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

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.