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While trying to differentiate themselves from their predecessors of the caller past, the Raiders alternatively person fallen into an all-too-familiar signifier implicit the past 2 weeks.
When playing clean, businesslike shot was required, they delivered a brace of careless performances successful which self-inflicted wounds sabotaged violative drives and assisted the scoring marches of opponents.
The sloppiness they’ve displayed has resulted successful 2 consecutive losses, including a 41-14 blowout Sunday nighttime astatine the hands of the Kansas City Chiefs. And with it, they mislaid the accidental to instrumentality power of archetypal spot successful their part and conference.
What makes it each the much frustrating is they seemed to person turned the country conscionable earlier their bye week, winning games against the Broncos and Eagles successful which they enactment unneurotic their astir implicit performances successful years.
Rather than physique connected that, they person sputtered retired of the bye week offensively, done successful by inefficiency successful the reddish zone, costly turnovers and intelligence lapses that resulted successful ill-timed penalties.
“Maybe we are trying to bash excessively much,” said interim caput manager Rich Bisaccia. “We travel disconnected a bye with a large week of signifier and present it’s like, ‘I got to bash this.’ Or ‘I got to bash that.’ So, I deliberation that whitethorn person a small spot to bash with it.”
He said the coaching unit talked to the squad “about playing free, knowing what to bash and past doing what you know.”
Bisaccia was pleased with however the Raiders prepared for the Chiefs. “I thought we believed successful what we were doing, successful the crippled plan, and I conscionable felt similar they were trying to property a small spot and possibly missed immoderate assignments that way.”
Rather than surging into the 2nd fractional of the season, they attack it with the cautiousness of a radical wary of falling into the aforesaid frustrating trap that has derailed their past 2 seasons.
The consciousness of urgency is palatable. Still reeling from the flurry of off-the- tract blows they person sustained implicit the past six weeks, the 5-4 Raiders look 2 virtually must-win games implicit the adjacent 10 days. The outcomes volition spell a agelong mode successful determining whether they person a realistic changeable to marque the playoffs.
As they get acceptable to invited the Cincinnati Bengals to Allegiant Stadium connected Sunday earlier heading to Texas to play the Dallas Cowboys connected Thanksgiving Day, the past happening they tin spend is to participate a signifier of the play that has typically owned them successful a downward spiral.
“We are conscionable going to look astatine what we did incorrect and enactment to hole astatine it. We are going to look astatine what we did correctly and physique connected that,” Bisaccia said. “And really, we person 1 crippled to play. We person to get ourselves acceptable to play the Cincinnati Bengals present astatine home. We’ll conscionable spell from there.”
Time is evidently of the essence.
“We don’t person a choice, you know?” said Raiders backmost Derek Carr. “We truly don’t person a choice, you conscionable go.”
In what absorption is the question.
Keep successful mind, this is simply a franchise that has suffered 2 consecutive second-half collapses, going 1-5 down the agelong successful 2019 and 2-5 successful 2020. The Raiders anticipation to debar that trend, obviously, but the events of the past 2 weeks don’t precisely make a batch of hope.
“I deliberation we’re conscionable a amended team, honestly,” Carr said, dismissing the conception the Raiders volition succumb to atrocious habits. “We person amended players. … I conscionable truly judge successful our group. It’s a adjacent group.”
That closeness is astir to get tested implicit the adjacent 10 days.
Contact Vincent Bonsignore astatine vbonsignore@reviewjournal.com. Follow @VinnyBonsignore onTwitter.
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