Silver And Black Pride
Week 1 was mission accomplished for the Las Vegas Raiders, taking home a 20-13 win over the New England Patriots. There were plenty of standout performances from the Silver and Black on Sunday, so let’s dive into this week’s winners and losers.
Carroll made NFL history by just stepping on the sidelines in Week 1, becoming the oldest head coach to coach a game in the league. So, he’s also the oldest to win a game and be 1-0. On top of that, the 74-year-old, who turns 75 next week, became the first NFL coach to win his debut game with four different teams: the New York Jets (1994), Patriots (1997), Seattle Seahawks (2010) and now the Raiders (2025).
In other words, it was a very historic afternoon for Carroll.
Speaking of winning their Silver and Black debut, Smith had an outstanding performance in New England. He was one of three quarterbacks to throw for over 300 yards in Week 1 (pre-Monday Night Football) and finished with 362 yards, 44 more than third-place Justin Herbert. Smith also did a good job of spreading the ball around, targeting eight different receivers and completing passes to seven of them.
With Las Vegas’ running game having a tough time getting going, the quarterback put the team on his back and carried them to victory, which hasn’t happened for the franchise in a while.
One downside to the Raiders’ offense on Sunday was the right side of the offensive line. Pro Football Focus currently has DJ Glaze (48.2) and Jackson Powers-Johnson (44.1) as the team’s lowest-graded offensive players, and that’s hard to argue with.
Glaze up four pressures and earned a 53.4 mark as a run-blocker, while Powers-Johnson surrendered a sack and posted a 54.8 grade in the ground game. Also, both were flagged for two penalties each. This was a big reason why the Raiders struggled to run the ball, and these two have some work to do moving forward.
Especially with Elandon Roberts suffering an injury early in the game, Las Vegas needed a linebacker to step up and White answered the call. Not only did he lead the team in total tackles with 11, but he made several high-quality tackles with five ‘defensive stops’, tied for the fifth-most among linebackers in Week 1 (pre-MNF), per PFF.
Additionally, the free-agent addition was targeted five times and allowed only two receptions for 14 yards, adding to the list of strong silver and black debuts from Sunday.
While Mayer only had four catches for 38 yards, each reception was impactful. He had three first downs and the other catch put the offense in a favorable down and distance. Also, the tight end was impressively efficient with 2.38 yards per route run, which is currently tied for the seventh-best at the position, per PFF. Additionally, Mayer posted a solid 69.5 run-blocking grade...
