The Las Vegas Raiders have had a tumultuous year with all of the drama eschewed from former head coach Josh McDaniels. The team was in a tail spin when interim head coach Antonio Pierce managed to swing some positive momentum from the situation. After two big wins over the two dumpster fires from New York City, the Raiders have lost two close games to the best teams in the AFC: the Miami Dolphins and the Kansas City Chiefs. When there is a major coaching change, it can be hard for the teams leadership to keep players on the same page and some of the players spoke out over the bye week.
Pro Bowl Running Back vents his frustrations
A very common expression for coaches to use in times of strife is to “buy in”. That means to buy into the offensive and defensive scheme. That means to buy into the coaching staff’s preached philosophy and that also means to buy into the belief that the team can turn things around. On a team like the Las Vegas Raiders, that last point always seems to be the hardest.
Today, Josh Jacobs went on teammate Maxx Crosby‘s podcast and shared his thoughts on the matter. The concept of buying in is especially difficult because in some circumstances the more you say it, the fewer people believe in it. Jacobs might be tiptoeing on that line with his recent commentary.
I feel like if everybody comes out with that same attitude like I don’t care what your role is, I’m going to win my one-on-one this day. And I think we got enough guys right now with that same mentality, but we also got the guys that’s kind of teetering like, you know, they kind of, you know, got to believe it to see. I feel like we got to get them guys a little bit more on board.”
The full episode of Crosby’s podcast including the interview with Josh Jacobs can be seen below:
Where do the Las Vegas Raiders go from Here?
It is alarming to hear that sort of commentary from arguably the teams greatest leader. It makes Antonio Pierce’s job significantly harder to bring the team together when Jacobs publicly attacks his teammates. Most likely, Jacobs is fed up and knows that he is leaving in the offseason anyway. What a teammate should do in that circumstance is speak to each of those players individually to attempt to right the ship. All Jacobs did with his interview was stir the waves even more.
The Raiders are sitting at 5-7 and clearly aren’t going into the playoffs this season. Even worse for Jacobs and the Raiders still is that they have a grueling schedule to close the season. Of their final five games, all of them are against playoff contenders on the up-and-up. The upcoming game against Josh Dobbs and the Minnesota Vikings may be the teams easiest game left on the season. As these are most likely Jacobs’ last five games as a Raider, all of fans are undoubtedly hoping this team can show some positivity to end his Raiders tenure on a high note.
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