Geno Smith's early-season struggles continue as Raiders are blown out by Colts

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INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Geno Smith knows he must play better than he did Sunday at Indianapolis — and that his whole season has been a disappointment so far.

Five games into his first year with the Raiders, Smith has more interceptions than touchdown passes as the Raiders have stumbled to four straight losses.

“As the quarterback of this team, I hate where we are. I hate how it looks,” Smith said after Raiders were blown out 40-6 by the Colts. “(What) the outside world (thinks) — it cannot get to me. On the inside, I know what we’re doing and where we’re going. We just have to stay focused.”

Las Vegas (1-4) expected Smith to win — as he had in Seattle, where he also teamed with coach Pete Carroll. So far, not much has gone right in the duo's reunion in Las Vegas.

The 34-year-old Smith has thrown five interceptions in the last two weeks, and eight of his nine this season have come in losses. After throwing no TD passes in a Week 2 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers, there seemed to be a glimmer of hope when Smith threw for three TDs in Week 3 and two more in Week 4.

Then came Sunday.

Smith went 25 of 36 for 228 yards with two interceptions and no TDs. The Raiders made four trips to the red zone — one of which ended with Smith's tipped pass being intercepted by defensive end Laiatu Latu — and didn't score a touchdown all afternoon.

Carroll said Sunday he expected to win immediately with a roster featuring Smith, White and the increasingly productive rookie running back Ashton Jeanty, who had 14 carries for 67 yards and five receptions for 42 yards against the Colts.

“We’ve got to make our plays when we’ve got our chances,” the Raiders' first-year coach said. “Most importantly, we have to stay away from extremely big plays that hurt us.”

Smith, of course, isn't fully to blame.

The Raiders played without their best offensive lineman, tackle Kolton Miller, and their top two tight ends — Brock Bowers and Michael Mayer — because of injuries.

Those absences, though, didn't contribute to a blocked punt, a missed field goal or a defense that allowed Indy to convert all six of its red-zone chances into touchdowns.

The 34-point loss was the Raiders' worst since a 52-0 shellacking in 2014 when the Rams were still in St. Louis and the Raiders were still in Oakland, and it matched the 10th-worst loss in franchise history. The league's longest active streak with at least one sack came to an end at 39 games.

“We’re still together. We don’t harp on each other on the field,” linebacker Devin White said. “We all have the ‘next play’ mentality. Sometimes, that’s all it takes — one play.”

Finding that play — or anything to turn things around — so far has proven elusive, in part because of Smith's inconsistency. In addition to the turnovers, he was sacked four times by Indy and finished the game with a rating of 63.2.

“An interception never goes on the receiver; it goes on the quarterback,” Smith said. “Yes I’m going to be frustrated if it doesn’t look right. But I’m also not going to sulk on it or cry about it. I’m going to try to work on it and find a solution.”

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