Things were quite volatile last year when Geno Smith was the quarterback of the Las Vegas Raiders. In Week 8, the two sides will get to face off, with Smith under center for the New York Jets. And as Al Davis once said, "The quarterback must go down, and he must go down hard."
But the Raiders' pass rush hasn't exactly been tremendous since their blistering start to the 2026 NFL season. After recording eight sacks in their first two games and 12 in their first four, Las Vegas has mustered just four in the last three games. Pressures and hits are down, too; it's been a bad product.
Considering how many sacks Smith took while at the helm of the Raiders' offense last year, though, some fans may think of this as a get-right game for the pass rush. But that's not really the case at all, as the Jets' pass protection has been far from an issue this season.
It'll take real work for Las Vegas to get after Smith.
Raiders' pass rush issues don't paint a pretty picture for Week 8 vs. Jets' OL and Geno Smith
Smith took a league-leading 55 sacks last season, but as Raider Nation remembers, a lot of those could have been attributed to his poor pocket presence and unwillingness to run or evade pressure. Still, Las Vegas' unit had bad leakages and let free rushers get home to make it all look even worse.
In New York, though, it has been somewhat of a different story. Yes, Smith has already taken 21 sacks this season, but the Jets have the 14th-best pass-block win rate in the NFL, according to ESPN. So, at least the offensive line is doing its job, and that is an issue for the Raiders' defensive front.
Rob Leonard's group has gotten a lot of coverage and clean-up sacks; they haven't been getting home quickly or consistently. Opposing quarterbacks have had plenty of time to throw, and if Las Vegas gives Smith all day, he will be able to have success with a strong crew of skill-position players.
And with the Raiders' pass-rush win rate sitting at just 25th in the NFL as a team, it paints a picture of Las Vegas being outmatched in the trenches. If they can't even pressure Geno Smith or get after him, then he won't fall into sacks or make mistakes. He can be the quarterback he is often billed to be.
The problem last year was that Smith's poor awareness and tendency to go down easily were paired with a downright disastrous offensive line. This Jets unit is far from that, and they may even get reinforcements with Dylan Parham's return looming. This will be no easy task.
If the Raiders can somehow find a way to get after the quarterback, be it individuals stepping up or Leonard having a stroke of genius with his scheme, that plays dramatically into the Silver and Black's favor. Again, when pressured, Smith will go down repeatedly or cough the ball up. Or both.
Sure, the composite numbers don't look great for the Jets, but their offensive line is full of talent. Armand Membou and Olu Fashanu are a talented offensive tackle duo, Dylan Parham is a good guard, Joe Tippman is hovering around league average. New York is obviously a bit weaker in the middle.
Unfortunately, that is where Las Vegas is also much weaker. Leonard's unit doesn't have a nose tackle who can take advantage of a poor center in Josh Myers, so they'll be reliant on Maxx Crosby and Malcolm Koonce, both of whom have been silent lately, to beat the Jets' solid tackles.
And they absolutely can. But will they?
Ever since Crosby's 1.5-sack showing in Week 1, he's recorded just 0.5 sacks, and none since Week 4. His pressure and quarterback hit numbers have fallen off too. For Koonce, he has also notched just 0.5 sacks since snatching 2.5 in the first three weeks. It's been a rough go for these two.
Not only that, but their win rates haven't been spectacular. Last week, Crosby won just 6.7 percent of his pass-rush reps, and in Week 5, Koonce plummeted to just 5.6 percent. We're talking about their lows here, but this is recent history. They're capable of that level of ineffectiveness right now.
Hopefully, these two bring their "A" game and the entire defensive line benefits from it. Winning just a handful of reps could rattle Smith and change the entire complexion of the game. But it won't be easy; certainly not as easy as the raw numbers suggest. The Jets' offensive line is talented.
So getting after Smith will be a difficult task.
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