Getty Cole Kmet, Bears tight end who had some strong words for the Raiders.
If you were wondering last Sunday what, exactly, happened to the Raiders team that had won two straight games and had begun to look like they were turning a corner, at least on the defensive end, then rest assured that you were not alone. Bears tight end Cole Kmet thought much the same thing.
Kmet was on the “33rd Team” podcast with teammate Equanimeous St. Brown and his brother, Lions receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown. There, Kmet delivered what was a frustrating diagnosis of the Raiders’ Week 7 showing.
“Seemed like they were a little jet-lagged. Not gonna lie. I am serious, like, the team we saw on tape was not the team we played,” Kmet said.
Equanimeous St. Brown responded, saying, “I remember Cole came to the sideline and was like, ‘They’re tired, they’re tired.’ Damn.”
At which point Kmet responded: “Bro, they were gassed. Like, we would—you could tell, we would run the ball a couple times. Like, if we got that first first down, and then the next play, if we got a good six-yard chunk play on a run, like, they were done. They were deflated.”
Cole Kmet’s Raiders Criticism Echoed
To fans, watching from the outside, it did look like the Raiders were sluggish out of the gate on Sunday, but it is hard to imagine that even someone who was on the field—for 63 snaps, or 89% of the offensive plays like Cole Kmet was—could sense that right away.
The Raiders offense has taken the bulk of the criticism, especially with the poor decision by coach Josh McDaniels to start veteran Brian Hoyer. The problems extended beyond the offense, though. It was not a pretty picture on the defensive side of the ball, either, and the Raiders allowed 323 total yards and 173 rushing yards, their worst total since Week 2 against Buffalo.
If Kmet was a bit harsh in his assessment of the Raiders, defensive end Maxx Crosby was much harsher.
“It just was sh***y football, and we didn’t play good enough in any phase,” Crosby said after practice on Tuesday. “It’s about doing your job to the best level you possibly can on a play-to-play basis. That’s the focus every single day. Not only for myself, but our D-Line, our defense, our offense in general we gotta play better complementary football. It just wasn’t good enough. It was literally an embarrassment.”
“It was just s*** football…it was literally an embarrassment.”
-Maxx Crosby on blowout loss to #Bears
Raiders’ Schedule Getting Tougher
The problem for the 3-4 Raiders is they are back below .500 with the loss to what had been the 1-5 Bears. Next up on the schedule is one of the contenders in the NFC, the Lions, again on the road on Monday night. That game is followed by the Giants, who are just 2-5, and three teams (Dolphins, Jets, Chiefs), with a combined record of 14-6. The Raiders will be fortunate to come out of this quintet of games with two wins.
Also, less than encouraging: McDaniels does not seem to have any answers. His Raiders aren’t taking anything from Cole Kmet’s jet-lag comment. He intends to stay the course.
“Just by staying the same. I’ve kind of been the same the whole way and we’re not going to lose our mind today,” McDaniels said. “We’re just going to kind of try to fix the things that need to be fixed and take the same approach after we win or lose. We try to address the things that we can do better and correct them. That’s football.”