Raiders to start Kenny Pickett at quarterback against Eagles in place of injured Geno Smith
Kenny Pickett will be the Las Vegas Raiders’ starting quarterback against the Philadelphia Eagles this weekend, coach Pete Carroll announced on Friday. He will be stepping in for Geno Smith, who did not practice this week after injuring his shoulder and hand in last week’s loss to the Denver Broncos.
“Geno won’t make it back,” Carroll said. “He tried. Couldn’t get it done in this amount of time.
“The expectation I’ve held for backup quarterbacks in the past, they’ve got to be on it every day,” Carroll said. “They’ve got to work every day … They need the mentality that the very next play, they may be in there. Kenny’s done that well. We talked about it way back when, he’s done everything we could ask of him. He had an excellent week. He’s in command of what we’re doing, communications are good and all that. Got a little East Coast in him, so that won’t hurt. We’ll support him in every way that we can to have a good game.”