Raiders’ quick slants: Bengals edition

Trey Hendrickson has four sacks as Cincinnati mauls Las Vegas 41-24

Apparently, Las Vegas Raiders decision makers were so sick of Trey Hendrickson wrecking the offensive gameplans single handedly, someone had to go.

And that someone was offensive coordinator Luke Getsy. After yet another hapless outing from Getsy’s Raiders offense and heading into a much-needed bye week, Las Vegas wasted little time making a change as the play caller wasn’t the only one fired.

The Cincinnati Bengals defensive end showed the Raiders what a difference-making edge rusher is supposed to do by racking up an impressive four sacks on Sunday helping power the home team’s 41-24 drubbing of the visiting Raiders on Sunday afternoon.

Make that five losses in a row, now.

Getsy’s final game in Silver & Black was certainly a fire able offense.

While it started out well enough an 11-play, 70-yard opening drive that saw five-straight pass plays before running back Zamir White sprinted in for a two-yard touchdown, that was the lone end zone visit the Raiders (2-7 overall) had — on offense — until there was 41 seconds left in the ball game.

Las Vegas trailed 17-10 at halftime but was boat raced by Cincinnati in the second half. While the Bengals (4-5 overall) put together three touchdown drives in the second half, the Raiders coughed up the ball on one drive, punted three consecutive drives, turned the ball over on downs, fumbled again, all before the final six-play, 70-yard scoring drive.

It was such an impotent outing that Las Vegas benched Gardner Minshew (again) for recently signed Desmond Ridder at quarterback and, not surprisingly, that didn’t move the needle. The former absorbed one sack while the latter was dropped four times. Although, Ridder did fling the Raiders’ lone touchdown pass of the afternoon — a 22-yard dart to rookie tight end Brock Bowers with 41 ticks left.

A total of 157 yards passing, 60 yards rushing (on 21 carries for a putrid 2.9 yards per carry average) all equated itself into Getsy, offensive line coach James Cregg, and quarterbacks coach Rich Scangarello getting waxed.

All eyes will turn to who Las Vegas anoints as replacements for the trio of coaches — passing game coordinator Scott Turner has play calling experience, as does senior offensive assistant Joe Philbin, while Fred Walker is the assistant quarterbacks coach.

But, I can’t lie: Head coach Antonio Pierce’s all-time quote when Getsy was hired to run his offense echoed in my head when the firings hit the wire: “He whooped our ass when we played them,” Pierce said, referring to Getsy orchestrating a Chicago Bears offense that steamrolled the then-Josh McDaniels Raiders 30-12 Week 7 last season.

A keep-an-eye-on byproduct of Getsy’s dismissal will be finding out if the unbearable conservatism on offense was solely on the former play caller’s shoulders or on the head coach’s.

Perhaps the sudden change in the offensive staff results in a more consistent offense that possesses the ball regularly to give the defense much-needed breathers. Because what was supposed to be the strength of the team — Patrick Graham’s defense — has waned in effectiveness.

“I’ve got a whole week to figure that out and we’ve got to do a better job as a staff,” Pierce said of the team’s defensive showing. “Today what were they, four for five? … Again, high expectations for the defense and obviously, we’re not playing well enough.”

Let’s hit the quick slants as fast as the Bengals sprinted past the Raiders and how speedy Las Vegas made changes to the offensive staff:

—Raiders cornerback Jack Jones’ pick six as he perfectly read a screen pass by Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow was the third end zone visit by Las Vegas. Jones sprinted 29 yards to house the fourth-quarter pass and trim Cincinnati’s advantage to 31-17.

—That interception was one of Burrow’s few mistakes as he finished 29 of 39 (nearly a 70 percent completion rate) for 251 yards, five touchdowns, and the pick. He was only sacked once and had clear command of the Bengals offense.

—In comparison, Minshew finished 10 of 17 for 124 yards with zero touchdowns or interceptions, while Ridder ended 11 of 16 for 74 yards and one touchdown and no picks. A lopsided comparison, indeed.

—Veteran running back Alexander Mattison paced the Raiders run game with nine carries for 36 yards. Ameer Abdullah and Zamir White pitched in four carries for 12 yards and six totes for 10 yards, respectively.

—Flip to the Bengals, and Chase Brown galloped for 120 yards on 27 carries. Brown also had five catches for 37 yards and a touchdown. In total, Las Vegas had 60 yards on the ground as a team. Gross.

—Wide receiver Jakobi Meyers had a game-high eight receptions for 105 yards. He drew the most targets in the Raiders receiving corps with 11. Rookie tight end Brock Bowers was second on the team with five catches for 45 yards and the touchdown. He had eight targets.

—Tight end Mike Gesicki paced the Bengals passing attack with five catches for 100 yards and two touchdowns. Wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase hauled in seven passes for 43 yards on 11 targets.

—Raiders safety Tre’Von Moehrig led the team with 13 total tackles (eight solo) along with half a sack. Fellow safety Isaiah Pola-Mao and middle linebacker Robert Spillane had seven total tackles.

Quote of Note:

“We’re just playing younger and younger, just keep getting younger and younger. More opportunities for somebody else to step up. You’re a pro football player, a professional. We talked about that last night, having opportunities and when you get them, you’ve got to be prepared. Everybody wants to play. Regardless of how it is or where it goes, it’s just the nature of the beast. That’s what’s happening to us right now. Nobody feels sorry for us and we don’t feel sorry for ourselves. We got out there with 11 and do our best.” —Las Vegas Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce on trying season