The Las Vegas Raiders played their best game of football in well over a month in Week 16 of the 2025 NFL season. It still was not enough to beat the Houston Texans, however, as they suffered a 23-21 loss, falling to 2-13 on the season.
While Pete Carroll was supposed to bring a proven veteran presence and change the franchise's culture, the hiring has simply not worked out, at least in terms of wins and losses. Only two defeats stand between the Raiders and the first overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft.
Las Vegas has shown next to nothing far too often this season, leading many to believe that Carroll's tenure as the team's coach will last just one year. Former Raiders head coach Jack Del Rio was critical, but honest, when assessing the job that Carroll has done in 2025.
Jack Del Rio does not bite his tongue about Pete Carroll's Raiders
The Raiders have been, arguably, the worst team in the entire NFL after many expected them to be competitive in 2025. It is already the worst season of Carroll's career, and with two more losses, it will be the worst season in franchise history since the AFL-NFL merger.
Before the loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 15, Del Rio appeared on Silver State Sports & Entertainment Network's The Coach's Cut, where he discussed Carroll's team.
"I don't see or feel the buy-in from his message. Pete's always had kind of more of a collegiate kind of a rah-rah type of mentality. And I don't know if that fits the Raiders," Del Rio said. "The Raiders are (expletive) John Madden doesn't care about rules, just go out there and kick somebody's (expletive), and that's what the Raiders are about. And that's what they were about when we were there. When we were together there in Oakland, our team was physical. To me, it starts with the trenches. They have a lot of work to do, man."
Del Rio was rightfully critical of the lack of playing time for the Raiders' rookie class, despite the team clearly being in a rebuild. It is a message that fans can relate to, as the team took far too long to give many of their first-year players consistent playing time.
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Despite having the worst offensive line in all of football, third-round rookie Caleb Rogers only got to play due to injuries piling up. Meanwhile, fellow third-rounder Charles Grant, a swing tackle, has played just eight offensive snaps all season.
The Raiders, who have not won a postseason game since 2002, have made just two appearances in that frame -- 2016 and 2021. The first of those appearances was the last time the team actually felt like a true contender, before Derek Carr suffered a broken leg.
That team was built around an elite offensive line, laying a blueprint for Las Vegas to follow this offseason. As Del Rio, who was the coach of that 2016 team, noted, it doesn't appear that Carroll is the right fit to lead the team as they attempt to turn things around.