Despite Pete Carroll not being anyone's No. 1 choice this offseason, when he took over as the head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders, he felt like an immediate upgrade. After all, it seemed like an adult was finally in the room, and gross incompetence would no longer define the team.
But the issues that have plagued the Raiders during the 2025 NFL season are the same ones that followed them around in years prior. Instead of the floor of the team being raised with Carroll around, it seems like it is falling out from beneath them.
Carroll promised wins at several points during the offseason, citing his extensive history of doing so, only to provide two in the first nine games. He is quickly learning that times have changed in the NFL and that offseason talk is incredibly cheap.
Pete Carroll and Geno Smith's assurances fall on deaf ears in Raider Nation
Las Vegas' 2-7 record has practically pushed them out of the playoff race with roughly half of the season remaining. That didn't stop Carroll from making more promises during his postgame press conference after the Raiders' 10-7 loss to the Denver Broncos on Thursday Night Football.
"The fight is in this dog now. Ain't no doubt about it," Carroll said. "We all know in this room (that) we're going to do something, and so it's just a matter of time."
While this close loss to the AFC West-leading Broncos was certainly a step in the right direction, it says a lot about the state of the Raiders if a performance like this is deemed as progress. Plus, Carroll should know better than anyone that there are no moral victories in the NFL.
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Quarterback Geno Smith took the podium after Carroll did on Thursday night as well, and he made similar promises to reporters and the fan base about this Las Vegas team figuring things out as the season progresses.
"I believe that, again, this team, man, it's usually darkest before dawn. We're going to rise. We're going to rise," Smith said. "It hurts. It sucks. I mean, I give my all to this game. Everything that I can do to win, you know, trying to figure it out. But we'll figure it out."
Raider Nation knows better than to take these words at face value. Not only have they seen similar promises broken from this regime, but from leadership groups of the past. Results are all that matter at the end of the day, and the fan base doesn't want hope or positivity; they want wins.
After watching nine games of these two at the helm, Raiders fans have seen and heard all that they need to see and hear. Barring an immaculate turnaround in the back half of the year, Las Vegas may be starting all over again next offseason because Carroll and Smith didn't hold up their end of the bargain.