When the Las Vegas Raiders hired Pete Carroll for the 2025 season, I was confident that they would turn things around rather quickly. Throw in a trade for Pro Bowl QB Geno Smith. Draft RB Ashton Jeanty. Toss all of that into a Raiders bouillabaisse with current Raiders Pro Bowl TE Brock Bowers and future Hall of Fame DE Maxx Crosby and it appeared as if the Raiders would be a dark horse contender.
Then, the Raiders went to New England, won the opener and it all appeared as if the plan was coming to fruition. All of a sudden, though, things went south. The offense couldn't score. The defense couldn't come up with stops. As a result, the Raiders just kept losing. Carroll's bunch lost five of six heading into a week eight bye week.
They haven't won since, making it eight losses in a row and 12 Ls in 13 games. Last week was rock bottom as the Raiders were shut out for the second time all season. The Eagles made short work, literally, beating the Raiders 31-0 in about two and a half hours, sending the Raiders to Houston looking to make amends for a season gone awry. The Raiders may have only won two games this season and just one since September 8th of this year, but as they say "Any Given Sunday". As such, the Raiders are as dangerous as any team the Texans could face in week 16 because NO ONE sees them winning this game and they have to atone for last week's embarrassing loss at Philly.
So, before Sunday arrives, let's get to Know the Texans' Week 16 Foe - The Las Vegas Raiders.
2025 Las Vegas Raiders Schedule (2-12)
- Week 1 - W @ New England Patriots 20-13
- Week 2 - L Los Angeles Chargers 20-9
- Week 3 - L @ Washington Commanders 41-24
- Week 4 - L Chicago Bears 25-24
- Week 5 - L @ Indianapolis Colts 40-6
- Week 6 - W Tennessee Titans 20-10
- Week 7 - L @ Kansas City Chiefs 31-0
- Week 8 - BYE WEEK
- Week 9 - L Jacksonville Jaguars 30-29
- Week 10 - L @ Denver Broncos 10-7
- Week 11 - L Dallas Cowboys 33-16
- Week 12 - L Cleveland Browns 24-10
- Week 13 - L @ Los Angeles Chargers 31-14
- Week 14 - L Denver Broncos 24-17
- Week 15 - L @ Philadelphia Eagles 31-0
- Week 16 - @ Houston Texans
- Week 17 - New York Giants
- Week 18 - Kansas City Chiefs
Raiders OFFENSE (in 2025 regular season)
- Rushing Yards Per game - 70.8 ypg (32nd in the NFL)
- Passing Yards Per game - 173.4 ypg (29th)
- Total offense per game - 244.1 ypg (32nd)
- Turnovers lost - 18 (15 INT, 3 Fumbles lost)
- Expected Raiders starting offense for Week 16
- QB - GENO SMITH
- RB - ASHTON JEANTY
- WR - TYLER LOCKETT
- WR - Tre Tucker
- WR - JACK BECH
- TE - Brock Bowers
- LT - STONE FORSYTHE
- LG - Dylan Parham
- C - Jordan Meredith
- RG - CALEB ROGERS
- RT - D.J. Glaze
Other Key Offensive pieces
- QB - KENNY PICKETT
- WR - DONT'E THORNTON
- RB - Dylan Laube
- RB - Raheem Mostert
- TE - Michael Mayer
- TE - IAN THOMAS
Italics - Rookie
ALL CAPS - New to team in 2025
Keys to winning v. the Raiders Offense
- The Best TE in Football - Last week against the Cardinals, the Texans defense faced one of the three best TEs in the NFL - Cardinals star Trey McBride. Although we discussed how good McBride was in all facets and that he had to be bullet point number one on the to-do list, the Texans defense still gave up a career day to McBride (12 receptions for 134 yards and two touchdowns). Enter Raiders star TE Brock Bowers, another one of the top three TEs in the NFL. Bowers and McBride are different, although dominant at the same position. Bowers is more of a flex receiving threat and that dates back to his days at Georgia, while McBride is an athletic, bull-in-the-ring physical ball carrier after the catch. So, perhaps, it plays more into the Texans' defense's hands that Bowers will align a bit more out wide and play more like a big WR than an inside-the-formation TE like McBride. But, it's still 100000% clear that Bowers must be slowed down if the Texans defense is to have a great performance on Sunday.
- The Human Broken Tackle - Two years ago, I started my draft study on Boise State RB Ashton Jeanty and within three plays, I was smitten. Although I know RBs that run with his force of nature and contact balance take a lot of hits and punishment at the next level, shortening their overall NFL careers, I still loved watching him tote the rock. The first guy nearly never tackled him and he ran up Barry Sanders-like numbers in college at Boise State. In Las Vegas, he's still breaking tackles, but unfortunately for the Raiders, he breaks those behind the LOS or at the LOS and picks up two to three yards a carry. Those runs could be TFLs for the defense, but Jeanty actually gets positive yardage out of them. But, he can also pop long runs AFTER breaking a tackle attempt or three. No Texans defense has faced the rookie from Boise State, so, initially, he'll shock them with his power, speed and contact balance. But, this defense must lock in on eliminating his ability to produce ANYTHING positive after first contact as the game continues.
- Geno's Game - The Raiders went out and traded for former Pro Bowl QB Geno Smith heading into the 2025 season and I thought that would be a great move for the Raiders. But, a lack of consistent, quality protection and erratic OC actions haven't helped Geno in 2025. He missed last week against Philadelphia and the offense put up a bagel against the Eagles. He should be back for this matchup with the Texans. When he was protected relatively well against Jacksonville, he threw four touchdowns and lit up the Jaguars secondary like a Christmas tree. He had time to throw and it showed as he utilized everyone in the progression to find open receivers. Since then, though, Smith's offense has put up seven, 16, 10, 14 and 17 points with Smith at the helm; in that same timeframe, he's thrown just five TD with three key INT. Because of the protection issues, Smith, who does hold the ball a bit, hasn't been able to get more throws to speedy Tre Tucker down the field or even Bowers deep as well. It's imperative that the Texans speed up Smith as the Broncos, Chargers and Browns did to keep him from finding a rhythm in his first start ever against the Texans.
Raiders DEFENSE (in 2025 regular season)
- Rushing Yards Allowed Per game - 118.9 ypg (17th in the NFL)
- Passing Yards Allowed Per game - 211.3 ypg (16th)
- Total offense Allowed per game - 330.1 ypg (16th)
- Turnovers generated - 14 (8 INT, 6 Fumble recoveries - Raiders are -4 in TO margin)
Expected Raiders starting defense for Week 16
- DE - Maxx Crosby
- DT - Adam Butler
- DT - JONAH LAULU
- DE - Charles Snowden
- LB - Elandon Roberts
- LB - DEVIN WHITE
- LB - JAMAL ADAMS
- CB - ERIC STOKES
- S - Isaiah Pola-Mao
- S - JEREMY CHINN
- CB - DARIEN PORTER
Key Defensive Non-Starters
- DT - THOMAS BOOKER IV
- DE - Tyree Wilson
- DT - TONKA HEMINGWAY
- DE - Malcolm Koonce
- LB - Tommy Eichenberg
- S - TRISTIN MCCOLLUM
- S - LONNIE JOHNSON JR
- Nickel - Darnay Holmes
ALL CAPS - New to team in 2025
Italics - Rookie
Keys to winning v. the Raiders Defense
- XX Rated - I can still remember it to this day. I was working through my final draft prospects in the 2019 NFL Draft class and I had it down to San Diego State TE Kahale Warring and a Texan Maxx Crosby who went to Eastern Michigan to play defensive end. Okay, I thought, let's take a look at this Crosby character. From the first play, I remember thinking "OH MY GOSH, who is this DUDE?" His hair was on fire from the first play to the last. He's long as all get out. No offensive tackle could slow him down. He played the run with abandon. He played with emotion and his motor never, NEVER stopped. I loved him immediately. He somehow lasted to the fourth round and the Raiders found a future Hall of Famer at the 106th pick of that Draft. Re-Draft the 2019 Draft and he goes top three, at worst. The thing is, those things I saw while he was at Eastern Michigan are hallmarks of his game at the highest level. He's a freakin' PROBLEM and the Texans tackles will definitely need help against him. Chips. Double teams. Sliding protection Crosby's way. Anything, and everything, is needed to slow down one of the best edge rushers in today's game.
- Is there enough? - It's been a while since the Raiders had star CBs who could play a ton of man-to-man and lock up opposing number one wide receivers with consistency. This year, their cornerbacks are solid, but solid may not be enough for #12. Texans WR Nico Collins is a handful. With his size, power and agility, Nico renders man coverage relatively useless, but teams have gotten smart and started bracketing or just flat out doubling Collins to limit his effectiveness. That should open things up for Jayden Higgins, Dalton Schultz and even Cade Stover to shine throughout this game. The Raiders just don't have enough quality cover guys at CB or even S to slow down the key threats in the Texans passing game, especially so if the Raiders can't get to QB C.J. Stroud.
- Tackle THIS! - He sat in the very seat I'm in last year when we had a chance to interview Texans LB Devin White. It was surreal to see him in our studio as a member of the Texans. But, he was stuck, in a sense, behind a really good quartet of linebackers. As a result, White moved on and signed in Las Vegas last offseason, where there was ample opportunity to become a starter. He's taken that opp and run with it, literally and figuratively. His speed shows up often and he tackles nearly everything. He's had 16+ tackles four times in his last eight games. But, the football nerds haven't been impressed. He's been regularly graded low, even in games in which he had 19 tackles, in large part due to the number of missed tackles he's had in 2025. He has more this year than any other year of his career (18) and he's not covered exceptionally well. In fact his best coverage year was with the Texans in 2024. But, teams are highlighting him in coverage as well. So, there's no telling which White will show up, well, you know what, that's not true, the real White will show up and that includes everything - speed, sideline-to-sideline tackling ability, missed tackles and struggles in coverage. If the first assets show up more often than not, the Texans will have some trouble running the ball at #45. They need to force the last two assets to show up to have success.
