Silver And Black Pride
Stop me if you’ve heard this before: At least the Las Vegas Raiders special teams unit is holding up its end of the bargain.
Even in the darkest and ugliest seasons in Silver & Black history, you can count on a stellar season performance from … a Raiders punter. Through the first three games of the 2025 campaign, Las Vegas’ punter AJ Cole III and kicker Daniel Carlson are their usual productive selves.
But the rest of Tom McMahon’s special teams unit is a mixed bag.
While the pair of kicking specialists are executing their respective roles, the Raiders return and coverage units are a work in progress. And Las Vegas’ 41-24 defeat at the hands of the Washington Commanders this past Sunday highlight just how much work the Raiders truly have in that regard.
The group simply faltered — badly.
Behold, Commanders fleet-footed rookie Jaylin Lane taking advantage of a fundamentally bad punt coverage unit as the fourth-round pick put his foot in the grass and sprinted past the Raiders:
When asked specifically about what he thinks the issues plaguing special teams, Raiders head coach Pete Carroll took a holistic viewpoint.
“Well, I go back to the whole team, and that’s why this is my responsibility. The whole team, fundamentally, did not play well,” Carroll began during his Monday press conference. “I’m going to give it to Danny (Washington head coach Dan Quinn) too, I thought his team played exceedingly well in all phases. Larry Izzo, their special teams coach, used to be our special teams coach. He got those guys ready to go, and they whipped us on the returns. And so, it’s a hard game, but I’m going to take it.
“I have to do a better job of getting these guys ready to go in the matchups that we have regardless, and it showed up on special teams quite, quite clearly. Fundamentals just being low and leverage and attack and defending blocks and beating the blockers on our coverage, all of that. And it was the too many big plays that lead them to an easy win for them.”
Washington opened the game with 69-yard kickoff return from wide receiver Deebo Samuel as reserve Las Vegas safety Tristen McCollum was able to to chase down the Commanders wideout for the stop on the Raiders’ 27-yard line. Just five plays later, Washington scored first — a two-yard touchdown run by quarterback Marcus Mariota.
Samuel’s long return was the first of many special teams coverage miscues from Las Vegas.
Lane housing that punt 90 yards blew the game wide open giving the Commanders a commanding 27-10 lead in the third quarter. In total, the Virginia Tech product galloped for 127 yards on five punt returns boasting a robust 25.4 yards per return average that’s bolstered by the distance on his touchdown return.
One of his returns was an electric 25-yard sprint where he was rocked by Raiders tight end Michael Mayer. Unfortunately for Las Vegas,...
