The Las Vegas Raiders dropped to 2-6 during the 2025 NFL season after an overtime loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 9. The 30-29 defeat marked the second time this year that Las Vegas has lost by just a single point.
While neither side of the ball really thrived or struggled, they just couldn't play complementary football and put it all together at the same time. Here are the biggest winners and losers from the Raiders' gut-wrenching loss at the hands of the Jaguars,
Winners and losers from Raiders' heartbreaking loss to Jaguars
Winners
1. Brock Bowers
Duh. Bowers was back like he never left on Sunday, catching 12 passes for 127 yards and 3 touchdowns while also tacking on a 6-yard rush. He was flat-out unstoppable against a Jacksonville team that has performed quite well against linebackers. Bowers absolutely transforms the offense.
2. Isaiah Pola-Mao
Pola-Mao was a heat-seeking missile in Week 9, making several big hits and plays on the ball. He recorded 9 tackles, had a pass breakup on a deep ball to the end zone, and he also picked off Trevor Lawrence at the goal line. He missed a few tackles, but this was his best game in a while.
3. Raheem Mostert
Mostert did not run one time, and he only had 1 catch for 14 yards. But he completely changed the game on special teams. Not only did he have a 54-yard return that set up an easy score for the Raiders, but he had a clutch 51-yard kick return in overtime to set up a touchdown. He ran back 5 kicks for a total of 202 yards, which is a whopping 40.4 yards per return.
4. Maxx Crosby
Crosby was seemingly a step ahead of the Jaguars' offense all day on Sunday. He finished with 4 tackles, 3 of which were for a loss, he sacked Lawrence, had a pass deflection and a quarterback hit, and even that does not fully capture how much of a game-wrecker Crosby was, as always.
5. Geno Smith
Yes, Smith threw an interception and had his potentially game-winning pass batted down at the line of scrimmage. But he also threw for 284 yards and 4 touchdowns, and Smith extended a number of plays and made great throws. It wasn't perfect, but this was a huge step in the right direction.
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1. Pete Carroll
Somehow, some way, the Raiders found a way to lose this game. Carroll's team looked ready, played well, by and large, and still came out on the wrong side of this one. In particular, his timeout usage was a bit questionable, and the Raiders failed to make adjustments in the fourth quarter.
2. WR room
Jakobi Meyers and Tre Tucker combined for 7 catches and 61 receiving yards, which isn't exactly setting the world on fire. Tucker had a key drop as well. But neither Jack Bech nor Tyler Lockett caught a single pass, and Bech was not even targeted.
3. Offensive line
While this group kept Smith relatively clean today, and Dylan Parham had a bit of an injury scare, they simply got worn down by Jacksonville's front. It became obvious as the game went along that Ashton Jeanty's running lanes were collapsing and Smith was starting to feel a bit more pressure.
4. Run defense and tackling
In the first half, Patrick Graham's unit held firm. But the flood gates opened in the second half, and Las Vegas could not stop the Jaguars on the ground. Missed tackles were a major issue again, and Jacksonville ended up with 151 yards and 3 touchdowns allowed on the ground.
5. Daniel Carlson
Not only did Carlson set a horrible tone for the game by failing to kick the ball into the landing zone on the opening kickoff, but he missed an extra point that came back to haunt the Raiders in a game that they lost by one point, in overtime, no less.