Silver And Black Pride
When I wrote: “You can’t spell “incompetent” without Pete” seven games into the Las Vegas Raiders 2025 campaign, it was dubbed by some as too harsh.
That column was written after the Silver & Black went into they bye week off a 31-0 shellacking by the Kansas City Chiefs and, despite a valiant effort out of the hiatus (30-29 overtime loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars), Pete Carroll’s Raiders have dropped five-straight games with Sunday’s 24-10 lopsided home loss to the Cleveland Browns.
At 2-9 overall, is that opening line to my column “too harsh” or about right?
Because 11 games into the 2025 season, these Carroll-led Raiders are still stumbling along, making mistakes that should be reserved for preseason and the first four weeks of the regular season, incompetent surely sums up this football team.
“You mentioned execution by players. John McKay was once asked, ‘What do you think your team’s execution? He said, ”The execution is that I think it’s a good idea.” But I never did really understand how he was willing to say that, but I just did it,” Carroll jokingly said when asked who is at fault at the team’s lack of execution. “So anyway, we have to execute better. We have to match up better. We have to do a lot of things better to get the kind of play we need. And so, we’re looking at us in practice, and we’re able to do it there. We’ve got to carry it to the games, and the teams are out there playing, too.”
Forgive Carroll for joking. Because after all, that’s what his football team is: A joke.
Paced by pass rushing phenom Myles Garrett, Browns dropped Raiders quarterback Geno Smith 10 times highlighting (or lowlighting) Carroll’s decision to make his son Brennan the offensive line/run game coordinator heading into this 2025 campaign.
Overall, Las Vegas’ offense couldn’t do much other than give rookie running back Ashton Jeanty the ball — 17 caries for 50 yards (2.9 yards per carry average), eight receptions for 58 yards and a touchdown as Smith ended up 30 of 44 for 285 yards with that lone score and — gasp! — no interceptions.
The Raiders defense did have its moments. Such as an interception from edge rusher Charles Snowden and defensive end Malcolm Koonce showing the pre-ACL-injury burst and closing speed on a sack. Las Vegas star pass rusher led the team with eight total tackles and a game-high five tackles for loss.
But with the offense unable to stay on the field, Chip Kelly’s group sure looked like the Tom Walsh/John Shoop 2006 offense.
Cleveland, meanwhile, wasn’t without it’s own brain farts, however. This long pass from quarterback Shedeur Sanders to wide receiver Jerry Jeudy is humorously repeat-worthy:
Let’s hit the quick slants as fast as this game got out of hand for Las Vegas:
—Sanders wasn’t spectacular against the Raiders defense finishing 11 of 20 for 209 yards with one touchdown and interception. The rookie quarterback...
