Go Inside the Raiders Locker Room & Learn Why the Silver and Black Won

FOXBOROUGH, MA—The Las Vegas Raiders came out east and got Pete Carroll his first win as the head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders, 20-13 over the New England Patriots.

In the latest episode of the Las Vegas Raiders Insider Podcast, we have a complete recap, in excruciating detail, about the Silver and Black’s first win of the 2025 season, today here in Foxborough over the New England Patriots.

Sep 7, 2025; Foxborough, Massachusetts, USA; Las Vegas Raiders head coach Pete Carroll reacts with defensive end Malcolm Koonce (51) during the second half at Gillette Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brian Fluharty-Imagn Images | Brian Fluharty-Imagn Images

You can watch the entire podcast below:

Pete Carroll’s ability to lead and motivate is a thing of legend in the National Football League, and what he has done already in the desert is a testimony to it.

He spoke moments ago after the win, and below is a transcript of what he said.

RAIDERS HEAD COACH PETE CARROLL

PC: Good win. Really important first day for us to get off and come from behind and win the game in the second half and believe the whole way through that we were going to find a way. Defense did a tremendous job in the second half to hold them down, getting off the field on the third downs and all of that, just playing tough as heck. And, really excited for our guys. We've worked really hard to get to this point, and to get in that locker room and have that kind of fun and cheer on one another and all that. But it's East Coast, I don't know, East Coast, we don't mind coming out here. Maybe we can keep that going.

Q: You've seen Geno Smith do this quite a few times before, but today talk about the statement game from him. In terms of what he can do and stabilizing —

PC: Yeah. For him to complete over 70 percent of his passes again, I mean he's been doing this. Geno had a regular game today. I don't think it was a big statement game or anything like that. I just think it's just what he does. And we'll do better than that. We got rushed a little bit today a couple of times, and that really kind of changed his opportunities to have even a bigger day. But the fact that we had so many big plays — somebody said we had nine plays over 20, like tied the record or something like that. I can't believe that now. I can't believe with all the guys we've had in the years here at the Raiders we'd have more than that. But it was still a big day for us, and he did a great job.

Sep 7, 2025; Foxborough, Massachusetts, USA; New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye (10) and Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Geno Smith (7) react after the game at Gillette Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brian Fluharty-Imagn Images | Brian Fluharty-Imagn Images

Q: Toward the end of the first half, offense kind of hit a lull there, seemed like coming down to the third quarter, Geno particularly still maintained that level of confidence. What goes into that for a player being able to have some moments and then shake it off and get back to it?

Sep 7, 2025; Foxborough, Massachusetts, USA; Las Vegas Raiders wide receiver Jakobi Meyers (16) practices before the game at Gillette Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brian Fluharty-Imagn Images | Brian Fluharty-Imagn Images

PC: He's a star player in the NFL. He's been doing this for a long time. That was a normal response by him to just not worry about it. We took a couple of sacks on pressures that we didn't need to take. I wish we'd have gotten rid of the football instead of getting hit. But other than that -- and there was a couple of penalties in there, it felt like that made a difference and we were 2nd-and-20 or something like that, or 1st-and-20. Really hard to play from there. But other than that, shoot, I thought we were fine. I wish we'd have run the ball better. They did a nice job up front against us. We didn't get much going. But we stayed with it enough to give us the play passes that we needed to throw the football around. Jakobi [Meyers] had a different game running after the catch and getting pounded and then making more yards. I thought that was special. Tre [Tucker]'s touchdown was perfect with the protection they picked it up versus a pressure, and we hit a touchdown pass. So, a lot of good things happened across the board, and we're really happy about it.

Las Vegas Raiders Elandon Roberts — NFL Las Vegas Raiders linebacker Elandon Roberts | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

You guys lost Elandon Roberts, but it seemed like the linebackers the communication stayed true and they stayed with it even with that loss?

PC: Yeah. He sprained his elbow, and we'll see what that all means. He's tough as nails, and if he can come back, he will. Yeah, but those guys have been rolling a lot. John Glenn has been moving those guys through so that we have fresh callers and guys that can communicate really well. So it wasn't that far off for us to deal with that properly. Tommy [Eichenerg] got a little playing time in there, which was great. But I thought the whole group played really well.

Q: What's your level of concern with Brock Bowers, the injury?

Sep 7, 2025; Foxborough, Massachusetts, USA; New England Patriots cornerback Carlton Davis III (7), safety Dell Pettus (24) make a tackle on Las Vegas Raiders tight end Brock Bowers (89) during the second half at Gillette Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-Imagn Images | Bob DeChiara-Imagn Images

PC: They're looking at his knee. He wanted to go back in and they wouldn't let him go back in. They thought, let's watch the game, see how it goes; we didn't have to do that. But he's an incredible player. So, yeah, we need to have him.

Q: Are you guys game planning? How do you think you guys stuck to that game plan?

Jul 28, 2025; Foxborough, MA, USA; New England Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels heads to the practice fields for training camp at Gillette Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Eric Canha-Imagn Images | Eric Canha-Imagn Images

PC: Well, this first game you really don't know what you're getting. We saw them in preseason, and they saw us in preseason. We didn't motion one snap in preseason this year. We were moving a lot today, if you noticed. They, likewise, they did things that they hadn't done. So, in this first game and even the second game and the third game, these are all games that are a little bit loose on what you're planning for because teams can change and they haven't really showed their hands. Some of the clubs that have been together for a long time is a little bit different. But the new teams, brand new team, we didn't know what they were going to do and Josh [McDaniels] had a lot of good calls in there, a lot off good stuff that he did against us.

Q: Pete, you mentioned that the ground game wasn't quite there, but you did have success with the play action passing game.

Las Vegas Raiders OC Chip Kelly | Darrell Craig Harris, On SI

PC: Well, they still got under the run. They were getting fired up and hyped up about stopping it. I thought Chip [Kelly] called a great game to take advantage of that. Their aggressive style at the line of scrimmage allowed us to get a few plays out of them. And that's just kind of how we play. Hopefully we can keep that going. But we'll need the running game a lot more formidable than that.

Q: You preached compete since you got here, and today towards the end of the first half when the team got behind, you could tell they were frustrated, but they never quit competing. Is that why you do it from day one? You install it. You just can't turn it on, on game day?

Las Vegas Raiders Pete Carroll | Darrell Craig Harris

PC: Yeah. That is the essence of why it's the central theme in the program is so that you never call it at any one point. You just keep competing and you just keep battling, play after play after play. We don't pass judgment. We just keep rolling. And these guys were talking like that at halftime. They were talking like it on the sidelines, and they keep talking about just keep doing the right thing, and we'll work our way out of it. That is the conversation that we're trying to develop on a regular basis so there ain't nothing that we can't handle. So, it was a good illustration of that. Thanks for pointing that out.

Q: The 20-yard play was on third-and-20 in the fourth quarter. Can you talk about that?

PC: That was a huge play. That really swung the game where we really were in command of the game from that point on. That was a huge job by the guys up from, because Geno had some extra time there, and he got a chance to throw it down there on a really nice, unusual play that Dont'e [Thornton Jr.] makes the catch on. It was a very significant play in that game, and fortunately worked out. We still could have won the game without that one, but that play really kind of put us on top of the game for us.

Las Vegas Raiders TE Michael Mayer from Training Camp — Las Vegas Raiders TE Michael Mayer | Darrell Craig Harris, Sports Illustrated

Q: Also Michael Mayer, talking about at number two tight end I guess.

PC: He ain't number two tight end. We got ones. Those guys can all play and do stuff. Mike made some big catches today and held onto the ball great. Unfortunately, we had one fricking ball tipped today and they get a pick on it. But we played with the ball in our hands really securely all day long, which is what we've been doing everything in our power to own once we get to these games. I was really proud of that today.

Q: What do you think of your young corners? I mean, they just stepped up today.

Sep 7, 2025; Foxborough, Massachusetts, USA; Las Vegas Raiders head coach Pete Carroll talks with cornerback Kyu Blu Kelly (36) at Gillette Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-Imagn Images | Bob DeChiara-Imagn Images

PC: I thought they did fine. Really, we had two PIs called on us. I think you could go to both of them, and you could see the offensive guy ran into Eric [Stokes], I think it was, and knocked him back, and the guy, the side judge couldn't see it really. But I thought that was one that didn't have to get called. And I thought Kyu Blu [Kelly] did a nice job fighting to the hands without making something that impeded that receiver. So I challenged both of them, and I thought those guys played really well.

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