At 1-3 after the first month of the season, the Las Vegas Raiders are searching for answers. The offensive line played much better against the Chicago Bears, allowing zero sacks and paving the way for Ashton Jeanty’s breakout performance last Sunday. However, that wasn’t enough to overcome Geno Smith’s second three-interception performance, as quarterback play is the primary topic of discussion for the Raiders in the Week 5 NFL Power Rankings roundup.
NFL.com
28. Las Vegas Raiders
Last week: 26
Even with Ashton
Jeanty’s breakout game, Las Vegas came up short again. The blocked field goal at game’s end was the exclamation point for the Bears, but the Raiders coughed away plenty of chances before that. Geno Smith has largely struggled, throwing another three picks to bring his season total to an NFL-worst seven, and he couldn’t deliver in crunch time. Jeanty ran for 138 yards and a TD and caught two scoring passes, but he also has struggled in short-yardage situations, fumbling on fourth down in the first half and getting stuffed before the late FG try. The Raiders still must go on the road to face the Colts and Chiefs before the Week 8 bye, with a lot to clean up. — Eric Edholm
To put Smith’s picks into comparison, he’s about halfway to his season total in 2024 (15), and he only had four at this point a year ago. He’s currently on pace to have a similar interception total to his rookie season, when he threw a career high 21 interceptions and had eight in the first four games.
As for Jeanty, Edholm’s knocks on the rookie are missing some context. Yes, he needs to hold onto the ball and avoid the fumble, but both of the short-yardage runs mentioned above had an unblocked defender in the backfield.
ESPN
25. Las Vegas Raiders
Last week: 22
Biggest issue on offense: Geno Smith’s interceptions
Smith has thrown three interceptions in a game twice this season, including this past Sunday. The Raiders finally got the ground game going with rookie running back Ashton Jeanty, but Smith’s turnovers cost them in the end. He has totaled seven picks already this season after finishing with 15 (third most in the league) in all of 2024 with the Seahawks.. “We lost our chances to score when the offense was out there, more so than what [the Bears] did with it when they took it away from us,” coach Pete Carroll said. — Ryan McFadden
The analysis of his turnovers costing the Raiders this season is spot on. It’s hard to win when the quarterback turns the ball over three times, and that’s happened twice in four games. Clearly, the team needs more stability from the most important position on the field moving forward.
Bleacher Report
25. Las Vegas Raiders
Last week: 23
Last week, the Las Vegas Raiders lost thanks to Geno Smith’s interceptions and a blocked field goal. Multiple teams have won or lost games due to special teams, but the Raiders have a significant issue with offensive inefficiencies. Smith leads the league with seven interceptions, and he’s thrown six of them at home, which goes against his recent trend of playing at a higher level indoors. The Raiders brought in a new offensive coaching staff and acquired a two-time Pro Bowl quarterback this offseason, but they’re still a work in progress on that side of the ball. — Moe Moton
The “recent trend” Moton mentions is that Smith came into the season with a 20-to-3 or 6.7-to-1 touchdown-to-interception ratio when playing indoors, according to Warren Sharp. But he’s only thrown two scores to his six indoor picks so far in 2025. Also, the home loss drops Las Vegas to 0-2 at Allegiant Stadium this season and 19-25 since the building opened its doors in 2020, per Pro Football Reference.
The Athletic
28. Las Vegas Raiders
Last week: 25
Rookie spotlight: Ashton Jeanty
There were some whispers after Jeanty, the No. 6 overall pick, had only 144 yards in his first three games, but he broke out with 21 carries for 138 yards and a touchdown Sunday. He also caught two touchdown passes, almost single-handedly keeping the Raiders in the game. Fifth-round receiver Dont’e Thornton didn’t have a catch Sunday but has five receptions for 94 yards on the season. — Josh Kendall and Chad Graff
On a positive note, Jeanty finally had enough breathing room to put together the best performance of his young career. Adding to the numbers above, he forced the most missed tackles (11) among running backs in Week 4 and is up to 26 on the year, which is tied for second according to Pro Football Focus.
Sports Illustrated
26. Las Vegas Raiders
Last week: 23
I think that quite possibly the greatest development of this season so far has been Chip Kelly allowing his star running back to start standing like a lurched creep in the backfield before carries again—Kelly tried to ban the “Michael Myers stance” during training camp—and Jeanty absolutely torching the Chicago Bears on Sunday. —Conor Orr
I always thought it was weird that Kelly wanted to change Jeanty’s stance because I think there’s a point to it. Jeanty isn’t exactly the tallest guy, measuring in at 5-foot-8.5 at the NFL combine. So, for him to get a good pre-snap look at the defensive front over the offensive line, it makes sense for him to stand as tall as he can rather than being hunched over in a typical running back stance.
The Boise State product’s vision/ability to find open gaps was called into question during the first three weeks of the season, but he had no problem finding lanes when he went back to the Michael Myers stance last Sunday.
In my opinion, this is a case of over-coaching by Kelly. It might look weird and go against the typical or traditional logic, but just let the player be comfortable so he can do his thing.
