When Raiders head coach Pete Carroll was hired this offseason, two of his top priorities were hiring Chip Kelly as offensive coordinator and trading for quarterback Geno Smith. Kelly and Smith think they’re a match made in heaven.
“I think Chip has done a great job, number one, with implementing his style of play,” Smith said, via Raiders.com. “We want to be tough, we want to be physical, we want to attack the line of scrimmage. He’s doing a great job scheme-wise, putting us in position to make plays. We’ve got a lot of great weapons on offense, so he’s putting the guys in positions to make plays. And you can see it out there from day one, just the guys who are touching the ball and getting up, getting in open space.”
Kelly said his offense is as good as the quarterback running it, and he thinks Smith is the right quarterback to run it.
“The beauty of it is that the guy pulling the trigger can run everything,” Kelly said. “So if we’re with Geno and say, ‘Hey, we’d like to do this.’ He can do it. If you want to do that part of the game, whether it be quick game, he can do it, throwing the deep ball, he can do it, throwing the intermediate big balls, he can do that. He’s got so much experience, and to have a veteran quarterback, it’s such a comforting feeling.”
The Raiders had one of the worst offenses in the NFL last season, but a new quarterback and a new coordinator can transform an offense instantly. That’s what Carroll brought Smith and Kelly in to do.