For a head coach who preaches being fundamentally sound, Pete Carroll’s Las Vegas Raiders were fundamentally bad in a 41-24 shellacking at the hands of the Washington Commanders this past Sunday.
Unable
to tackle and block (along with a myriad of other things), the Silver & Black were outclassed in all three phases of the game — offense, defense, and special teams — in an Eastern time zone whooping that had shades of prior regime incompetence all over it.
“No. If I had known that, I would have done something,” Carroll said in the postgame press conference when asked if he expected this kind of lopsided defeat in Week 3. “So I’m taking this one, and I’m disappointed in myself that I didn’t see it coming.”
Even with Washington showcasing sloppy football, Las Vegas couldn’t take advantage. After getting torched by Commanders quarterback Marcus Mariota on a 22-yard run, defensive tackle Thomas Booker made a great hustle play to run him down and force the fumble (which was recovered by cornerback Kyu Blu Kelly), the Raiders offense couldn’t do anything and punted the ball away.
Then, on back-to-back series, Raiders opportunities and gaffes were highlighted again. First, was a ball that bounced off Washington wide receiver Deebo Samuel’s chest and into the eager hands of Raiders safety Isaiah Pola-Mao only for the would-be interception hitting the ground. Then, a few plays later, Pola-Mao getting flagged for a 15-yard unnecessary roughness penalty on a hit where Samuel was a runner with the football. But Las Vegas defense made a stand and Washington missed a gimmie 35-yard field goal
The Raiders offense faltered and punted the ball away resulting in an electric return from Commanders speedster Jaylin Lane that saw Las Vegas tight end Michael Mayer suffer a concussion on the hit to Lane.
Even when the Raiders knotted the game up at 10 — after quarterback Geno Smith found fleet-footed wideout Tre Tucker for one of three touchdowns — the Commanders answered very quickly. Safety Jeremy Chinn seemed to have stonewalled running back Jeremy McNichols, however, the Commanders tailback remained on his feet, and shook off Chinn’s tackle and linebacker Elandon Roberts’ attempt to gallop for a 60-yard touchdown — 17-10 Washington in the span of 49 seconds of game clock.
“Huge play. That’s just not the football that we play, and that’s what I’m saying,” Carroll said when asked about the long run. “We have to be better, because it starts right with that. If you give up big plays, you’re no good, and we were no good today.”
Let’s hit the quick slants as fast as McNichols took off for the touchdown:
—Tucker had a career game with eight catches for 145 yards and three touchdowns — the longest of which was a 61-yard bomb from Smith. Jakobi Meyers was the next most productive receiving option for the Raiders with three catches for 63 yards.
—Smith had a bounce back performance going 19 of 29 for 289 yard and three touchdown throws. But he was under duress and sacked five times by the Commanders.
—Raiders running back Ashton Jeanty churned out 63 yards on 17 carries (a long of 18 where he displayed vision and power). But the sixth overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft was auspiciously absent for long stretches as Zamir White (five carries for 19 yards) and Dylan Laube (three carries for two yards) took his place.
—I’m curious if Raiders tight end Brock Bowers is 100 percent healthy. In my mind, based on what he did at Georgia and his rookie season in Las Vegas last year, a healthy Bowers leaps over Washington safety Will Harris for a touchdown grab on Smith’s lob. Instead, incomplete and Raiders kick a field goal on their opening drive.
—Lane, a fourth round pick in the 2025 draft, torched the Raiders on a 90-yard punt return and finished with five returns for 127 yards and a score. The 25.4 per return average highlights how successful Washington’s special teams unit was. In comparison, the Raiders got two returns from Tucker who gained 10 total yards on both.
Quotes of Note
“Nothing is going sideways. It’s Week 3 in the NFL, and we have a long season ahead of us. It’s never easy to
lose a game. You want to win every game, but that’s not the reality. The reality is that we’re faced with battles in front of us. As a quarterback, as a football player, I look forward to those challenges. We’re embracing that as a team and as a locker room. Each guy in this locker room is going to stick together, stand by his fellow teammate, and do what’s right. That’s where we are at with. There is no separation here. No one is pointing fingers. If anything, point the finger at me, and we’ll get it fixed.”
—Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Geno Smith on how the team ensures it doesn’t spiral after another disconcerting loss
“It was a short week, and he just got back. We’ll give Alex a chance to go again and see how that goes. He was available to play, but we just decided for the continuity of coming out last week, we might be a little bit smoother, and we didn’t hit any of these days this week, and so it just felt like this was a better choice to go that way. The competition goes on.”
—Las Vegas Raiders head coach Pete Carroll on why Alex Cappa got the start at right guard despite Jackson Powers-Johnson clearing concussion protocol and being available
Up Next
The Raiders (1-2) are slated to host the Chicago Bears (1-2) for an afternoon tilt in Allegiant Stadium next Sunday. Chicago was really feeling itself on Sunday in a 31-14 thrashing of the visiting Dallas Cowboys. Quarterback Caleb Williams three four touchdowns and zero interceptions while sporting an impressive 142.6 quarterback rating. Not a good omen for a Las Vegas defense that allowed a 118.6 rating to Marcus Mariota. Chicago’s defense also racked up a trio of interceptions in their lambasting of Dallas.
