The Las Vegas Raiders made one of the biggest splashes of this offseason, hiring Pete Carroll as their head coach. It made some sense to hire a proven winner in Carroll to try and change the culture in Las Vegas, the thinking went, but even still it'd be foolish to expect outstanding results immediately.
Well, don't tell Carroll that. The Super bowl champ seems to believe big things are on the immediate horizon for the Raiders.
“We’re going to win a ton,” Carroll said, via video from the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “I can’t even imagine anything [else]. I’ve been winning 10 games a year for 20 years or something, you know? What are my expectations? We’re going to win a bunch. And I don’t care who hears that — it doesn’t matter to me. It ain’t about what anybody hears, it’s about what we do."
Carroll isn't wrong when assessing what he's been able to accomplish at the NFL level. He's gone 170-120-1 in 18 seasons as a head coach, and he's had a record of .500 or above in 14 of those years. His track record is outstanding, but he seems to be overrating it a bit.
The Raiders face a tough early-season challenge, and that could cause Carroll to change his tone as soon as Week 4.
Pete Carroll could be in for rude Raiders awakening earlier than he expects
The Raiders will begin their season by traveling across the country to face the New England Patriots. I'm not here to say that the Patriots are a juggernaut, but they're much-improved from the team they've been the past couple of years, and won't be an easy matchup in Foxboro. Next, the Raiders will host Justin Herbert and the Los Angeles Chargers. How sure are we that Carroll's defense will be able to contain the all-world QB that Herbert is?
In Week 3, the Raiders will again travel cross-country and take on the Washington Commanders. Washington made the NFC Championship Game last season, and might be even better with Jayden Daniels having a full season under his belt. They'll then welcome the Chicago Bears to Las Vegas. The Bears had a season to forget in 2024, but have Ben Johnson in town now, and one of the most talented rosters in the NFC. This one won't be easy for Las Vegas.
That's only the first four weeks. The schedule will only get tougher as five of their remaining 13 games will come against elite AFC West competition. The Raiders might stand a better chance against the best division in football this season than they did in 2024, but their roster still leaves a lot to be desired, does it not?
The Raiders should be improved and will be fun to watch, but their schedule is not easy, and their roster, even with improvements, is not good. Carroll should provide a boost, but at the end of the day, there's only so much he can do from the sidelines. It would not be shocking to see Carroll's tone shift as the season progresses, given how big a challenge is ahead for his Raiders.