Raiders' offense hits rock bottom after trading receiver Jakobi Meyers

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Raiders' offense hits rock bottom after trading receiver Jakobi Meyers

2025-11-08 07:32 Last Updated At：07:41

Pete Carroll said on Monday he didn't want to use the NFL trade deadline to sacrifice the present for the future.

But that's largely what the Raiders did the following day when they traded wide receiver Jakobi Meyers to Jacksonville for two picks in next year's draft.

Las Vegas' offense was struggling even when Meyers was still on the club, but now that he's gone, the Raiders are going to have even more difficulty moving the ball because of all the attention focused on tight end Brock Bowers.

That was evident in Thursday night's 10-7 loss at Denver in which the Broncos made sure everyone but Bowers beat them in the passing game. All the Raiders had to offer was Tre Tucker, 33-year-old Tyler Lockett, tight end Michael Mayer and rookie receivers Dont'e Thornton Jr. and Jack Bech.

It was a complete mismatch.

Bowers was targeted just three times, catching one pass for 31 yards.

“We were trying all night long,” Carroll said. "The calls were going that way, the ball just didn’t get there. We didn’t try and disguise it and not go there. We had calls one after another. They did a nice job getting guys on him.”

Just four days earlier, Bowers hauled in 12 receptions for 127 yards and three touchdowns in a 30-29 overtime loss to the Jaguars. He looked unstoppable.

That also was Meyers' last game in a Raiders uniform.

They had a seven-drive stretch at Denver in which the Raiders failed to pick up a first down — the longest in the NFL this season.

“Obviously, when you go out there last week and have three touchdowns and have the performance he had, guys are going to see that on film and do whatever they can to stop him,” QB Geno Smith said. “We still have to find ways to get him the ball. We have to move him around and put him in a position where he can just go one-on-one, but teams are going to double. They had a plan for him, and other guys had an opportunity to step up.”

The Raiders won't face many more defenses on the Broncos' level, but the challenge will be similar. Whether it's Smith needing to force passes to Bowers, offensive coordinator Chip Kelly scheming ways to get him open or the other receivers making plays, something needs to be done for the Raiders' offense to get moving.

If Bowers doesn't get more involved, there will be more games like Thursday's and the offense will continue to go nowhere.

Can't blame this loss on the defense. The Raiders held the Broncos to 220 yards and 10 first downs, numbers that often would have resulted in a victory. It was unfair to that side of the ball for the team to take an ‘L’ because the defense did everything it could to give the offense a chance to win.

The offensive line has been far from outstanding, even when mostly healthy. And now they're not even that. Left tackle Kolton Miller has been on injured reserve with a high ankle sprain, and ankle injuries knocked out guards Jackson Powers-Johnson and Dylan Parham against the Broncos. Being that short-handed was unfair against a Broncos defense that recorded six sacks and held Ashton Jeanty to 60 yards on 19 carries.

Smith's willingness to play injured. He probably should have stayed out of the game after taking a shot to his thigh on the first play of the fourth quarter, but Smith willed himself to get back out on the field. He was clearly limited, but playing through the injury — especially at quarterback — should go over well in the locker room.

Daniel Carlson missed a 48-yard field goal that could have sent the game into overtime. This came just four days after he missed an extra point in a one-point loss to Jacksonville. Though not his fault, Carlson also had the winning field goal blocked by Chicago on Sept. 28. Those struggles are a big part of why special teams coordinator Tom McMahon was dismissed Friday.

Carroll said Powers-Johnson likely won't return soon, but didn't provide an update on Parham. Smith's thigh injury should be considerably better by the time the Raiders return to action.

0 — The number of targets for Bowers over the Raiders' 34 final offensive plays.

The Raiders have a mini bye before hosting the Dallas Cowboys on Monday, Nov. 17.

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

Trump administration takes steps to ease sanction on Russian oil

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The U.S. Treasury Department announced Thursday it was taking steps to further ease sanctions on Russian oil as crude prices surge during the Iran war.

The agency said that it was granting a license that authorizes the delivery and sale of some sanctioned Russia crude oil and petroleum products for the next month.

Trump signaled earlier this week that he would take further action to ease restrictions on sanctioned oil to help make for the loss of oil flowing on the market because of the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

The move follows the Trump administration granting temporary permission for India to buy Russian oil.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran’s secretive new leader issued his first public statements Thursday, resolving to keep fighting, promising more pain for Gulf Arab states and threatening to open “other fronts” in a war that has already disrupted world energy supplies, the global economy and international travel.

The hard-line stance revealed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei came as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country's attacks were creating conditions for the Iranian population to topple the government.

“It is in your hands,” Netanyahu said at a news conference, addressing the Iranian people. “We are creating the optimal conditions for the fall of the regime.”

Since the start of the war, U.S. and Israeli strikes have targeted security checkpoints in Iran to undermine the government’s ability to suppress dissent, according to Armed Conflict Location and Event Data, the U.S-based independent monitoring group known as ACLED.

Netanyahu denounced Khamenei as a “puppet of the Revolutionary Guards."

Khamenei is close to Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard and is widely seen as even less compromising than his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. His location is unknown, and he is likely a prime target for the U.S. and Israel.

Khamenei said in a statement read by a state TV news anchor that he was keeping a “file of revenge.” He did not appear on camera and has not been seen since his father and wife were killed in the war’s opening salvo, which also wounded him, according to an Iranian ambassador.

The war continued to escalate on its 13th day as oil prices spiraled up again to $100 per barrel, and stocks sank worldwide over fears that the conflict could drag on longer than hoped.

Iran has made clear it plans to keep up attacks on energy infrastructure across the region and use the effective closure of the strategic Strait of Hormuz as leverage against the United States and Israel.

At a news conference Thursday, Iran’s ambassador to Tunisia, Mir Masoud Hosseinian, said Iranian naval forces “have established full control” over the strait and “carried out precise strikes in response to attacks on our oil infrastructure.” A fifth of the world’s traded oil flows through the waterway leading from the Persian Gulf toward the Indian Ocean.

“Global energy security is contingent on respect for Iran’s sovereignty,” he said.

He told The Associated Press the new supreme leader was wounded in the attack on his family’s home, but “it is not serious.” The hope is he will attend the massive, state-organized Eid prayer next week that his father traditionally led.

Hosseinian added that Iran’s strikes on Gulf nations have also been strategic.

“Even when we targeted hotels, we had precise information that they were hosting American and Israeli soldiers,” he said.

Khamenei called on Gulf Arabs to “shut down” U.S. bases in the region, saying protection promised by Washington was “nothing more than a lie.”

He also said Iran has studied “opening other fronts in which the enemy has little experience and would be highly vulnerable” if the war continues. He did not elaborate, but Iran has been linked to previous attacks on U.S., Israeli and Jewish targets around the world.

U.S. President Donald Trump said in a social media post Thursday that ensuring Iran does not develop a nuclear weapon was a higher priority than soaring oil prices.

Hours later, Netanyahu announced Israeli attacks had killed a top Iranian nuclear scientist and hit others but gave few details.

Israel said earlier it struck a nuclear facility in Iran in recent days that it had destroyed with an airstrike in October 2024. Earlier this year, satellite photos raised concerns that Iran was working to restore the facility.

As Netanyahu spoke, the Israeli military said it had detected a new barrage of missiles launched from Iran toward Israel.

The U.S. military said American forces have now struck more than 6,000 targets since the operation against Iran began, including more than 30 minelaying vessels.

British officials said several U.S. personnel suffered minor injuries Wednesday night when drone strikes in northern Iraq hit a base in Irbil that houses both British and American troops.

And on Thursday in western Iraq, rescue efforts were underway after an American military refueling plane went down. U.S. Central Command, which oversees the Middle East, said in a statement that the mishap involved two aircraft, including one that landed safely, and that the cause was not related to hostilities.

Israeli warplanes pummeled Lebanon, targeting even the busy heart of Beirut, in response to missiles from Iran-backed Hezbollah fighters launched into Israel. One strike hit in a neighborhood that is close to Lebanon’s parliament, United Nations offices and international embassies.

Israeli military spokesperson Avichay Adraee said forces were targeting a “facility affiliated with Hezbollah.”

An Israeli strike also hit in the vicinity of Lebanon’s only public university, killing a professor and the director of the science faculty at the campus in Hadath, on the outskirts of Beirut’s southern suburbs. There was no immediate comment from Israel.

An Israeli strike on a village in southern Lebanon killed nine people, including five children, the Lebanese Health Ministry said, adding that seven others were wounded. An AP photographer who visited the scene found several buildings flattened and widespread destruction, while rescue workers searched through the rubble.

Two other Israeli strikes on separate towns in southern Lebanon killed six more people, the health ministry said.

The U.N. refugee agency said up to 3.2 million people in Iran have been displaced by the ongoing war. It said most have fled from Tehran and other major cities toward the north of the country or rural areas. Around 800,000 people have been internally displaced in Lebanon, prompting fears of a humanitarian crisis.

Ben Mbarek reported from Tunis, Tunisia. El-Deeb reported from Beirut. Watson reported from San Diego. Associated Press writers David Rising in Bangkok; Mike Corder in The Hague, Netherlands; Natalie Melzer in Mitzpe Hila, Israel; Koral Saeed in Herzliya, Israel; Sally Abou AlJoud and Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut; Luena Rodriguez-Feo Vileira and Ben Finley in Washington; and Jill Lawless in London contributed to this report.