The Las Vegas Raiders kicked off the 2025 season with a giant win over the New England Patriots. There were many questions surrounding this team heading into the season, and it seems like we might have some answers now. Usually, you take Week 1 with a grain of salt, but that’s not what this post is for. We’ll let cooler heads prevail later in the week. For now, our overreaction is warranted.
Raiders QB Geno Smith is “The Guy”
Who cares if it was one game? Who cares if it was against a mediocre team missing its star cornerback? Geno Smith was impressive in his debut.
The combination of arm talent, athleticism, and a gunslinger mentality makes Smith exciting to watch. However, this sometimes results in risky throws, such as the pass into triple coverage that led to an interception. Despite the risks, the tradeoff is worthwhile, as it ensures that the play or drive remains alive.
This season was the third year in a row in which Las Vegas brought in a journeyman quarterback to take the reins. The last two were disastrous. Raider Nation had every right to be skeptical about the newest attempt at stabilizing the position. For now, at least, it looks like this one will work out.
The secondary will be just fine…
Speaking of new additions, the Raiders have a ton of them in the defensive backfield. After a rough preseason, there was plenty of reason to be worried about how it would go once we got to the games that mattered. However, the secondary actually looked pretty solid.
It should come as no surprise that Isaiah Pola-Mao appears ready for a breakthrough season. He flew around the field laying big hits and even came away with an opportunistic interception. What was surprising was how competent the cornerbacks looked. Kyu Blu Kelly raised a ton of eyebrows when he was listed as a starter for Week 1. He proved why it was the right call in his Raiders debut. Kelly was tough in coverage despite allowing six catches. That will happen in Patrick Graham’s coverage scheme, but what is more important is that Kelly limited the damage after the catch with some sure tackling.
While it was fair to be worried about having so many new faces in a position group that did not seem to need much change after last season, there does not seem to be any drop-off. The guys that were brought in are perfect fits for what Graham and head coach Pete Carroll want to do.
Unfortunately, some other preseason concerns appear to be valid.
Offensive line woes continue…
“It is just preseason,” they said. “Chip Kelly is only showing a vanilla blocking scheme,” they said. Well, the preseason is over, and things aren’t looking any better up front. The Raiders ran for a measly 56 yards on 24 carries and Geno Smith was sacked four times. Not good.
Although the statistics appear poor, they fail to capture the complete picture of how poorly this group performed. In the running game, Las Vegas was most ineffective on the ground in some of the most crucial run situations of the game. It got to the point where the Raiders were essentially forced to throw the ball on third and short. In the passing game, the protection was satisfactory for the most part. The issue was that they had no clue how to handle even the most routine stunts.
That last point is where we have to start questioning if this is more of an issue of coaching rather than talent. This is a fairly proven group that has rarely struggled this much. Even with last year’s run-game issues, the blocking, which could have been better, was not nearly as big of a problem as the lack of talent at running back was. It raises the question: Did Brennan Carroll, the offensive line coach, secure his position due to his coaching skills or his last name?
Related: Raiders Are Positioning Themselves For An AFC West Run
*Top Photo: Ramble Illustration/Getty Images