Raise your hand if you remember the Art Shell-led 2006 Oakland Raiders.
If your hand was shaking at the awful memory, I don’t blame you.
That team featured Art Shell’s return to the coaching game after a 12-season hiatus — the 60-year-old last coached the Raiders back in 1994 — and then-owner Al Davis’ decision for Shell Game The Sequel was quite disastrous. Not only did Raider Nation get Shell 2.0, the coach brought back his old offensive coordinator Tom Walsh. Like the head coach, the play caller
had a 12-year gap between the last time he coached the Silver & Black and operated a bed & breakfast during his time away from the coaching game.
Hence, the “Bed & Breakfast” offense moniker, and oh boy, did that label stick — hard.
Shell, Walsh, and the coaching staff steered the Raiders aground to a 2-14 overall record with the 32nd-ranked offense that scored a total of 168 points and 10.5 points per game average. The defense ended 18th allowing 332 points and an average of 20.8 points per game. Shell replaced Walsh with John Shoop (currently the head coach for the Nordic Storm of the European League of Football) in-season.
Why bring this all up?
The Pete Carroll 2025 Raiders are reminiscent of that awful 2006 squad. Both variants of the Silver & Black share the flat-lined offense and middling/lower echelon defense as characteristics.
At 2-8 overall, the current rendition of the Silver & Black are ranked 30th offensively with 155 total points and an average of 15.5 points per contest. Defensively, the team is 24th allowing a total of 253 points and an average of 25.3 points per contest through 10 games so far.
But unlike their counterparts in Shell and Walsh, Carroll (the oldest head coach in league history at 74 years old) and Kelly didn’t have a dozen year gap between coaching stints. And this makes the Raiders performance thus far much worse. We can rail on the Raiders’ lack of talent, but we can’t ignore coaching as an issue, too.
Offensive Offenses
Despite having Shell and the accomplished Jackie Slater and Irv Eatman as co-offensive line coaches, the 2006 Raiders offensive line was atrocious. Combine that with Walsh’s antiquated concepts and play calling, the results were unsurprisingly unbearable. Through 11 games that year, the team scored a league-low 132 points and allowed a league-high 53 sacks.
Aaron Brooks, who initially served as the starting quarterback, was running for his life as soon as he got the snap and was sacked 26 times in the eight games he played. He also finished with three touchdowns to eight interceptions before Andrew Walter took over. And, oh man, cement shoes Walter didn’t fare any better getting sacked 46 times (the Raiders finished the year allowing 72 total sacks) while throwing three touchdowns and a whopping 13 interceptions.
In comparison, current Raiders starting quarterback Geno Smith absorbed 31 sack so far while tossing 12 touchdowns to a league-high (tie) 13 interceptions through 10 games.
The leading rusher for Shell’s Raiders was Justin Fargas (178 carries for 559 yards and a touchdown) with LaMont Jordan adding 434 yards and two scores on 114 carries. Both yards per carry averages were paltry at 3.7 and 3.8, respectively. The leading receivers were Ronald Curry (62 catches for 727 yards and one touchdown) and a disgruntled Randy Moss (42 receptions for 553 yards and three touchdowns).
Currently, rookie running back Ashton Jeanty leads the Raiders with 554 yards and four touchdowns on 149 carries (3.7 yards per attempt). Speedster wideout Tre Tucker leads receivers with 502 yards and five touchdowns on 38 receptions while tight end Brock Bowers totals 39 catches for 455 yards and a trio of touchdowns, in comparison.
Shoot, there’s even an eerily similar doghouse incident with the 2006 and 2025 Raiders. Back then, it was wide receiver Jerry Porter who made a trade demand and criticized Shell and his staff before being inactive the first four games and then suspended for two more. This season, offensive lineman Jackson Powers-Johnson was put shifted from center to guard and then put in rigorous competition for the starting job with veteran Alex Cappa. Competition for JPJ, but none for Smith who’s performance has been topsy turvy, but I digress.
Getting Defensive
That 2006 campaign was cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha’s finest statistically: Eight interceptions, one pick six, 19 pass deflections, a forced fumble, sack, and 51 total tackles. That was the final season where quarterbacks threw it No. 21’s way with regular frequency. Fellow cornerback Fabian Washington snared four interceptions that year along with 15 pass deflections and 40 total tackles.
Defensive end Derrick Burgess paced the Raiders defense with 11 sacks (51 total tackles, 10 stops for loss) while defensive tackle Warren Sapp finished with 10 sacks (47 total tackles, 13 stops for loss). Linebackers Kirk Morrison and Thomas Howard paced the team in total tackles with 128 and 110, respectively, giving then-defensive coordinator Rob Ryan two young defenders to lean on.
The Raiders did third overall in least amount of yards given up defensively (4,557), however, with the offense’s inability to move the ball, sustain drives, and score, the opposition was given ample field position and, with a lead in hand, didn’t have to try hard as they knew the Silver & Black offensive attack wasn’t a serious threat.
Currently, safety Isaiah Pola-Mao and cornerback Kyu Blu Kelly lead the team interceptions with two apiece. Defensive end Maxx Crosby paces the Patrick Graham’s pass rush with six sacks (42 total tackles, 14 stops for loss) with defensive tackle Jonah Laulu with four sacks (28 total tackles, six stops for loss). Meanwhile, linebacker Devin White is the leading tackler (97 total, seven stops for loss, along with a sack and interception) with safety Jeremy Chinn second with 70 total tackles (three stops for loss).
That 2006 defense finished with 23 takeaways (27th in the league) while showcasing the top-ranked unit against the pass (in terms of yards, 2,413) but 25th against the run (2,144 yards allowed). So far, the current 2025 unit has 11 takeaways (15th in the league) while being ranked 19th in passing yards allowed (2,195) and 15th in rushing yards yielded (1,073).
With seven games left, starting with this Sunday’s home game against the incoming Cleveland Browns (also 2-8 overall), there’s plenty of time for Carroll’s Raiders to improve and not sink to the 2006 level of impotence. The flipside of that is, it’s also plenty of opportunities to sink to the ’06 level.
