The Las Vegas Raiders have been pretty bad this season, and they will be underdogs at home against the Cowboys on Monday Night Football. However, QB Geno Smith gave an encouraging injury update after limping through last week’s game against the Broncos.
Smith made it through practice on Thursday, according to a post on X by Ryan McFadden.
“Smith on his quad injury: “I’m not completely healed yet, but it feels a lot better.”
The Raiders (2-7) will play host to the Dallas Cowboys (3-5-1). Las Vegas won its opener before dropping six of its next seven. However, the Raiders have been more competitive of late, pushing the Jaguars into overtime and losing by only three points, 10-7, to the Broncos on the road.
Raiders QB Geno Smith making injury progress
It’s good news for his quad, but Smith hasn’t been making progress as a quarterback. His current touchdown-to-interception ratio (11 to 12) is on pace to be his worst since his rookie season with the Jets in 2013.
And there are more bad statistics, according to dallascowboys.com.
“Geno Smith has not had the greatest start to the season, and he's ranked at the top of wrong stat categories,” Nick Eatman wrote. “Smith is second in the NFL in interceptions thrown with 12, and he's been sacked 27 times (fourth-most) for 186 yards lost (third-most). Of the QBs who have started at least nine games this year, Smith has the fourth-lowest quarterback rating at 81.4.”
Yuck, double yuck, and triple yuck. Smith can’t seem to find his way after three good seasons with the Seahawks. It seems like the Raiders pushed their chips to the center of the table with the wrong guy.
That’s the take of more than one NFL observer, including Ezekiel Trezevant of Sports Illustrated.
“After years of subpar play from the quarterback position, the Raiders traded a third-round pick to the Seattle Seahawks for Geno Smith,” Trezevant wrote. “On paper, the move gave Las Vegas the best quarterback in years. However, nine games into the regular season, it is evident the move did not work out.”
And Colin Cowherd, as he often does, piled on.
“The Raiders, they overpaid, overpursued Geno Smith, who once again leads the NFL in picks,” Cowherd said. “I mean, he can’t figure out basic pass protection. It’s bad. Right now, he’s arguably the worst quarterback in the league. The last two years, Geno Smith has seven more interceptions than the next highest interception quarterback. So it’s one thing to settle at quarterback. You should never settle at quarterback. It’s another to pursue the wrong one.”
