Jimmy Garoppolo has ‘a bad day’ as Raiders lose to Lions

Paul Gutierrez
ESPN Staff Writer
Oct 31, 2023, 01:37 AM ET
4 Minute Read

DETROIT — While Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo had a succinct summary of his performance in the Raiders’ disappointing 26-14 loss to the Detroit Lions on Monday night at Ford Field, All-Pro receiver Davante Adams was left nearly speechless.

The Las Vegas offense had a tough game, being outgained by the Lions 486-157.

“You have good days and bad days,” Garoppolo lamented. “Today was a bad day, there’s no sugarcoating it. It is what it is. So, I’ve just got to play better. Personally, I need to step up. A combination of small improvements will resolve many of our issues.

“It starts with me. We need to be better, and we will be.”

In a night marked by Garoppolo’s struggles, he completed just 10 of his 21 passes for 126 yards, threw an interception in the end zone, and was sacked a career-high-tying six times. His passer rating of 46.9 was the third-lowest of his career.

Despite missing 2.5 games due to injury, Garoppolo now leads the league with nine interceptions.

“We can’t win if we keep giving away the ball, no doubt about it,” said Raiders coach Josh McDaniels, clarifying that he wasn’t singling out Garoppolo.

Adams, on the other hand, had a disappointing performance, catching just one pass for 11 yards out of seven targets. His catch rate of 14% was the lowest in his career when targeted at least five times in a game, according to ESPN Stats & Information. Garoppolo failed to connect with Adams on four deep attempts.

“Honestly, I don’t know what to say right now,” Adams softly expressed. “Truly, I don’t. I wish I had the words to say something that wouldn’t be blown up in the media and taken out of context, so I’m just, I truly, I just don’t know.”

Adams, who admitted his frustration, has accumulated only 142 receiving yards in the past four games, his lowest in a four-game span since his second year in the NFL with the Green Bay Packers in 2015.

Additionally, he hasn’t caught a touchdown pass since Week 3.

“Maintaining confidence in our offense isn’t difficult,” Adams stated. “It’s just tough to contain your frustration when you can’t put it together, knowing that you should.

“Just keep striving for improvement. Keep striving for improvement.”

Gaining momentum against the Lions proved to be a challenge for Garoppolo.

Consider that he completed only 2 of 7 passes with an interception on throws of 15 or more air yards. He went 3-for-10 on second, third, and fourth downs, had a 1-of-7 completion rate on throws outside the numbers, and ultimately, could only connect on 4 of his 12 passes targeting his receivers, including just 1-for-7 when targeting Adams.

In fact, no Raiders receiver touched the ball in the first half.

The Lions put pressure on Garoppolo on 12 of his 28 dropbacks, with eight of those pressures occurring in the fourth quarter. The pressure rate of 43% was the highest Garoppolo faced since Week 8 of the 2020 season against the Seattle Seahawks when he played for the San Francisco 49ers.

“I’m a little pissed off about the game,” Garoppolo admitted, “but physically, I’m fine.”

Garoppolo, who signed a three-year, $72.75 million contract to replace Derek Carr as the Raiders’ starting quarterback, underwent foot surgery in March and missed the on-field portion of the offseason program while recovering. He was also limited in training camp due to a concussion and back injuries.

When asked if he felt like he was still catching up, Garoppolo shrugged.

“I mean, I’ll never make an excuse like that,” he said. “It is what it is. We’re in the season now. People don’t care if you have excuses or not, so you’ve got to go out there and play. I have to play better. It’s just a combination of small things, man. It’s frustrating.

“You have good days, you have bad days, but we just have to string things together. I have to play better. It’s just disappointing that we performed like that tonight.”

McDaniels, the Raiders’ offensive playcaller, acknowledged the need for further adjustments in the offense.

However, when asked if he was considering a change at quarterback, McDaniels swiftly answered, “I’m not going to talk about that right now.”