The Las Vegas Raiders took on a new role in Week 15 of the 2025 NFL season, as they served as the Philadelphia Eagles' punching bag. Their opponent was on a three-game losing streak and in need of a major pick-me-up, and the Raiders seemingly volunteered to get struck without fighting back.
As legendary NFL tight end and one of Tom Brady's close confidants, Rob Gronkowski, put it, this team is Neosporin because they heal the other team's wounds. In the last five weeks, Las Vegas has faced a team coming off a loss four times. They have been blown out in all four of those games.
Losing is one thing. The Raiders, no matter how optimistic fans became this offseason, were always more than just a few pieces away from contention. But Pete Carroll was supposed to help the franchise take a step forward, and they have taken multiple leaps backward under his tutelage.
James Jones pulled no punches describing Pete Carroll's Raiders
Sunday was just another example of that, as Philadelphia walked all over Las Vegas en route to a 31-0 victory in a game that felt like teams from two different leagues competing. Former NFL wideout James Jones spoke on the Raiders' post-game show, and he rightfully lit up Carroll and the team.
"When you're a part of those bad seasons, it's one thing that you're going to do every game: You going to play with effort. You may not win, but it's going to look like, 'Ooh, them boys flying around.' I don't see none of that from this Raiders team. I don't see none of that in our losses. I don't," Jones said. "And that's competing. Competing don't mean you're going to win every game. Competing is when you turn on the tape, 'Man, them boys is flying around. They diving after the runner. They diving after the football. You see, man, the O lineman driving in five yards.' We see none of that. We see none of the effort. That's not competing to me, today. I didn't see dudes flying around on both sides of the ball. I didn't see dudes flying around. And to me, that's on the coach. And yeah, it's on the players as well. But come on, man. Super Bowl champion or not, we can't go out here and put that on."
While Carroll vehemently denied when speaking with the media that this Raiders team has given up on the season and insisted that the group is still sticking together in the locker room, he can't pull the wool over the eyes of the fan base.
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Not only did Sunday's broadcast pick up Maxx Crosby's NSFW altercation with Devin White on the sidelines, but Jones also called out what every observer has been seeing with the team's approach. You don't have to be a football guru to detect effort, but it means more coming from a former NFLer.
If Carroll's eight-game losing streak and likely 1-15 finish to the season is not enough to fire him, the team starting to rot from within and bicker with each other should be. If his 0-5 mark in the AFC West and nine blowout losses, so far, isn't enough, the Raiders' lack of effort down the stretch should be.
Carroll was given the keys to the franchise this offseason and seemingly had more say in personnel than most other head coaches. He really had a chance to turn things around and take a lot of credit for it, positioning himself to be a savior in Las Vegas.
But the season slipped away from him far too early, and he was never able to corral it. Some fans may have apprehension about firing another coach after just one season, but it should be understood that the only thing worse than having too much coaching turnover is simply having the wrong coach.