Nov 17, 2025; Paradise, Nevada, USA; Las Vegas Raiders head coach Pete Carroll on the sidelines against the Dallas Cowboys during the first half at Allegiant Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

What Raiders’ Carroll Has To Be Weary Of

Originally posted on Las Vegas Raiders on SI
By Fernando Alfaro-Donis | Last updated Nov 21, 2025 6:44 PM ET

It's not a stretch of the imagination to say that Pete Carroll has failed the Las Vegas Raiders in 2025. He was supposed to bring stability to a team that had fired two head coaches in two seasons. He was supposed to reinvent their offense and bring his winning culture to Sin City.

Instead, all he's done is bog down this team with his hasty decisions and stubbornness. Any other franchise would've benched Geno Smith by now, but leave it to the oldest head coach in the NFL to stick to his ways and not leave any wiggle room for change. As long as he's the head coach, the Raiders will be stuck in mediocrity.

Is His Job Safe?

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Jared Dublin is a sports writer for CBS Sports, and he wrote an article identifying who has the most at stake during this last stretch of the season. Carroll was one of the names mentioned, as one of the head coaches whose job security is on the line if he doesn't improve over the second half of the season.

"The Raiders are also a disaster, and it really looks like they don't have much of a clue what to do on either side of the ball. Particularly on offense, things are... brutal. They don't have a plan to get the ball to their best players; they can't block; the Geno Smith experiment has been a failure", said Dublin.

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The most damning thing about the Carroll-led Raiders is that his fingerprints are all over this roster, and he has nobody to blame but himself as to why this season has gone as putrid as it has. They have no direction, and is this what Carroll wants to be doing? Coaching a 2 - 8 team that's only hurting his legacy as a head coach in the NFL.

"The Raiders reportedly have confidence in the John Spytek-led front office, but it's not hard to see them pivoting away from the oldest coach in league history after a season that's gone the way this one has so far, assuming it continues this way for the rest of the year".

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It's not like Carroll will be fired if the Raiders lose to the Cleveland Browns, but his job will be lost if they lose convincingly to a rookie quarterback with not the most impressive weapons around him. I think Carroll has done enough to warrant being fired already, but he will definitely be fired if he doesn't show any change down this last stretch of the season.

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

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