Graney: It’s how the Raiders lost that is so concerning

It’s not about the standings anymore. Or the schedule. About where the Raiders sit in the AFC West or who they play next.

Those ships sailed in a 24-0 debacle of a defeat at New Orleans on Sunday.

There’s a much deeper issue here. It’s not that the Raiders lost. It’s how they lost. How they reacted during such an embarrassing display of ineptitude.

Who are they, anyway?

What in the world is their identity?

We knew such answers last season.

Believe what you want about the interim coaching job of Rich Bisaccia — which is looking better and better — but the team that made the playoffs competed with a certain level of emotion. A spirit to it.

It played for one another in a time of internal turmoil following the resignation of coach Jon Gruden. It had — contrived or not — an edge to it. An us-against-the-world mentality.

The team that lost Sunday owned none of that. There was no fight to it. No grit. No insatiable desire to overcome.

Unless you think being disinterested is some sort of distinguishing trait.

Look at McDaniels

Point a finger initially at coach Josh McDaniels. He still very much needs to prove this is a position for which he was meant and qualified. Hasn’t come close yet. He has won just seven of his past 29 games in this specific role when dating to a failed tenure in Denver.

Preparation is an interesting point. I’m sure the Raiders watched film of the Saints. They held practice like usual. Had their team and individual meetings.

But those are ancillary factors to truly understanding the pulse of a team. Someone should have seen this coming. Someone like McDaniels.

It’s true. Great players make great coaches. But great players can also artificially inflate the reputation of their coach, which may have been the case when Tom Brady played under the watchful eye of McDaniels as his coordinator in New England.

Players also deserve a massive share of blame for Sunday.

Derek Carr was under constant duress as his offensive line sputtered and succumbed around him, but the quarterback also wasn’t any good. Threw for 101 yards. Or, well, 57 fewer than Saints running back Alvin Kamara had in all-purpose gains.

There is no more important position than quarterback in sports, none that can make such a difference between winning and losing. Not in basketball or baseball or hockey or anything. Carr as the league’s 14th-ranked player at his position — seems a little high at this point, no? — offered little to nothing of consequence.

In what universe is it acceptable that star wide receiver Davante Adams has one catch for 3 yards? That wide receiver Hunter Renfrow has one for 6?

When the ones you paid so handsomely in the offseason to build an immediate winner are such nonfactors, so unproductive in most all ways, winning isn’t an option.

So too, it would appear, is scoring.

Things weren’t any better defensively. The next time the Raiders cover Kamara will be the first.

“You get put in situations like this sometimes to see how you respond,” McDaniels said Monday. “I think the response to any adversity is, really, in many ways, as important as anything else you’re going to do. And so, we’ve had some adversity this year, and we’ve tried to respond to it. This is another one.”

Not really. Not like previous losses. Not even like blowing the largest lead in franchise history (20-0) at home before falling to Arizona in overtime.

This was worse. Zero sense of urgency. Blank facial expressions (see Carr, for one) on the sidelines. Zero answers for what transpired. The head coach failed. His assistants failed. His players did.

Time in Florida

This isn’t just another response to adversity. This is when we see which professionals lead, what sort of identity a 2-5 team desires.

Maybe a week of practice in Florida before engaging Jacksonville on Sunday will provide answers. Maybe they rediscover some of those traits that defined last year, because how they react to 24-0 could set the stage for the rest of a season.

Who are these Raiders, really?

We’re about to find out.

One embarrassing debacle can push a team one way or the other.

Ed Graney is a Sigma Delta Chi Award winner for sports column writing and can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com. He can be heard on “The Press Box,” ESPN Radio 100.9 FM and 1100 AM, from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. Monday through Friday. Follow @edgraney on Twitter