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Las Vegas Raiders head coach Pete Carroll walks the sideline Sunday, Oct. 5, 2025, during a game at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. The Colts defeated the Raiders 40-6. Christine Tannous/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Why Titans Game Is Raiders' Make-Or-Break Moment

Originally posted on Las Vegas Raiders on SI
By Andy Quach | Last updated Oct 12, 2025 10:00 AM ET

It's safe to say that the Las Vegas Raiders haven't begun the Pete Carroll era the way that the team, fans, or analysts around the NFL expected. The hope was that the legendary coach would bring a certain level of professionalism, effort, and ball security to Sin City that would give this franchise a higher floor than they had seen in recent years.

However, that hasn't been the case through the first five weeks of the 2025 NFL season. The Raiders sit at just 1-4, betrayed by sloppy plays, turnovers, defensive inadequacy, and poor offensive line play. This team looks nothing like the Legion of Boom Seattle Seahawks that Carroll led to a Super Bowl.

Now, Las Vegas is scrambling to prove that it's at least a semi-serious weekly threat this year. The Raiders looked far from it in their last outing, steamrolled by the Indianapolis Colts, 40-6. Now, they're going into a matchup with another fellow bottom-feeder from this season. Can they show that they're at least a tier above the Tennessee Titans?

Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images

Pressure is on Raiders to perform

Going into the 2025 NFL season, the perception between the Las Vegas Raiders and the Tennessee Titans was separated by a canyon. The Titans were expected to have some spunky, encouraging spurts from young players like first-overall pick Cam Ward, but weren't thought to be competitive at all.

The Raiders, on the other hand, were viewed as possible dark-horse playoff contenders in a wide-open AFC conference. Five weeks into the year, Las Vegas and Tennessee have the exact same record, which is especially discouraging for Head Coach Pete Carroll's team, which made some win-now moves in the offseason to try to be competitive, including signing quarterback Geno Smith and taking running back Ashton Jeanty with the sixth-overall selection in the 2025 NFL Draft.

Here's Geno Smith's final drive against the Titans on Saturday.

With a playoff spot likely on the line. pic.twitter.com/CFuxs0NrIJ
— Robert Mays (@robertmays) December 26, 2023

The Raiders have a chance in Week 6 to show that they're significantly better than their current record suggests. NFL.com's panel of five editors all picked Las Vegas over Tennessee. Dan Parr picked them to eke out a two-point win, 23-21:

"No, there isn't a good reason to feel confident in either 1-4 franchise at the moment, even on the heels of the Titans' first win (courtesy of an epic Cardinals meltdown). So, I'm giving the edge to the home team, which did beat what seems to be a decent Patriots squad in Week 1. That feels like ages ago, as the wheels have completely come off since then for the Raiders, who have lost four straight (three by double-digits). But NFL interceptions leader Geno Smith isn't this bad, is he?"

"Sunday's game should be where Smith shakes off his brutal start to the season and plays largely mistake-free ball to help Las Vegas get out of free-fall against a rookie quarterback who ranks last or second-to-last in basically every meaningful passing category. I know Smith is without his starting left tackle and Brock Bowers could be out another week, which doesn't help, but if the Raiders can't generate significant movement in the ground game against the league's 30th-ranked rush defense, I'm not sure when the bleeding stops for them this season."

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

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