The Raiders defeated the Patriots 20-13 on Sunday, and with that win come some crucial stats that can be looked into for not only recapping how well the Raiders truly did but also some area’s of weakness or strengths that may be unexpected going forward into the rest of the NFL season.
8 Players, 33 Targets:
Geno Smith tossed 362 yards, a touchdown, and an interception in week one while also being sacked four times and completing, to no surprise, 71% of his attempts. Smith’s average outdoor stat line is a 1.5:1 TD/INT ratio
so his performance vs the Patriots in that category is about expected, though he is above average in yards. The biggest aspect for the Raiders is how often Smith and Chip Kelly got the ball targeted at different receivers. Jakobi Meyers led the team with 10 targets and posted 8 receptions for 97 yards with a drop as well. Meyers consistently won his reps and found soft spots in zone drops that Geno was able to attack. Brock Bowers led the team with 103 yards and five receptions while also logging eight targets and 50 yards after the catch. Michael Mayer recorded 4 targets, and 5 receptions. Rookie receivers Dont’e Thornton (4 targets) and Jack Bech (1 target) got involved with big plays as well. Ashton Jeanty logged another 3 targets and Alex Bachman had one before half. It’s clear the Raiders value their offensive personnel highly, they stuck to their game plan of targeting Meyers and Bowers often with supplemental efforts to Thornton, Tucker, and Mayer throughout the game. Tre Tucker turned in a big performance as did the others indicating the Raiders are likely to stick to that approach going forward.
4 Sacks, 14 Pressures, 2 YPC:
The Raiders allowed 4 sacks vs the Patriots with 2.5 coming from Harold Landy who was among the worst in the NFL last season in win rate. Landry consistently won through the Patriots exploration of stunts and twists attacking Jordan Meredith and Jackson Powers-Johnson most often. The struggles were clear at times, they seemed to lack communication and overall Powers-Johnson didn’t look fully comfortable playing right guard, which does make sense given he’s played the position just 29 times in a regular season game coming into this week while having not started there since 2022 at the University of Oregon. Meredith did look comfortable at center and while he struggled in the first half noticing blitz assignments and making changes to the protections, changes were made at halftime and the Raiders saw success picking up on the Patriots defensive front. Overall New England did record 21 pressures (4 by former Raiders LB Robert Spillane and 2 from K’Lavon Chaisson) largely in part to their ability to scheme up free looks and creative blitz designs that confused and attacked the Raiders up front. Geno Smith performed well despite being pressured at a high rate but the Raiders are going to need to fix their communication up front quickly.
In the run game, the Raiders struggled seeing first round pick Ashton Jeanty rush for just 38 yards and a touchdown on 19 attempts, good for 2 YPC. Jeanty did record two attempts of 9 yards in the first half but the Patriots adjustments up front made it difficult for them to consistently get good push and running lanes for Jeanty. The rookie runningback did record 3 forced missed tackles but with an average depth of contact at 1.3 yards things need to be shored up immediately. Jeanty posted -22 yards over expected but his 6.44 efficiency rating is 2nd in the NFL headed into the rest of the NFL’s Sunday slate.
20 (MPH and Yards)
The Raiders had three players post speed times over 20 miles per hour in their week one win vs the Patriots, with Tre Tucker logging 20.43 mph on his touchdown reception which was the 2nd fastest in his career. Brock Bowers logged 20.27 mph on a 38 yard reception, the fastest of his career. Finally, 2nd year runningback Dylan Laube posted exactly 20 mph on a 34 yard kickoff return. All three of their times are currently top 20 in the NFL, and while that will change, it’s impressive to see quick times from the Raiders this early into the season. Rookie Dont’e Thornton did record a 20.73 mark on a route in the 2nd quarter though didn’t qualify due to not being targeted.
Geno Smith, while not hitting 20 MPH, did excel on attempts over 20 yards. In 6 attempts over 20 yards, Smith completed 4 of his 5 attempts for 120 yards, a TD, and an INT while also logging 2 Big Time Throws. Notably, Smith completed all of these metrics on the right side of the hash between 20 and 30 yards (the INT came on the opposite hash). The best deep ball passer in the NFL over the last two seasons, that doesn’t seem to be changing with the Raiders in 2025 as through Sundays early slate, Smith has the most deep passing yards, highest comp %, and is tied for 2nd in big time throws.
Separation:
The NFL’s league average for separation is 2.98 yards, for the Raiders in week one every receiver but Brock Bowers (2.72 yards) and Dont’e Thornton (0.92 yards) hit this metric, something they haven’t done in nearly 20 games. Michael Mayer currently leads NFL TE with 5.68 yards of separation and Tre Tucker added an additional 3.83 yards. Veteran Jakobi Meyers was exactly at league average. On defense, the team allowed Stefon Diggs to average 16.46 yards however held the rest of the Patriots receivers below average with Pop Douglas, Kayshoun Boutte, and Mack Hollins all recorded sub 2.4 yards of separation. Notably, Raiders CB Kyu Blu Kelly allowed just 1.3 yards of separation and linebacker Devin White 2.63.
Pass Rush Success:
The Raiders went into halftime struggling on defense, they got picked apart at the second and third levels which was largely in part to a lack of pass rush being generated from the front 4. The second half saw the Raiders pick up three sacks and 7 quarterback hits. Overall, the Raiders logged four sacks, with Maxx Crosby, Jonah Laulu, Malcolm Koonce, and Tyree Wilson all logging one. In addition, Crosby and Adam Butler posted recorded 6 pressures with Crosby adding 2 quarterback hits and Butler one. Koonce struggled early into the game, seemingly lacking juice and he was pushed around in the running game at times. However, in the final quarter and a half, Koonce turned things around with a strip sack and finishing the game with 4 pressures and a TFL. In his first game bac, Koonce also logged a 13.8% win rate against a top five pick at offensive tackle. In addition to their four sacks, the Raiders posted 23 pressures and 10 quarterback hits with three players (Crosby, Koonce, and Booker IV) finishing above a 13% win rate.
