Breaking Down Geno Smith’s Next Move — and Tom Brady’s NFL Reality Check

HENDERSON, Nev.—The Las Vegas Raiders (1-1) look to get back on the winning side of the 2025 NFL season when they head to the nation’s capital this weekend, and they have many reasons for optimism.

After a disappointing Monday Night loss to their AFC West rival, the Chargers, the latest episode of the Las Vegas Raiders Insider Podcast explores whether patience or panic is warranted in Raider Nation.

Las Vegas Raiders' Pete Carroll and Geno Smith | Darrell Craig Harris, On SI

In our latest episode of the Las Vegas Raiders Insider Podcast, we take an inside look at QB Geno Smith and the reality check faced by Tom Brady within the NFL community.

You can read a partial transcript below:

Pete Carroll, before practice this week, had a lot of nuggets of prime information for Raider Nation.

Head Coach Pete Carroll

Q: Along those lines, it's kind of caused a little bit of a firestorm out there, and there are people that are questioning is it fair that Tom Brady and his role as an owner and somebody that maybe has some input in the game planning is also a commentator and goes and talks to other teams. Do you understand where people are coming from there?

Coach Carroll: "Yeah, I think Tom [Brady] has really tried to honor that really strictly, and with all respect to the situation of concerns like you're talking about. And I think he's been really good. He is not planning games with us. He's not talking to us about anything other than our conversations that we have that are really -- they're random, and they're not set up. They're not structured in any way. And he knows. He's very respectful of what he does otherwise, and he's of the opinion that he doesn't want to be that kind of a factor. And so he's not."

Q: There seemed to be some issues in terms of the snap last night, consistent issues. Did you notice that, and do you think that impacted Geno Smith at all?

Coach Carroll: "Well, the one that came off and hit the ground, that was really just Jordan [Meredith] trying to get out of his stance really quick. And the ball hit his butt on the way out and, and so it was a miss-snap. We can be more accurate. Geno [Smith] was reaching for the ball some. We'd like to settle those down. He's pretty good at doing it, so it's not an issue. But that one bad snap was a real mistake. And he got a little over anxious and tried to get out of his stance a little quick and didn't work out."

Q: How did Ashton Jeanty's reads this week compare to Week 1?

Coach Carroll: "He ran the ball well. I thought he hit stuff well. And he went the wrong way on a play and so that was unfortunate and mixes up the whole play. Geno [Smith] goes this way. He goes that way. He's still getting it. We have a ways to go here, and I have no problem telling you that. He's going to get better and get more comfortable. He felt more comfortable in this game. He looked good running the football. And we need to just get to him more, just liked to get another eight or nine snaps to him and get around 20. That'd be really nice."

Las Vegas Raiders coach Pete Carroll | Darrell Craig Harris, On SI

Q: You mentioned already that you got to improve, but would you talk about your offensive line, what you're seeing from it after two games?

Coach Carroll: "Well, we're giving us a chance. We're giving us a chance to make our plays. We get it all works together, the ball has to come out when the rush is hard and quick, and sometimes we did that, and other times we didn't. The reason Geno [Smith] had a chance to throw some late balls down the field is because the protection was so good. But it's a work in progress and with Cap [Alex Cappa] coming in this week, late in the week, that was a little bit of an adjustment for us. And we just have to try to manage that more quickly. And as when you've been together longer, those transitions get smoothed over. So, were they a factor? Very subtle, but we definitely can be better, and we definitely know we will in time."

Las Vegas Raiders RB Ashton Jeanty | Darrell Craig Harris, On SI

Q: From your perspective, is that one of the areas that just takes time?

Coach Carroll: "It always has. There are so many intricacies about what goes on up front, and it's identification, then the proper communication, and then the execution of it. All of those go hand in hand, they kind of have go in sequence. So for IDing well and we make the correct calls, then we have to work together, and then we have to execute the physical part of it. So that's different than running a route. That's different than other positions. And so, it always takes time."

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