Silver And Black Pride
Pete Carroll is trending towards a rare Silver & Black head coach whose team is awful in all three phases of the game. Even in the darkest of seasons, the special teams group operated on nominal settings while the offense and defense couldn’t gain any footing.
Not for the 2025 rendition of the Las Vegas Raiders.
The Indianapolis Colts’ Segun Olubi sprinting around the right edge to block AJ Cole III’s punt this past Sunday was the latest example of special teams gaffe for the Silver & Black in its inaugural year with Carroll at the helm. That big play gave the Colts momentum they wouldn’t relinquish in a pure 40-6 shellacking. The week before, kicker Daniel Carlson watched the Chicago Bears block his go-ahead field goal attempt with 33 seconds left in the game and the Raiders lost to the Chicago Bears 25-24.
Carroll noted the absence of tight end Michael Mayer in both field goal and punt team erodes the special teams group’s effectiveness.
“Well, we’ve had a couple plays that have happened where Mike Mayer plays, and we haven’t backed it up well enough. These guys have been challenged, and so we got to get our guys right,” Carroll said during his Monday media session. “If Mike can play, then we’d like to get him back in there. But there’s been a couple situations that have occurred where he’s a key player for you, and it just shows you that it’s hard with backups got to come in and they’re called on to play just like a legit starter, and so hopefully we clean that up.”
The senseless special teams group combining with the 30th-ranked offense and 25th-ranked defense — in terms of points scored and allowed — are a concoction of catastrophe. And it’s no surprise to see the Raiders at 1-4 overall. Be it Mayer becoming available and healthy or stressing the importance of attention to detail with backups, Carroll and special teams coordinator Tom McMahon need to course correct and get the group back in steadfast shape.
Carroll for one, remains resolute that McMahon — stepped in 19 years of being a special teams boss — can get it done.
“Yeah, we’re working really hard like we have been. Tommy’s been here a long time and done a good job with the club and for the club, and we haven’t changed any of our emphasis. We’ve followed it as much as we can, and we’re counting on really good results,” Carroll explained. “So, the fact that big plays have happened, we got to make sure that we got guys in the right spots. We’re going to keep working with new guys to fit in, see if they can make plays for us. We need our guys that are covering the kicks to do a consistent job, and I’d like to have more defensive guys on those teams when we can.
“But really, our emphasis has been, I would think, is...
