The Las Vegas Raiders fell to 1-4 during the 2025 NFL season after a disheartening 40-6 loss against the Indianapolis Colts. The water is incredibly murky right now for the Silver and Black, as it seems that nobody has a clear or optimistic answer about what direction to take this team.
Pete Carroll's Raiders look lost in all three aspects of the game, and there were far more negatives than positives to take away from Sunday's game once again. With that in mind, here are three winners and nine losers from Week 5's brutal beatdown.
Winners and losers from Raiders' brutal loss to Colts
Winners
1. (Most of) the rookie class
Ashton Jeanty had 109 all-purpose yards, and Jack Bech played a career-best 36 snaps and caught three passes for 27 yards. Defensively, Darien Porter fared quite well in his first career start, and both J.J. Pegues and Tonka Hemingway played very well for the defense, albeit in limited snaps.
2. Starting guard duo (Jackson Powers-Johnson and Dylan Parham)
Powers-Johnson strung together his second-straight elite performance, and Parham is really starting to come along in the last few weeks after a brutal start to the year. Their Pro Football Focus grades of 83.8 and 89.8 were the two best on the Raiders' offense, so this is a promising upward trend.
3. Albert Okwuegbunam
Fans have to give it up for Okwuegbunam, who was elevated from the practice squad and played 31 offensive snaps. He absolutely worked his tail off, caught five passes for 36 yards and even broke up a pass in the end zone that would've resulted in Geno Smith's third interception of the day.
Losers
1. Geno Smith
Speaking of Smith, he was horrible once again on Sunday for the Raiders, as he took four more sacks and tossed two more interceptions. While he was not the sole reason the team lost today, he certainly was not part of the solution. There's no real justification for not benching him at this juncture.
2. Coaching staff
Carroll's Raiders arguably look worse than any team the organization has fielded in years. They truly do nothing well or consistently. Then there's Chip Kelly, who has been dealt a tough hand but has done nothing to mask the team's deficiencies or rein in Smith at all. It's a really bad product.
3. Jakobi Meyers
Before the final drive of the game, which was utterly meaningless, Meyers had just two catches for 11 yards. He just hasn't found a meaningful role, even on a bad offense, and he run-blocks like a player who doesn't want to be in Las Vegas. If things keep up at this rate, he won't be.
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4. Kyu Blu Kelly
Kelly had another performance to forget on Sunday, as he was the second-worst player on the Raiders' defense, according to PFF. He gave up three completions for 74 yards and missed another tackle. When Eric Stokes returns from injury, Kelly is unlikely to still have a starting spot.
5. Isaiah Pola-Mao
Pola-Mao has struggled ever since his solid performance in Week 1, and opposing offenses know it. They constantly target him in the passing game because he gets caught in no man's land with his eyes in the wrong spot, and he missed yet another tackle on Sunday, a recurring theme for him.
6. Devin White and Elandon Roberts
These two were brought in to provide some veteran savvy for a revamped linebacker room. Sadly, they have both been a disaster in 2025, and Sunday was no different. White was the team's worst-graded PFF player once again; they were horrible in coverage and combined for five missed tackles.
7. Special teams
The whole coaching staff deserves blame for the entire team looking unprepared against the Colts, but special teams coach Tom McMahon was in a class of his own on Sunday, and he truly has been all season. Every aspect of special teams was a mess again, which should spur a coaching change.
8. Dont'e Thornton Jr.
Thornton was shut out for the second straight week, recording zero catches yet again. Smith nearly threw a pick-six when targeting him in the second half, and in the first half, Thornton made a horrible play on a ball, letting it travel into his hands when he needed to high point it, causing an incompletion.
9. Jordan Meredith
Meredith struggled yet again, especially in pass protection. He also committed two penalties and did not snap the ball before a delay of game penalty, which sparked a heated talk between him and Smith. The Colts were getting great jumps on his snaps all day, too, which he shoulders some blame for.