Raiders’ recipe for disaster: How Las Vegas was embarrassed in loss to Panthers

LAS VEGAS — The Las Vegas Raiders came into Sunday a confident bunch that only needed to fix their running game to make some real noise this season.

They left the locker room a silent, downtrodden bunch with more questions than answers after an embarrassing 36-22 loss to the Carolina Panthers . If not for a meaningless touchdown in the final minute, it would have been the worst home opener loss since 2008.

That it came against a Panthers team that had been outscored 73-13 in its first two games and had just benched its No. 1 pick quarterback made it even worse. If possible.

"We weren't focused enough on our jobs," cornerback Nate Hobbs said. "They strained harder than we did. They came out there with a purpose. And we went out there thinking we were going to have the upper hand for no reason."

Raiders coach Antonio Pierce said some players came out flat and "made business decisions" during the game. Hobbs agreed.

"It is a little surprising, it is," Hobbs said. "There are a lot of people on our team who did their job, but I wasn't focused enough on a couple of plays so I put that on myself, too. It doesn't work unless all 11 guys are constantly doing it."

There was a laundry list of problems on offense and defense, but we'll start with the defense that allowed 36-year-old Andy Dalton to have the first 300-yard, three-touchdown game of any quarterback in the NFL this season and made Chuba Hubbard look like Roger Craig:

Dominated in the trenches

"We got our ass whooped," Pierce said.

He'll watch the film and try to figure out why, but he was stumped after the game.

"It's the same group, for the most part, that's all come back," Pierce said. "Same technique, same coaches ... it's not a different scheme. ... Obviously, we have to coach it better and be hard-asses on the guys, and guys are going to have to take some rough coaching, because I didn't see that coming."

Hubbard averaged 5.4 yards on 21 carries and had five catches for 55 yards. Though Dalton did a good job of getting the ball out early, there was ...

No pressure on key third downs early

Maxx Crosby said afterward he was playing with a high ankle sprain, and he only touched Dalton once, after an incomplete pass. Christian Wilkins had half a sack, but the Panthers scored on six of nine possessions, including four straight before taking their foot off the gas early in the fourth quarter.

The Panthers were 5-of-10 on third down before the game was essentially over early in the fourth quarter. The big ones were a third-and-2 completion to Adam Thielen on the first drive to get the ball rolling, and a 23-yard strike to Diontae Johnson on third-and-14 on the second scoring drive that put the Panthers up 14-7.

Dalton had all day on both plays, and then when Tyree Wilson almost got to Dalton later that drive on third-and-5, Dalton got rid of it just in time to hit Johnson in the back of the end zone.

Later in the half, Dalton found Johnson underneath, and he escaped Hobbs for a 35-yard catch-and-run on third-and-8. On the next play, Dalton threw a 31-yard TD strike to Thielen for a 21-7 lead.

Middle of field wide open

Dalton was never tested, and the main reason was the middle of the field was wide open. The Panthers completed 13 of 18 passes between the numbers for 203 yards, converting 10 first downs on those plays, according to TruMedia.

Though no one really noticed Divine Deablo in the first two games, the linebacker was out with an oblique injury and was direly missed against the Panthers. It was Grand Central Station in the flat, with trains flying by, and even linebacker Robert Spillane , the rock of the defense, was seemingly overwhelmed at times.

And then the Panthers would switch the tracks, to take the analogy a step further, and the Raiders were still standing on the platform. All three of Dalton's touchdown passes came outside the numbers, with him completing 13 of 16 on those passes for 116 yards.

"If you have a call, and you check it, and then they come motion to something else, everybody has to be on the same page," Hobbs said. "And we had a lot of guys, myself included, jumping on the first move. We have to stay disciplined."

No one could cover Diontae Johnson

Dalton didn't realize this until the second quarter, and Johnson had seven catches for 105 yards in the second and third quarters before watching the Panthers run the clock out in the fourth. Jack Jones and Jakorian Bennett were solid the first two games, and Bennett made a nice breakup on a fleeting big moment early in the game, but neither was up to the challenge.

"It was simple," Jones said. "They executed and we didn't. ... They did their job and we didn't do ours. We know every Sunday in the NFL is going to be hard, but we can't play like that."

OK, now the offense ...

The running game stinks

"The scheme wasn't good enough, the design of plays wasn't good enough," Pierce said. "What we thought was going to work didn't work and we didn't put up the effort that we have in games past."

The Raiders really wanted to establish the run, and they tried it on first and second down each of their two first two possessions and gained a total of 12 yards. They ran it 12 times for 41 yards in the first half, and the fans started booing each handoff late in the second quarter.

"We tried and tried and tried ... and I would have booed us, too," Pierce said.

The Raiders finished with 55 yards rushing on the day, and have now had 55 or fewer yards rushing in three straight games for the first time in franchise history.

"As an offense, we could have done better with complementary football," left tackle Kolton Miller said. "Our defense took a hit early, and ... our run game still needs to improve. As far as protection, while not great, I thought it improved from last game. We can do a better job finishing up front with our blocks."

Pierce said he can't watch much more of the runs into a pile.

"We got to do something to fix it," he said. "If it's to throw it to open up the run ... I mean, scheme, players, coaching ... it's just not good enough. Three, four, two yards ... that's not us. That's not the identity. That's not what I want it to look like. That's not what our team is going to be and we've got to work on it."

Gardner Minshew II out of sync

Minshew had time to throw and had a nice deep pass to Tre Tucker to set up the first-quarter touchdown, but he wasn't in a rhythm all day. Davante Adams had two drops on the day and Brock Bowers also wasn't much of a factor.

"I think AP was talking about it in the locker room, not riding the roller coaster, not following the ups and downs," said Minshew, who agreed the team came out "flat." "We have to continue to try to get better and if we do that, we got the right people to do it, we're going to be all right."

Success on first and second downs would make his life easier.

Minshew had a garbage-time touchdown pass, as did Aidan O'Connell , who came in because the score was "out of hand," Pierce said.

So those looking for a quarterback controversy can keep on looking.

"We have to look into the details of why this loss happened and fix those things," Miller said. "And then we flush it. ... I did think we would build off of last week obviously but they came out and made some adjustments, and we weren't able to match those so that hurt us."

That goes for offense and defense. There will be a lot of looking in the mirror this week.

"Their offensive coordinator had a good plan and they got the ball out quick," Hobbs said. "But, in this game, it's not about coaching and all that other stuff. It's about mano a mano, and who's going to win.

"I have faith in this team. We were supposed to win this game, but all that matters in the NFL is how you respond."

(Top photo of Chuba Hubbard: Kirby Lee / Imagn Images