The Raiders will have to prove their maturity and readiness for the NFL’s top tier when they host the Cowboys in Week 11 on Monday Night Football
Matt Zemek
 | Trojans Wire
Pete Carroll and the Las Vegas Raiders have a big but simple goal in 2025: Make the NFL playoffs. If the Raiders can compete in a postseason game, win or lose, they would establish a higher baseline standard of success. They would instantly raise expectations. They would create a foundation they could build on in their attempt to restore the greatness of the Raiders.
A few games stand out on the Raiders’ schedule as urgent and defining moments in their 2025 NFL season. The most important games of the season for an NFL team which is trying to reach a 10-win mark (as opposed to a 13- or 14-win goal) are the games it should win but isn’t an absolute lock to win. Getting those “middle-tier” games in the win column is how a team goes 10-7 instead of 7-10 or 8-9. One of those games for the 2025 Las Vegas Raiders is the Week 11 Monday Night Football game against the Dallas Cowboys.
That contest, on November 17 at 8:15 p.m. Eastern time, 5:15 Pacific, will be shown on ESPN and ABC. It’s a game the Raiders should think they can win. Dallas is clearly the third-best team in the NFC East, well behind the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles and the NFC runner-up Washington Commanders. Dallas is not a terrible team, however. The Cowboys are best described as an average team, and on a given day, they can be hard to deal with. CeeDee Lamb is a nightmare matchup at receiver. The Cowboys have some pieces, just not the full assortment needed to be the best in the NFC.
Dallas is dangerous enough to be a problem, but not deep enough to be viewed as an outright favorite against the Raiders when the teams meet (barring injuries or other plot twists in the first 10 weeks of the NFL season). If the Raiders want to be a playoff team, they need to win this game and make sure they head into late November with more margin for error.