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Essentials Inside The Story

  • Tom Brady expands CardVault empire as Raiders spiral without on-field answers
  • Brady opens CardVault No. 10 in Vegas amid Raiders’ shutout loss
  • Pete Carroll rejects quit narrative as roster holes dominate offseason outlook

Tom Brady has been on the move lately. The former NFL quarterback turned FOX analyst spent the weekend in Los Angeles calling the Week 15 matchup between the Rams and the Detroit Lions. Fast forward a bit, and Brady is already packing up again, this time headed to Las Vegas. But this trip has nothing to do with his role with FOX or his minority-owner role with the Raiders. What is he up to?

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“Alright, that’s a wrap from L.A.,” Brady said in a clip shared via his Instagram story. “We’re off to Vegas to open CardVault number 10. I just got a text from my boy, Chris Costa, and they brought a 2000 Contenders football box out of Vegas from the warehouse.

“Chris, you better not open a single pack without man, man. I’m on my way. I’ll see you soon.”

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Brady was heading to Vegas to open another CardVault by Tom Brady store. Earlier, Brady announced that he’ll be at Rhythm & Riffs at Mandalay Bay at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, as part of the grand opening celebration for CardVault’s tenth location. And the timing is notable.

It has been less than a month since the brand’s ninth store was opened.

The ninth location debuted on November 16 at the Mall of America in Minnesota, where CardVault expanded with a 1,700-square-foot store on Level 1 East in the Huntington Bank Rotunda. The move marked a major step in turning the venture into a national footprint. Now, Vegas is next, and the expansion doesn’t stop with brick and mortar.

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CardVault by Tom Brady is lining up one of its biggest digital moments yet, launching a new eBay Live event that kicked off on December 14 at 2 p.m. Pacific. Between new store openings and live-streamed events, the brand’s growth feels anything but accidental.

With Las Vegas now added to the list, the brand continues to plant its flag in premium locations, including Chicago, Boston, New York, Foxborough, Massachusetts; Mashantucket, Connecticut; East Rutherford, New Jersey, and East Hampton, New York.

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Meanwhile, for Raiders fans, Brady’s announcement doesn’t move the needle much. The Raiders lost yet another game on Sunday, where they failed to add to the scoreboard at all. With Las Vegas officially out of the playoff race, attention has already shifted away from this season and toward what comes next.

Did the Raiders quit? Pete Carroll addressed the narrative

The Raiders didn’t have much to show on Sunday, as the Philadelphia Eagles shut them out 31-0 in their Week 15 matchup. Pete Carroll’s first season as head coach has not gone according to plan at all, and with that came a much bigger question: Are the Raiders’ players quitting on their coach?

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Carroll doesn’t think so.

“I don’t sense that at all. I don’t think there was that issue. I think we got beat,” Carroll said after the game. “This is a very well-loaded team, and they just did their thing today on both sides of the ball, and they really took it to us.”

He didn’t stop just there. Carroll went on to share his personal assessment of the players.

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“These guys fought their a– off,” he added. “Let me address that, because you brought it up. They fought their a**es off. That was the result. They didn’t stop fighting. That was the result of our play right there.”

This season’s numbers explain why the Raiders are sitting at 2-12. Both the offensive line and defensive front struggled to hold their ground on Sunday, and it showed on both sides of the ball. With quarterback Geno Smith injured, Kenny Pickett stepped in and finished 15-of-25 for just 64 yards, with no touchdowns and one interception. In his fourth appearance of the season, Pickett has yet to be involved in a game where the Raiders haven’t lost.

The Raiders’ offensive line could not hold up, allowing a sack rate of nearly 14 percent. Pickett was brought down four times, while Philadelphia’s pass rush consistently collapsed the pocket. On top of that, the Eagles’ defense limited Las Vegas to just 75 total yards, leaving the offense with no room to operate.

The defensive front fared no better. Las Vegas allowed Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts to complete 12-of-15 passes for 175 yards and three touchdowns without an interception. The Raiders managed only one sack all afternoon, and the imbalance was evident across the stat sheet. Philadelphia outgained Las Vegas in offensive yardage 387–75, with the Raiders unable to slow down either the run or the pass.

At the end of the day, Pete Carroll still believes in his players. But after a performance like this, it’s hard to ignore what’s coming next. A serious offseason rebuild, especially along the offensive and defensive lines, now feels unavoidable.

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