New season, same old story for Raiders in 30-14 loss (w/video)

OAKLAND - Raiders coach Dennis Allen was uncharacteristically pithy after his team’s demoralizing 30-14 loss to the Houston Texans on Sunday.

“That’s a recipe for getting your butt kicked, all right?” Allen said after the home opener at O.co Coliseum. “I told the players in there just now, the only people that can change it are the people that are in that locker room, coaches and players. … We’ve got a lot of getting better to do, and we need to do it in a short period of time.”

The words sounded bracing, almost shocking - until reporters assembled around veteran safety Charles Woodson moments later in the losing locker room. Woodson has always been the resident truth-teller during his two stints in Oakland, and he unloaded on his team like few NFL players ever do.

Why did the Texans’ offense get off to such a fast start, someone asked Woodson? “We’re not very good,” the 17th-year veteran replied.

And then he stopped beating around the bush.

“We suck,” Woodson continued. “Today, I mean that’s as blunt as I could put it. … Collectively we look bad. It’s frustrating because everything that other people say about you, we’re making them right. It’s almost like you allow other people to write your story, and we’re not going out there and doing anything about it. That’s hard, man. I’m really embarrassed.”

The Raiders had a lot to be sheepish about.

The Texans started the game by marching 80 yards for a touchdown, 56 yards coming on run plays. The Raiders’ offense went three-and-out. The Texans got the ball again and drove 70 yards in 13 plays, eating up 8:07 of the clock and finishing with an Arian Foster touchdown run. The Raiders picked up a couple of first downs, then rookie quarterback Derek Carr threw an interception. Houston tacked on a field goal.

Twenty minutes into the game, the Raiders were down 17-0 and the crowd was already booing the new team, the new season, the same old story.

It never got any closer than that. The Texans led 27-0 after three quarters. And after the Raiders finally cracked the scoreboard early in the fourth quarter, Houston responded by grinding out a 9½-minute field-goal drive that comprised 14 runs and zero passes. Oakland’s final touchdown, with 13 seconds remaining in the game, was purely aesthetic.

And this is a Houston team that lost its last 14 games in 2013.

After welcoming big-ticket free agents like defensive ends Justin Tuck and LaMarr Woodley, and with exciting rookies to watch like Carr and linebacker Khalil Mack, the Raiders’ long-suffering fans could be excused for believing their team had finally turned a corner after 11 non-winning seasons.

Those hopes took a hit in the season-opening loss to the Jets last week, and were mercilessly squashed by Sunday’s debacle.

“I think the mistakes are correctable, but we said that last week,” Woodson noted. “So how many weeks in a row are we going to say the mistakes are correctable until we get to a point where we realize they’re not correctable? I don’t know.”

Carr missed his share of receivers, as you might expect of a rookie quarterback. And when he was on target, those receivers too frequently dropped the ball, or caught it and then fumbled it away (as James Jones and tight end Mychal Rivera did). The coaching staff gets just as much blame. One of Carr’s interceptions came on a play designed to leave J.J. Watt - probably the best defensive player in the NFL - unblocked. Watt hit Carr as he threw, and the ball wound up in the arms of Houston linebacker Brooks Reed.

Defensively, things may have been worse. Foster rushed for 138 yards on 28 carries, and the Texans ran for 188 as a team.

“Each individual has to go back and make that correction,” Woodley said. “To say, hey, was I in my gap? Did I do the right thing? Did I miss that tackle? You have to do that. Then when you come together as a team, that’s when things get done.”

Meanwhile, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Houston’s normally inconsistent quarterback, completed 14 of 19 passes for 139 yards and two touchdowns for a stellar passer rating of 129.1.

On their second touchdown drive, the Texans converted four third-down plays, including third-and-8 and third-and-6, en route to Foster’s 5-yard scoring run.

Perhaps scariest for the Raiders, this concludes the mild portion of their early schedule. They now embark on games at New England, against Miami (in London) and here against San Diego, the team than knocked off the mighty Seahawks on Sunday.

Asked why he seemed more upset than he has after previous losses, Allen answered: “Well listen, I mean, we had a good week of practice, and then to come out and play like we did is … ”

And then Allen changed course.

“We need change,” he said. “We need to get better. Because we’re a better football team than what we put out on the field today.”

Many now wonder if the change will include the head coaching position. Two games into his third season in Oakland, Allen sports an overall record of 8-26, and the crowd is beyond restless.

You can reach Staff Writer Phil Barber at 521-5263 or phil.barber@pressdemocrat.com.