The Las Vegas Raiders were at a crossroads before their Week 7 matchup with the Los Angeles Rams. With their 2-4 opponent set to struggle even more with abundant injuries on both sides of the ball, the Raiders needed to take care of business to be taken seriously during the 2026 NFL season.
But Las Vegas was blown out in a 35-21 loss that was even more lopsided than the scoreboard indicated. Klint Kubiak's team displayed some serious fight in the second half, and they deserve credit for that, but the effort was not good enough. The execution was simply pathetic on Sunday.
And I would be doing a disservice to you all if I didn't provide my brutally honest instant reactions to the Raiders' brutal loss to the Rams. The Silver and Black are now below .500 and on a four-game losing streak, so this is no time to sugarcoat things or run from problems. Let's face them.
7 brutally honest instant reactions to Raiders' ugly loss to Rams
1. It is time to start talking about Rob Leonard's job security. It's not just that the Raiders are giving up 35.8 points per game over the last four weeks or that the Rams had their season-high rushing effort in Week 7 (179 yards) after averaging 84.5 yards per game on the ground over the last two games. It is the fact that Leonard's defense got figured out after Week 3 and there have been no adjustments. He is out of answers. The unit looks lost, failing to execute basic concepts or even make easy tackles.
2. The Kirk Cousins experiment has to end. And don't show me Cousins' stat sheet and tell me that he played well, either. The veteran is not seeing the field at all, and he cannot move effectively in or out of the pocket. Blitzes end any chance he has of being productive. His arm strength severely limits this offense, too, and so does his frequent missing of pass-catchers running wide open. This unit has reached its ceiling and will continue to get worse until Fernando Mendoza enters the equation.
3. Maxx Crosby's disappearing act is getting old. Sure, it's hard to consistently produce when you don't have much help beside you, but that has always been the case. So, why is Crosby suddenly not getting home or even getting much pressure? He hasn't recorded a sack since Week 4, and Crosby had just one pressure on Sunday to pair with two tackles and two missed tackles. Every great defensive end gets doubled and chipped; Crosby needs to figure it out fast and earn his money.
4. Credit to the Raiders for not giving up in this game and finding some life in the second half. The team made some nice halftime adjustments, or maybe the Rams let up a bit, but after some clear disjointedness in the first half and the team looking a bit flappable and unlike themselves, Kubiak's team responded for the final 30 minutes to make the score look respectable. And it actually felt like a game at one point in the fourth quarter, somehow. The desire is there; the execution certainly is not.
5. Tre Tucker needs to be paid before the price becomes too high. Let it be known that nearly 100 of Cousins' passing yards came on plays in which Tucker did all the work, and the ball barely got to him in the first place. Tucker added another five catches for 103 yards and a touchdown in Week 7 to his strong 2026 résumé, and Las Vegas must lock him up for the future as a high-end complementary piece before he and his camp realize what he could make on the open market. The time is now.
6. Ashton Jeanty is a better pass-catcher than runner, and he should just be used in a Christian McCaffrey role. I'm not sure what it is exactly that isn't clicking for the young running back in the run game, but Mike Washington Jr. has been much more efficient and capable of breaking big plays than Jeanty has, on a not-insignificant number of reps. But Jeanty is proving to be a truly elite pass-catching weapon out of the backfield, and that truly needs to become the crux of how he's used.
7. Las Vegas should probably put Jackson Powers-Johnson back into the lineup. For what it's worth, the team was 3-1 with a close loss to the Kansas City Chiefs when he was in the lineup, and they're 0-3 with two blowout defeats since he's been sidelined. And the interior offensive line is a complete mess, so it's not like the Raiders have much of an excuse to keep things the same. Tyler Linderbaum won't be benched, but Caleb Rogers and Spencer Burford should not feel comfortable at all right now.
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