LAS VEGAS — At one point during the pregame buildup at the Las Vegas Raiders’ $2 billion stadium, the hype man tried to get the crowd going and was booed loudly.
Raiders players and coaches are used to the crowd disparity at their home games by now, and Sunday it looked like close to 70 percent of the fans at Allegiant Stadium were cheering for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
It’s got to be disheartening for quarterback Aidan O’Connell when he is backed up against his end zone, trying to get the calls out, and the “home” crowd is yelling “defense” right on top of him. He had been sacked and barely avoided a safety on the two previous plays before looking a little skittish and throwing up a pass for grabs that was intercepted in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s 32-13 loss.
The @Steelers with another forced turnover!
📺: #PITvsLV on CBS/Paramount+
📱: https://t.co/waVpO8ZBqG pic.twitter.com/9QLG1bBum4— NFL (@NFL) October 13, 2024
It’s also disheartening for the Raiders fans. After Sunday’s loss to the Steelers, the Raiders have been blown out twice in three home games and would have lost the other one if not for a fluky interception.
It’s hard for Raiders fans to watch. And it’s hard for owner Mark Davis, who had his lengthiest postgame chat with coach Antonio Pierce so far this season.
“It sucks for the fans,” defensive end Maxx Crosby said.
The Raiders are 2-4 and in last place in the AFC West, and the situation seems worse than that. The quarterback switch from Gardner Minshew II to O’Connell was as insignificant as expected, with the Raiders’ 13 points their second-worst total of the season. They turned the ball over three times. The extra focus on tackling didn’t pay off, as Steelers running back Najee Harris had only his fourth 100-yard game in three seasons.
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And we haven’t even mentioned Davante Adams yet.
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“Losing starts with discipline,” Pierce said. “We had four penalties, but they were at critical moments. The turnover thing is embarrassing. We don’t respect the ball enough, so we don’t even deserve a chance to put ourselves into position to win.”
The Raiders fell behind by double digits for the sixth straight game. They have never done that in the first six games to start a season in franchise history. The last team to do that in the first six weeks was the 2021 Detroit Lions, who finished 3-13-1.
I am sure Adams wants to come back to this.
That was the latest spin coming into this game, that Adams might return and play for the Raiders after asking for a trade two weeks ago. The Raiders have been unable to move him as they want a second-round pick back in exchange and don’t want to pay down any of the remaining $10.9 million owed him in salary. Doing that apparently goes against Davis’ principles — paying a player who doesn’t want to be here — but watching that depressing game Sunday maybe changes his thinking.
Teams with salary-cap issues would find it easier to trade for Adams if Davis did.
Things will really come to a head this week, as Adams is ready to play again. He took an extra week to make sure his tweaked hamstring was good and has missed three games. Sure, he likes O’Connell better than Minshew, but nothing about him questioning his future with the Raiders and telling Pierce he can’t see his career ending like this, according to league sources, has changed in the three games he missed.
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Only the Raiders would consider bringing Adams back after teammates might say he walked out on them, but that long shot has to be a lot longer after losing 32-13 at home.
I wonder if Adams even came up in Davis’ chat with Pierce on Sunday? Davis probably had a lot of other pressing questions.
Like, why didn’t Pierce challenge the call after Ameer Abdullah scored on a touchdown run but was called short? The score would have cut the deficit to 22-14 early in the fourth quarter. The Raiders didn’t challenge, and Abdullah fumbled on the next play.
Fumble at the goal line! @Steelers recover.
📺: #PITvsLV on CBS/Paramount+
📱: https://t.co/waVpO8ZBqG pic.twitter.com/KdsPgrwolF— NFL (@NFL) October 13, 2024
“We went hurry up,” Pierce said. “I asked if he was in or out, they said it was close. (Next was an) inside zone run play. Not expecting a fumble to happen on the next one. So that’s kind of how it played out.
OK, why did Dylan Laube touch the ball?
Nothing against the rookie, but he has shown nothing — even in training camp — to warrant ever getting a carry over Alexander Mattison or Abdullah. But there he was, in the second quarter of a game the Raiders led 7-6 getting the first carry of his career. And fumbling the ball after T.J. Watt knocked it loose.
(Mattison had six carries for 25 yards and a catch for 19 yards on the opening touchdown drive but only touched the ball twice the rest of the first half.)
Pierce was asked afterward if the plan going in was to get Laube a carry this week.
“It was a plan to get him in,” Pierce said.
The @Steelers defense force the fumble and get the ball back 💪
📺: #PITvsLV on CBS/Paramount+
📱: https://t.co/waVpO909ge pic.twitter.com/uL5wGY8nzx— NFL (@NFL) October 13, 2024
The Raiders had a very tiny margin of error with receivers Adams and Jakobi Meyers (ankle) out. Tight end Brock Bowers still had nine catches for 71 yards even though he was the main focus of the Steelers defense, while speedster Tre Tucker was not up to the challenge of going against a top cornerback like Joey Porter Jr. He was held without a catch on two targets.
The defense, meanwhile, wore down at the end after holding up for a while without injured defensive tackle Christian Wilkins. The final margin could have been a lot worse if Justin Fields didn’t throw over the heads of a lot of open receivers, and there were some ugly moments later in the game for the defense. But Pierce learned his lesson from after the other home blowout loss to the Carolina Panthers.
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There was no mention of business decisions.
“I thought the effort was fine,” Pierce said. “I thought guys tried until the very end.”
Well, that’s something.
Crosby was busy hitting social media to defuse a video from the game of him shoving linebackers coach Mike Caldwell for trying to cheer him up. “It was a love push,” said Crosby, who added that his phone was blowing up when he got back to the locker room.
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If only the Raiders’ situation was as easy to handle.
“We’re not going to make excuses,” Crosby said. “We have the people in the building to get it done. … You can fall into the crowd and be like everyone else and be negative and sad, but I am blessed to play this game. It doesn’t stop me.
“The outside world is going to try and find everything to bring us down, and rightfully so after a game like that. It’s bulls—. We have to stay together and find ways to get better and find that spark.”
The Raiders face the Los Angeles Rams next week in Inglewood, Calif., before they return home to Las Vegas in two weeks to host the Kansas City Chiefs, who have won all four meetings here and dominated the stands as well.
(Top photo of Justin Fields eluding Tyree Wilson to score a touchdown: Candice Ward / Getty Images)
