‘Very frustrating’: Why it now may be too late to fix Las Vegas Raiders’ slow starts

Another blown opportunity for the Las Vegas Raiders to put themselves in prime position for a playoff spot.

Yet another home loss at Allegiant Stadium.

And it was another slow start offensively that spelled doom Sunday, as the Raiders lost to the Washington Football Team 17-15.

The Raiders had the chance to seal the game with under a minute to play, but safety Tre’von Moehrig couldn’t hang on to what could have been a clinching interception. Washington completed its drive to the field goal that proved to be difference.

Las Vegas fell to the 11th spot in the AFC playoff race.

Only seven teams in the conference will make it to the postseason, and the Raiders now face perhaps too tough of a task to climb back into it with road games at the Kansas City Chiefs and the Cleveland Browns the next two weeks.

Still, maybe going on the road is better for the Raiders since they can’t seem to put it together at Allegiant Stadium. Las Vegas is 3-4 at home this season, with the other losses to the Chicago Bears (20-9), Kansas City Chiefs (41-14) and Cincinnati Bengals (32-13).

Sure, there’s also that bad road loss to the New York Giants (23-16). But slow starts at home that have become the norm are particularly painful for the Raiders, who may have run out of time to solve their problems.

“It’s very frustrating,” Raiders running back Josh Jacobs said. “It’s definitely very frustrating. Really annoying, really, just starting slow every week. I feel like it’s taking too long to be who we are. It’s definitely frustrating and I kind of voiced that a little bit today.”

Jacobs said he went up to the offensive line and wide receivers and told them, “We got to be who we are or who we think we are.”

“We got to have some juice and energy and some type of swag to us,” he said. “I feel like we come in and just stiff and dull in games some times and I don’t feel like it should take somebody having a big play for everybody to take that to (that level).”

It was a reversal of fortunes from the previous week, when the Raiders started quickly (and won) 36-33 in overtime on the road against the Dallas Cowboys.

In that game, quarterback Derek Carr was aggressive in taking shots down the field.

That didn’t happen against the WFT until the second half, including a deep but incomplete pass to Zay Jones, who appeared to be held as a defender grabbed his shirt with 31 seconds remaining.

The Raiders also were 2 of 8 on third down.

“That’s frustrating,” Carr said, echoing Jacobs, about the slow starts. “You try to emphasize and you try to fix it and it doesn’t happen. It happens one time and it doesn’t happen every time and each play tells its own story. We just got to keep working, as hard it is to say that for me. That is the only choice that I have.”.

Change at offensive coordinator?

Carr finished the first half throwing for just 90 yards. He finished with 249 yards passing, the longest completion going for 34 yards to Foster Moreau in the third quarter to help set up a Daniel Carlson field goal.

What about a change at offensive coordinator, the job held by Greg Olson, given how the play calling is going?

Carr shot that down.

“I love Oly and he’s doing a great job,” he said.