Raiders still trying to eliminate mental errors

When last seen, the Raiders were essentially gift-wrapping a win to the Rams after a series of fourth-quarter mental blunders.

The truly frustrating part? Going back to last spring, the Raiders put an emphasis on eliminating mental mistakes. To the point in which players ran laps for transgressions like jumping offsides and other unforced errors.

Even more troubling, the blunders followed a three-game winning streak in which they set a standard for themselves by avoiding those types of mistakes.

“We see how hard it is to do it right all the time, and not that you want to say you have it figured out, but it was like, we’re getting the system down,” quarterback Derek Carr said.

Yet there they were, in a must-win situation, doing the exact opposite of what they stressed and prioritized. For the Raiders, who have lost seven one-score games, playing with discipline in key situations remains a problem.

“Some of that comes from experience, some of it comes from we’ve had to learn some hard lessons,” coach Josh McDaniels said. “But sometimes those lessons are the most valuable to you as you move forward. They don’t feel good now, but hopefully as we move forward, you don’t make them again.”

Despite the emphasis about playing with discipline, the Raiders are tied for fifth in the NFL in penalties with 86. That includes 13 false starts and five offsides infractions.

Two in particular against the Rams were damaging.

Cle Ferrell lined up offsides on a Rams punt, resulting in a first down that led to a touchdown to pull Los Angeles within 16-10.

Then, on the Rams’ next drive, Jerry Tillery knocked the ball out of quarterback Baker Mayfield’s hands, resulting in an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty that negated a sack.

Rather than facing a second and 19 from inside their 15 — with 1:20 remaining and no timeouts — the Rams had a first down from their 28. The penalty played a huge role in the Rams driving 72 yards for the game-winning touchdown.

It begs the question, how much can be done to eliminate those types of mistakes? For the Raiders to better handle the past four games and get away from repeating the same errors that have cost them dearly, they need to be more disciplined.

“We try to coach it the best we can,” McDaniels said. “We’re absolutely trying to hold everybody accountable to a championship standard in terms of the way we prepare, the way we play and the way we coach.”

The mistakes led to some soul-searching in the immediate aftermath of the loss.

“It’s because of the urgency to win, the urgency to want to do it right,” Carr said. “There was no other thought process than just doing football better.”

Of course, that has been a consistent message all season. But 14 weeks into the season, the Raiders are still trying to make it happen on the field.

“Each one is different, each situation you have to look at individually,” McDaniels said. “The reality is — we’ve said this a lot — it’s an imperfect game. I haven’t watched the game all year where somebody played perfect. There’s a lot of plays in every game. There’s a lot of mistakes being made on both sides of the ball … and I don’t think anybody on our team has done anything intentionally to try to harm our opportunity to win. They do their best.”

Contact Vincent Bonsignore at vbonsignore@reviewjournal.com. Follow @VinnyBonsignore on Twitter.