The Oakland Raiders' starting offense put up 15 points on the Arizona Cardinals in a 30-23 loss Sunday night.
Those 15 points came on five Sebastian Janikowski field goals. Six times in nine drives, the Raiders' first-teamers were in a position to potentially score a touchdown, but came up short.
"There are still some things we have to clean up," Derek Carr said, via CSN Bay Area. "There are still some things that are just that close (to being correct) with the whole offense. As an offense, we're pretty upset right now. We wanted to score a lot of points, and we felt like we left a lot out there. Honestly, we did."
Carr's night ended on his worst play of the game: An ill-advised throw on a screen play that was intercepted and taken the other way for an 81-yard score. It was a terrible way for Carr's night to end after finally finding some rapport with rookie receiver Amari Cooper. Carr finished just 18-of-34 passing for 213 yards and the pick.
"I wouldn't say the offense took a step back, because (at times) we were very explosive," Carr said. "There were some good things, but there were some very bad things that we have to correct. We have some time before the Cincinnati week gets here to get those things fixed. I know that we're going to work to do it."
The Raiders running game was the most disappointing and a big reason the offense fizzled each time it worked its way into scoring position. Their top three rushers -- Latavius Murray, Roy Helu and Marcel Reece -- combined for nine yards on 13 carries. Quarterback Christian Ponder's one 12-yard scramble put him second in rushing yards for the night -- behind only Trent Richardson's garbage-time 19 yards on five carries, 15 of which came on one rush.
The Raiders displayed Sunday night they have some promising, exciting pieces in place, but they remain a few strides from contention.
