Silver And Black Pride
Let’s be honest, the standard is pretty low for the Las Vegas Raiders this season. So, while the now 2-13 club lost to the Houston Texans in Week 16, falling just two points short against one of the hottest teams in the NFL is an accomplishment for this year’s Raiders. Plus, Las Vegas got a handful of notable performances, and the game didn’t ruin the organization’s odds at getting the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NFL draft.
With that, there’s a much more positive tune to this week’s winners and losers.
It’s hard to argue that Jeanty wasn’t the Raiders’ biggest winner on Sunday. He recorded just his second game with triple-digit rushing yards and showed plenty of explosiveness on a 51-yard score. Also, he logged a season-high 10 missed tackles forced on the ground, per Pro Football Focus, and hauled in a 60-yard touchdown catch to post the most yards from scrimmage he’s had this year with 188.
This is exactly the type of performance the rookie needed to build some momentum heading into 2026. And as tough a campaign as it’s been, he’s just 172 rushing yards from reaching the 1,000-yard milestone.
Porter has had back-to-back tough performances against strong competition. This week, he was going up against Nico Collins and allowed a pair of catches—both for first downs—and 40 yards on three targets, on top of getting called for pass interference while guarding Collins on another rep. To be fair, the rookie was in a good position on the latter, but he panicked and ended up drawing the flag.
Don’t get it twisted, Porter still has a bright future in Las Vegas. However, it would have been nice to see him rise to the occasion against strong competition.
Again, the standard is pretty low for the Silver and Black this season, and this was the first time they’ve scored 20 or more points since Week 9. Olson put together a pretty good game plan by showing some creativity and keeping the league’s best edge-rush duo, Will Anderson Jr. and Danielle Hunter, in check, relatively speaking. Yes, Anderson and Hunter had a sack each, but they weren’t nearly as many, myself included, thought they’d be heading into the contest.
Plus, this was the most points the Texans’ defense has given up since Week 10, and only the fourth time all season that they’ve allowed 20 or more points.
Part of the reason why Houston started picking on Porter with Collins is that the offense wasn’t having any success targeting Stokes. The veteran corner was thrown at six times and yielded just two completions for 13 yards and no first downs, including four targets and one catch for six yards against the Texans’ No. 1 receiver, per PFF.
On top of that, Stokes was credited with one forced incompletion, a 42.4 passer rating when targeted and a defensive stop against the run....
