Pete Carroll’s arrival at the Las Vegas Raiders was supposed to mark a turnaround for a franchise that has been struggling for a while now. His winning run with quarterback Geno Smith at the Seattle Seahawks suggested there could be similar success in store for the Raiders in Vegas. However, they flatlined at the start of the season and never recovered.
Pete Carroll Blames Offensive Line for Raiders’ 2025 Struggles
With a head coach with decades of NFL head coaching experience, an offensive genius in Chip Kelly, a proven quarterback, a superstar tight end in Brock Bowers, and more, the pieces seemed to be falling into place for the Raiders. Competing in a loaded AFC West, they always needed a strong lineup, and they did their best to stack up.
However, despite toppling the eventual Super Bowl 60 runners-up, the New England Patriots, in Week 1, the win marked one of only three they would get all season. Losses came from every direction, as they even fell to the 5-12 Cleveland Browns and the 4-13 New York Giants.
Carroll and company finished the campaign with more questions than answers. He was fired and replaced by Klint Kubiak, son of former NFL head coach Gary Kubiak.
“We got killed, we got killed,” Carroll said, via ESPN. “Our offensive guys up front, from the last couple of years, we got murdered. We needed to upgrade that more than we did. It didn’t happen in the draft, and it didn’t happen in the offseason.”
Smith was sacked an NFL-leading 55 times in 2025, tied with Tennessee Titans quarterback Cam Ward. The Raiders’ offensive line was visibly underperforming, and as a result, the rest of the unit suffered.
Not a single receiver surpassed the 700-yard mark, and rookie running back Ashton Jeanty’s 975 rushing yards was more a reflection of individual talent than smart game planning.
“We didn’t go for it in the offseason,” Carroll added. “We needed to buy a new line to give the guys a chance to at least be more competitive. The only reason you get sacked that much is because you try to throw it too much. The whole thing didn’t quite work out, and that’s why you saw a change and all that.”
Ranking at the very bottom of the league in scoring (56.3 PFSN Offense Impact Score) and averaging 14.2 points per game pretty much summed up their overall campaign.
New head coach Kubiak is a Super Bowl-winning offensive coordinator, which should boost the team’s scoring this season. As a first-time head coach, however, it remains to be seen if he can build on his previous successes.
