Josh Alper ,
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Raiders quarterback Geno Smith had a rough Thursday night across the board.
Smith threw his league-high 12th interception of the season and was sacked six times by the Broncos in a 10-7 loss that dropped the Raiders to 2-7 on the season. Smith could only lead the Raiders to 188 yards in the loss and the poor performance wasn’t helped by a quad contusion that forced him out of the game early in the fourth quarter.
Smith returned after missing two offensive snaps, but he was clearly impacted by the injury and said after the game that he was in “a lot of pain” as a result of the injury. He also explained why that wasn’t enough to keep him from returning.
“That’s just kinda how I’m wired ,” Smith said in his press conference. “I never want to leave my teammates out there alone. I feel like it’s a big responsibility of mine to be out there and to do whatever I can to help us win. I felt like I could try to tough it out, and that’s what I tried to do.”
Denver was able to run out the clock after the Raiders missed a field goal with about four minutes left in the game and Raiders head coach Pete Carroll said Smith would not have returned to the game had they gotten the ball back,
The Raiders play their next game on Monday night in Week 11, so there’s extra time for Smith to recover but the offensive issues stretch beyond Thursday night and, healthy or not, it’s not clear that Smith will be able to solve them.
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