Oct 19, 2025; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Las Vegas Raiders head coach Pete Carroll speaks to line judge Kent Payne (79) after a play against the Kansas City Chiefs during the third quarter of the game at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images

What Has Shocked Pete Carroll About the Raiders' Season

Originally posted on Las Vegas Raiders on SI
By Ezekiel Trezevant | Last updated Nov 14, 2025 3:00 PM ET

The Las Vegas Raiders entered this season with legitimate reasons to believe that things would be different from years past. As with every team, there were several things the Raiders could not afford to have happen in order to have a successful season. Those things happened in a major way.

Many of those things happened as soon as the regular season started. An injury to Brock Bowers in the first game of the season was the first of many unlucky events that have doomed the Raiders' season. Injuries to Kolton Miller, Jackson Powers-Johnson and others made things worse.

The Raiders' 2-7 start to the season has seen two different losing streaks of three games or more with a win against arguably the worst team in the National Football League sandwiched in between. For all of the changes Las Vegas made over the offseason, they are essentially still at square one.

Raiders' Woes

The first nine games of the season have gone vastly different than what anyone could have imagined, even Carroll himself. After spending decades coaching across the National Football League, and experiencing success more times than not, Carroll noted how he has not taken the losses well.

"How do I handle it? Not very well. It's been crappy, and this is not what I expected to happen. And I didn't feel that we would be this far behind the start of the season. And so, we're just trying to just keep driving the messages home and trying to get better each week and do some things that we can build from," Carroll said.

Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images

"It's a kick, it's a blocked kick, it's an OT catch, it's a -- and there's four or five games here that could have flipped just like that, just small margins of better play and better execution, better calls and all of that, that we know. But unfortunately, it still is what it is, and then we have to deal with it. So, I'm not very well-versed in being in this situation, and I don't have the experience about that, and I'm happy to say that, but I don't like it one bit.

"And it's been hard, and so fortunately, the coaches and we're all -- we keep grinding with our players, and we're communicating well. They're communicating well with us, and we're keeping it together. And it's just like the next opportunity feels like it's going to turn. So, mom said something good is just about to happen."

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

More must-reads: