Despite Pete Carroll's insistence that the Las Vegas Raiders are in win-now mode, they are just 2-4 to begin the 2025 NFL season. The offense has been a major cause of their slow start, as Chip Kelly and his group can't seem to find any consistency or a winning formula.
After being highly touted in the offseason, the unit has fallen flat on its face, as they have averaged just 17.2 points per game, tied for the third-lowest mark in the league. The offensive line has been a major problem as well, as they have struggled to consistently create running lanes, and their 18 sacks allowed are tied for the fifth-most in the NFL.
Geno Smith has been just as bad, however, as he has failed to live up to the hype surrounding his acquisition. He has thrown for 1,350 yards, seven touchdowns and a league-leading ten interceptions while completing 66.1% of his pass attempts and posting a 77.6 passer rating and 37.1 quarterback rating. While his play has been far from inspiring, there may still be hope for the two-time Pro Bowler.
Rich Gannon and Jim Plunkett may provide Raiders fans with glimpse of hope for Geno Smith
While the expectation was that the offense would be the strength of the team, that has failed to materialize. After being touted as a fringe top-ten quarterback following the trade that brought him to Las Vegas, Smith has been among the worst signal callers in the league this season, reminding fans more of the New York Jets version of himself than the one they saw with the Seattle Seahawks.
His turnaround in Seattle, however, led him to be ranked as the NFL's sixth-greatest reclamation project quarterback by Bleacher Report's Michelle Bruton. Atop the list sat two names Raiders fans are familiar with, as Jim Plunkett and Rich Gannon were ranked first and second, respectively.
Unlike Smith, neither quarterback had much success elsewhere before joining the Raiders. Plunkett and Gannon, however, both took over the starting gig for the Silver and Black in their mid-30s after not working out at multiple different stops.
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They also did not have the greatest six-game starts to their tenure with the franchise. Plunkett's big break came in 1980 when Dan Pastorini, who was acquired for Ken Stabler ahead of the season, broke his leg in Week 5.
During that game and through the next five, Plunkett threw for 1,264 yards, 11 touchdowns and ten interceptions while completing just 58.3% of his passes and posting a 79.9 passer rating. He also had four fumbles during that stretch.
Despite his slow start, the Raiders went 5-1 in his first six games as the primary quarterback. Plunkett went on to lead the Raiders to their second Super Bowl in franchise history that season, winning Super Bowl MVP and NFL Comeback Player of the Year honors. He later helped lead the team to another Super Bowl victory three years later.
Gannon also started his tenure with the franchise slowly after joining the Raiders ahead of the 1999 season. He threw for 1,393 yards, six touchdowns and four interceptions while completing 63.9% of his passes and posting an 87.4 passer rating during his first six games. He also had issues with fumbles as he had three during this span, leading the team to just a 3-3 record.
Gannon, too, turned his season around, as he was named a Pro Bowler for the first time that year, beginning a streak of four consecutive appearances. He was named a two-time first-team All-Pro and became the fourth and most recent MVP in franchise history in 2002. While the Raiders did not make the postseason in 1999, they did the next three seasons, culminating in a 2002 Super Bowl appearance.
While Smith has plenty of work to do to be mentioned with such legendary players from the Raiders' past, his inclusion on a list that they headlined could provide a slight glimpse of hope for the fan base. As Plunkett and Gannon showed nearly 20 years apart, it is not about how things start, but, instead, about how they finish.