The Raiders had an opportunity to make a statement on Monday night football versus the

Chargers.

The statement they made was not the one they wanted.

They take the L 20 to 9.

We'll talk about that plus more on Tuesday's edition of the Locked On Raiders podcast for

Tuesday, September 16th, 2025.

You are Locked on Raiders, your daily Las Vegas Raiders podcast, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome here, Raider Nation, to another edition of the Locked On Raiders podcast. Thank you so much for making the show your first list of the day. We definitely appreciate you if you're finding the show wherever you find your favorite podcast, or you're checking us out by way of the YouTube page. You know we appreciate both.

The show continues to grow each and every day because of your consistent support and the great job that my man Ari does behind the scenes each and every day, making sure we look good and sound good. So we shout him out. We appreciate him. He's on Twitter at Ari Produces. You can hit me up as well at your boy Q254. and we got the Lockdown Raider podcast voicemail line.

If you want to get part of the show, you can at 70 boy Q254 and we got the lockdown Raider podcast voicemail line if you want to get part of the show you can at 707 654 46993 we will get your feedback a lot of great stuff calls and text based off the game for monday night football the Raiders take the L at a legion stadium so we'll close out the show hearing from you segment number two we'll take you inside the locker room here from handful of players, both on the offensive side of the ball and the defensive side of the ball that we got a chance to catch up to following the game and probably caught up to about nine or ten different guys, so we'll probably let you hear from two or three guys coming up in segment number two. Here in seven number one, news and notes of the day, and it really just has to do with the game flow and how the raiders lost 20 to nine to the LA charges and now one and one on the season. Before we get into any of that, though, I do want to tell you about the title sponsor of the show, which is Fanduel. Right now, new customers can bet just $5, and if your bet wins, you'll get $300 and bonus bets to use across the app. So off top, Raider Nation, I think that the tone was set for this game, unfortunately, when the Chargers won the coin toss. They deferred to the second half. That was one of my keys to victory, right? If the Raiders win the coin toss, defer to the second half. Always prefer to get the ball second, right? To get the ball in the second half as opposed to get it to start the

game. Well, the Chargers won the toss. They got the ball very first play interception. Gino

throws a pick. He tries to squeeze one in, and that seemed like it was the theme of the night.

Gino trying to squeeze the ball into, well, put it in harm's way, and it did not work out very good for him.

Gino Smith, 24 for 43, 183 yards, and 180 yards, I should say, three interceptions, no touchdowns.

That's the average for all the mathematicians out there, four yards per completion, which is nothing.

Four yards per completion coming off of a game that they just played against the Patriots

where he was throwing the ball around the yard, threw it for 362 yards, had nine pass plays

that went for 20 plus yards. It was the exact opposite on Monday night. And it really, like I said,

set the tone early. And I'll tell you this. And I said that to anybody who was listening to

me in the press box, whether it was my guy, Jesse Merrick, who's sitting next to me, Ryan Hogue, Paul Gattierrez, Vinnie Bonsignor, and me and Vinny talked about it quite a bit. Gino really didn't look like himself, even when we met with him on Thursday at the facility, and he stuck to the podium. And I think I said it on this show that he was very business like he just didn't seem like he was in the same

you know frame of mind that he was in going into week one. I don't know if that's because he got a little bit banged up in that Patriots game, dealing with a little bit of a hamstring issue. I don't know what it was that he just didn't seem like his normal self, even on Thursday. and he didn't look like his normal self on Monday either. Now, again, the good thing is, it's only two games into the season, but you want to make sure that bad Gino does not become a recurring thing, right? That's not something that the Raiders can afford to have that kind of performance from their quarterback like that again. I mean can't again 24 for 43 183 yards and

three picks that's not going to work he's got to be more protective of the ball he's got to be

able to push the ball down the field and you know even when he can't push the ball down the field

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