Once a forgotten quarterback, Geno Smith entered Las Vegas with Pete Carroll at the reins, believing he could be their difference maker. After all, he had a renaissance of sorts himself in Seattle, that too under Carroll. The Raiders had the same idea. After just one week, though, those dreams came crashing down.

Smith’s signal-calling skills, or the lack thereof, became apparent early in the season. But could it be that it was Carroll’s unwavering loyalty to Smith that brought the team down? The former head coach, speaking for the first time since the firing, begs to differ.

“We got killed, we got killed,” Pete Carroll told ESPN on Wednesday. “Our offensive guys up front, from the last couple of years, we got murdered. We needed to upgrade that more than we did. It didn’t happen in the draft, and it didn’t happen in the offseason.

“We needed to buy a new line to give the guys a chance to at least be more competitive. The only reason you get sacked that much is because you try to throw it too much. The whole thing didn’t quite work out and what’s why you saw a change and all that.”

The Raiders had many questions entering the 2025 season. But the offensive line was always the biggest concern. However, the team did not exactly improve on that end. They brought in guard Alex Cappa and added left tackle Charles Grant and guard Caleb Rogers in the 2025 NFL Draft to their O-line, but virtually nothing else improved. But the focal point of all problems was standing right under the center.

Smith wasn’t making the best decisions, and it was obvious. He held the ball for too long, took unnecessary sacks, and forced passes into coverage. He compounded the biggest problem that the Raiders faced day in and day out. The head coach, though, stayed by his quarterback’s side.

Instead of focusing on the gameday performance, he would talk about what Smith was doing great in practice. It resulted in ten consecutive losses shared between the QB room before Kenny Pickett closed the season with a 3-14 win against the Chiefs, who didn’t even have QB Patrick Mahomes playing for them. It is not hearsay.

Case in point, their 31-0 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 7. They managed 96 total yards on a franchise-record-low 30 offensive plays. They became only the second team since 1950 to run that few plays in a game. They recorded a mere three first downs, the fewest by any team since the Raiders themselves had three in 2008.

The Raiders went 0-for-7 on third-down conversions while the Chiefs controlled possession for over 42 minutes. The fact that Smith posted his second consecutive game with fewer than 70 passing yards speaks to a complete collapse of the passing attack.​​ It wasn’t an isolated incident.

Against the Indianapolis Colts in Week 5, they were overwhelmed once again in a 40-6 loss. They come dead last across all stats in the league, going worse than their 2024 season. It is not to say that the front office held the fort well, though.

With poor pass protection, Smith made bad decisions under pressure, which ultimately reflected in his performance. After posting 4,200+ passing yards in two of his first three seasons as a starter for the Seattle Seahawks, he led the season in interceptions (17) and sacks (55) with the Raiders.

The Raiders finished the season with the worst points per game (14.2) and rush yards per game (77.5). It highlights that it was not just the quarterback, but also the wideouts and running backs who failed because of the offensive line. Amid the chaos, the head coach fired the offensive coordinator after 11 games.

Bringing in some new options would have also created a competitive environment. With the thought of getting benched lurking in their minds, they would have performed better. Unfortunately, the front office did not listen to Carroll.

Having failed to accomplish what he had initially thought, Pete Carroll admittedly regretted how his reunion with Smith turned out.

Pete Carroll regretted not getting the best out of Geno Smith

Becoming the oldest coach in the NFL in 2025, Carroll might not regret much, but he had one regret about his job in Las Vegas: Bringing in Geno Smith was his decision. Since they had a history together, he thought the partnership clicked. Unfortunately, it backfired. Seeing Smith getting traded just one season prompted him to react to the news, revealing how he felt.

“He’s a phenomenal quarterback; he really is,” Carroll said on ESPN on Wednesday. “He had a fantastic offseason and preseason with us, and he comes out in the first game, has a great first game. It was all fitting. It was exactly the right time for us. Then we just faltered and faltered. We didn’t do well enough, coaching. We should’ve had him better prepared for the things that happened, and that wouldn’t have happened.”

When Smith joined the Seattle Seahawks in 2019, Carroll was the head coach. For the first couple of years, he was the backup QB behind Russell Wilson. After Russell was traded to the Broncos in 2022, Smith assumed his position. Likewise, he did not disappoint, adding 12,226 passing yards and 71 touchdowns, with an average passer rating of 95.4 in three seasons. Following the 2023 season, Carroll was removed as the head coach due to the mediocre performance.

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Coming to Las Vegas in 2025, many had hoped to see the partnership bring success in Sin City. However, it was exactly the opposite.

Although the 35-year-old had a good start to the offseason and preseason, he failed to do it in the regular season. In Week 1 against the Patriots, he had a 70 percent pass completion rate for 362 yards and a touchdown. As the season progressed, they spiralled downward.

Carroll regretted not preparing him well enough. If the franchise had been a little more careful, things would not have turned out like that. He even took the blame.

“I take a lot of responsibility in that,” Carroll said. “We didn’t prepare him well enough in the offseason, even though he looked great and we felt we had everything lined up. It was very, very disappointing for us both. He got off to such a miserable start, and it wasn’t just him.”

Smith had just two wins for the Silver and Black. While there is no remedy for Carroll’s regret, it remains to be seen how Smith performs in his second stint with the Jets.