If you spent your Thursday evening watching the Las Vegas Raiders and Denver Broncos, you should be entitled to compensation after watching such an abhorrent display of football.
In another brutal night on the road for Pete Carroll and Geno Smith (who suffered a left quad contusion on a night in which he was sacked six times and “threw” his league-leading 12th interception that Ashton Jeanty dropped), the Raiders lost 10-7 to the Broncos in a game that was so bereft of offense that it was reminiscent
of the Russell Wilson disasterclass versus the Indianapolis Colts in 2022.
Vegas and Denver both had 10 first downs… and 11 accepted penalties. This is something not seen since the 1976 Seattle Seahawks and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
If you know your franchise history, this was the first win the Seahawks ever had. They scraped past the eventual 0-14 Buccaneers in a 13-10 shootout, with the Seahawks recording 14 first downs and the Buccaneers getting 18. Seattle committed 15 accepted penalties for 120 yards, while the Bucs had an astonishing 20 accepted flags for 190 yards. Never before did an audience need NFL RedZone more than this particular week in 1976.
The Raiders have scored a grand total of 15 points over their last three road games. They’re 2-7 for the third time in four seasons under three different coaches. Pete Carroll was supposed to be different than Josh McDaniels and Antonio Pierce, but it’s the same as it ever was. Carroll has never lost more than 10 games in an NFL season and that looks like an inevitability this year.
We’re 12 years removed from Pete taking the Seahawks to their first ever Super Bowl victory, and for that he is a legend. I don’t think it’s controversial to say (even acknowledging the perpetually sorry state of this Raiders roster) that Pete’s best days are behind him based on the end of his Seahawks tenure. However, I’d rather not remember Carroll this way. It wasn’t like Las Vegas was expected to make the playoffs or anything, but if Carroll isn’t producing results any better than the Josh McDaniels or Antonio Pierce squads, then it’s an unmitigated disaster.
The Raiders are scheduled to play the Seahawks in Vegas in 2026. If Carroll and Smith are both still around by then, I’d be stunned. At the very least, there’s no chance Smith stays based on his performances, but I don’t know how Carroll will take this level of losing regardless of how management views his future.
