worked or not until Sunday, so we just keep working at it and keep improving.”

As the quarterback of the Chiefs’ defense, Hitchens is in a unique position to be the primary force behind getting things back on track. He went on to layout the gameplan moving forward, emphasizing that communication will be key, and that it all starts with a steady pass rush.

“We’ve got some different guys in different positions. We’ve got younger guys playing,” Hitchens said of the early performances. “T-5 [Tyrann Mathieu] didn’t really play. He was our communication guy on the back end the first game and he [came] back. We’ve also got a couple of new guys like J [Jarran] Reed upfront, we’ve got Nick Bolton playing a lot of snaps. So, the timing and culture and guys just echoing things and feeding off each other and things like that.

“We’ll get that down, that’s my least worry for me as a player. As a defense, I think our main focus is right now, stopping this run, making it 2nd and long, 3rd and long so we can let our rushers rush. We don’t have many sacks. The reason why is because it’s 3rd and 2 and 1st or 3rd and 3, they can run or pass. We just have to correct that aspect so we can let Chris [Jones] and Frank [Clark] just takeoff and sack the quarterback.”

Under Hitchens’ guidance, Kansas City’s defense is officially in a boom or bust scenario that could dominate the Chiefs’ discourse all season. He has the influence and know-how to help fix the glaring issues on defense. He is also on a contract that necessitates that he steps up in a big way for the team this year. A big game against Los Angeles could prove to be the turnaround fans are hoping for after having their hopes of a perfect season crushed last week at M&T Bank Stadium.

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McCarthy, Cowboys lament mistakes in loss: ‘We’re not a clean football team right now’

The Cowboys coach and players looked to their own errors as a key factor in their one-score loss to Seattle in Week 3.

The fear coming into Sunday’s game in Seattle was that Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson would continue his early MVP campaign with a lights-out air assault on a shaky Dallas secondary.

Although Wilson did notch five touchdown throws- and missed out on a sixth only because of a boneheaded gaffe by his young wide receiver- Cowboys players and coaches chose instead to pin the 38-31 loss squarely on themselves. There were some big numbers in the Week 3 contest, to be sure, but it was the little things that doomed Dallas at CenturyLink Field.

It was a day that saw one quarterback toss five touchdowns and the other rack up 472 yards. It was a day that featured four 100-yard receivers: one team’s steady-handed star found the end zone three times; the other team had a two-score surprise performance from one of its benchwarmers. A defensive end who was out of football for five years had three sacks. Those kinds of highlight-reel narratives normally tell the story of a game.

But the moments that stick in the collective craw of Cowboys fans this week will be not the big body blows, but the barrage of paper cuts. The missed extra point. The blocked PAT. The muffed kick return (after a Seattle touchdown) that put the offense on its own one-yard line and promptly turned into a safety.

“Those three plays there make it hard to say it was a good day. We were backed up; that was a big play in the game. Obviously gave them momentum,” coach Mike McCarthy told reporters in his postgame remarks. “It was obviously a nine-point swing right there. We’ve got to do a better job. I think, like anything in the game of football, you need a return on investment on what you emphasize. We spend a tremendous amount of time on handling the football, and we need to do a much better job in that area.”

“Everybody’s known for something,” McCarthy said, “and we will always start and stop with the ability to take care of the football and take it away. We haven’t gotten that done the last two weeks. We need to change that quickly.”

All three of the day’s Cowboys turnovers go on the ledger of quarterback Dak Prescott. An interception just before halftime, his first since last Thanksgiving, resulted in a Seahawks touchdown. And a fumble on the first play after halftime put Seattle on the doorstep for another short-field score.

“The first one,” Prescott recounted to the media, “the ball’s just a little behind Coop right there, and the guy makes a great play, jumps the route and comes up with the ball. I can’t do that. Obviously, that results in them getting a touchdown right before half. And then we come out at halftime, and I’m pretty much strip-sacked trying to throw, the ball comes out. Another turnover that results in a touchdown. Simple as that, that’s how you lose games. Me personally, and everybody, we’ve got to be better protecting the ball.”

Despite a boatload of errors on the shores of the Puget Sound, the Cowboys were still in a position to tie the game or even steal a win with just seconds to play. But Prescott was picked off again, this time in the end zone- after breaking what looked like a sure sack- to cement the loss.

Wide receiver Michael Gallup says it never should have come to that.

“It’s not even really just the last plays of the game,” the third-year wideout lamented. “We had some plays that we would love to have back early on. Obviously got a lot of flags called on us this game… It’s not on anybody. It’s a group.

“We’ve just to to make those little plays early on in the game that we’re not getting to count. You’ve got to make them count.”

His quarterback agreed with that assessment, following a lackadaisical season opener against Los Angeles and the Week 2 win over Atlanta that came only after an utter collapse in the first quarter.

“Look at it the last three weeks,” Prescott said. “We’re only stopping ourselves. We’ve got to get out of our own way, be cleaner with the ball, play smarter football, find a way to start faster, whatever it is.”

The Cowboys didn’t necessarily start the game all that poorly right out of the blocks. The defense took the field first and forced Wilson and the Seahawks into a quick three-and-out. Then Prescott drove the offense 55 yards in a clock-chewing drive that ended in a Greg Zuerlein field goal, the team’s first first-quarter points of 2020.

But then Wilson responded with a scoring bomb to Tyler Lockett, the first of his three touchdowns. The ensuing kickoff was mishandled by Tony Pollard and led to the safety, putting Dallas in a 9-3 hole before 10 minutes had elapsed.

Gallup acknowledged the opening-quarter problems that have plagued the Cowboys thus far.

“For most part, I would say everybody’s excited, ready to go. But not everybody at the same time is always locked in on every single little detail. It happens. Everybody gets rowdy, things happen, everybody’s flying around. We’ve just got to be better coming out of the gate.”

“It’s something that you’ve got to keep working on, communicating,” rookie cornerback Trevon Diggs explained. “Jelling with your guys. But I felt like we got the jitters out. We had those three games. Going forward, the details will get cleaned up.”

Diggs showed exceptional attention to detail with his touchdown-saving effort at the end of the first quarter, punching the ball out of DK Metcalf’s arms as he neared the goal line for what he thought was a guaranteed score.

It was one of the few times all afternoon Dallas defenders got the better of Seattle’s receiving corps. Both Metcalf and Lockett topped 100 yards on the day, and tight end Greg Olsen made several clutch catches to extend drives at key moments for the Seahawks.

“People are not supposed to run wide open,” McCarthy commented on his pass defense, promising it will be a focus in the coming week. “That’s what Mondays are for, and we’ll take a hard look at it.”

There are, in fact, several areas that need a hard look. On the stat sheet, a down-to-the-wire one-score loss to the best team in the conference is nothing for a rising team to be ashamed of. But anyone who watched the game saw that the Cowboys did as much to beat themselves as Seattle did.

For a team whose only win came as the result of a lucky fluke, a team who knows they could very easily be 0-3 right now, the close loss feels far more emblematic of deeper issues that have less to do with the opponent… and point instead to an internal flaw that needs to be fixed.

“We’re not a clean football team right now,” McCarthy said. “We need to execute better. We have a number of injuries; we’re working through that. But our rhythm and timing’s not quite where we want it to be, and we’ll continue to work to get that done.”

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