Nov 17, 2025; Paradise, Nevada, USA; Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Geno Smith (7) after the game against the Dallas Cowboys at Allegiant Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images

The Concerning Pattern the Raiders Are Seeing at Quarterback

Originally posted on Las Vegas Raiders on SI
By Ezekiel Trezevant | Last updated Nov 20, 2025 11:30 AM ET

The Las Vegas Raiders' quarterback woes have continued for yet another season.

For yet another season, the Raiders have one of the worst groups of quarterbacks in the league. Las Vegas has been plagued by bad quarterback play for much of the past three seasons.

Jmmy Garoppolo, Gardner Minshew, and now Geno Smith all led the league in interceptions at some point during their tenure with the Raiders. Still, Smith's inability to overcome the Raiders' roster shortcomings have been the story of Las Vegas' season.

A Fair Assessment

Cody Benjamin of CBS Sports recently ranked every quarterback in the National Football League. He ranked Smith as the 29th-best quarterback in the league. Considering the season Smith and the Raiders' offense has had, that is a fair ranking for Smith at the moment.

"For a few moments, Smith looked charged up to play spoiler against Dallas in prime time. Then his front collapsed and the inevitable interception followed. This marriage never really got off the ground," Benjamin said.

Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Things have gone far from expected for Smith and the Raiders this season. Las Vegas thought Smith, along with their other offseason additions would be enough to turn their offense around. That has been anything but the case, as Las Vegas' offense is arguably worse than it was last season.

Following the Raiders' loss to the Cowboys, Smith shared his thoughts on what the Raiders' offense needs to do in order to fix their issues. However, it is unclear if the Raiders are capable of doing the things Smith, or even their coaches are suggesting they do.

"Make the plays when they need to be made, that's really all it comes down to. It's a tough game, it's the NFL, and there's great guys all over the field. We know when we get into the red zone, we've got to think seven points and not three. Our defense gave us the ball with a short field, we got to capitalize on that,” Smith said.

“If we want to talk about playing complementary football, when those things happen, we got to score seven points, and reward the defense for doing a great job. But today, early on we settled for some field goals, and then they scored some touchdowns, and the game kind of got out of hand. I think if we score touchdowns in those situations, we may look at it different. So for us, we just got to have that mindset and then obviously get it done.”

This article first appeared on Las Vegas Raiders on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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