Quarterback Geno Smith’s tenure with the Las Vegas Raiders was certainly a brief one. With his old coach Pete Carroll running the show in Las Vegas, the Raiders gave the Seattle Seahawks a third-round pick for Smith in March during the 2025 offseason. A year later (almost on the exact date), Las Vegas sent Smith to the New York Jets for a sixth- and seventh-round pick swap. Seeing as the Raiders and Jets play this weekend, that’s arguably the biggest storyline of the Week 8 matchup.
Smith’s lone season
in Las Vegas wasn’t pretty. In fact, it was downright ugly. He made 15 starts, posting a 2-13 record while throwing for 3,025 yards and almost as many touchdowns (19) as interceptions (17). The latter was the most in the NFL.
On top of that, the veteran quarterback clearly wasn’t happy with the Raiders. The boiling point came in late November. After a 24-10 loss to a 2-8 Cleveland Browns team, frustrated fans showered Smith with boos as he left the field, and he responded by giving them the finger. Smith apologized for his actions, but at that point, it was pretty clear the organization would be moving on from him in the offseason.
Now in New York, the 14-year veteran has had a decent bounce-back performance. He’s only thrown two picks and already has 10 touchdowns, while ranking 13th in the league with 1,623 passing yards. Granted, the Jets are 2-5, so the quarterback’s improvement hasn’t led to many wins. But there’s no denying that he’s playing better than last season.
Smith has played it coy in the media this week, saying he doesn’t “really put too much stock into” facing his previous team while mixing in the “it’s just another game” cliché (h/t Randy Lang of the Jets’ website). However, one has to imagine he’s had this matchup circled on the calendar as a “revenge game” given how last year unfolded. On top of his personal experience, Smith and Carroll are close, so he’s likely looking for retribution for his old coach, too.
Meanwhile, the Raiders’ defense was atrocious in October. Vegas heads into Week 8 ranking 29th (fourth from last) with 28.1 points per game allowed for the entire season, and the unit was dead last over the last month with 35.8 PPG allowed, four points worse than any other team, per Sumer Sports.
Granted, stopping the run has been the bigger problem. However, a coverage unit that allows the sixth-highest EPA per pass (0.12) and third-highest pass success rate (50.8%) on the campaign, per Sumer, certainly isn’t helping the cause either.
So, for this week’s game day discussion on The FEED, we’ll be keeping tabs on Smith’s revenge game. The game kicks off at 10:00 a.m. PST and will air on FOX (check your local listings). I look forward to talkin’ some ball with y’all!
