Why the Raiders’ Bye Week Might Be Their Most Important Yet

HENDERSON, Nev. — The Las Vegas Raiders (2-5) are at a critical point for their franchise as their 2025 postseason dreams are diminishing into faint memories, and they are trying to salvage something of value from the campaign.

In the most recent episode of the Las Vegas Raiders Insider Podcast, we cover three important topics regarding the franchise. We discuss the future of Pete Carroll, superstar defensive end Maxx Crosby, and the team's urgent need to ensure that everyone within the organization is aligned and working together.

You can watch the entire podcast below:

There are some things we know, and indeed some things that need to be put under the microscope and made abundantly clear to everyone.

Three Things We Know, Or Need to Be Made Known

We know from those close to the Raiders that Pete Carroll isn’t going anywhere.

· We know from sources inside the team, and around the NFL, that Maxx Crosby has drawn enormous interest, but the Raiders are not in any way trying to trade or plan to trade him.

Las Vegas Raiders DE Maxx Crosby | Darrell Craig Harris, On SI

· The Raiders must make it known what exactly they want from every facet of the franchise, and stick solely to that singular purpose.

All three of those things were discussed in detail in this podcast.

Pete Carroll spoke about the team and the many questions around it on Monday to kick off the bye week.

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

You can read the partial transcript below:

Head Coach Pete Carroll

Q: When you think about the time of the bye week, what do you hope to accomplish? Head

Coach Pete Carroll: "Well, the first thing is it gives us a chance to have two weeks to get three or four guys back out there, get some starters back out there. It should help. Brock [Bowers] should be ready to go, Jakobi [Meyers] I think he worked out in pregame, was close, he should be ready to go. Gives us a chance to get Maxx [Crosby]. Maxx was not full speed yesterday. He tried, did everything he could, and we had to get him out of there, but he'll be better. So, that's a real boost.”

Las Vegas Raiders WR Jakobi Meyers from Training Camp — Las Vegas Raiders WR Jakobi Meyers | Darrell Craig Harris, Sports Illustrated

Carroll went on to speak collectively adding, “I mean, those are three guys that are legitimate leader players on this football team that we need to get back out there. So, hopefully that that will take place. Big self-scouting opportunity for us, big chance to make sure that we know what our opponents are seeing, and to tweak and adjust and be creative with how we do that. That's what this time is always for. A chance to take a look at some young guys, to give them a better shot, and a couple days that we practice with them, just a better chance to show us where they fit or how far they've come and can they help us. So, it's all pretty much the normal stuff, but that's what we're focusing on."

Q: At this point in the season, has anything surprised you how this season has played out so far?

Coach Carroll: "Yeah, I'm surprised that we're not farther along than we are. I thought we would be, and I anticipated being farther along and being cleaner with our game. What I'm trying to show you is that we can play really balanced football, meaning that all three phases can do their part and give us a chance to play the game where we're not giving the game away. And early on, we've turned the ball over like crazy, and the kicking game was struggling, and defense was kind of holding it together for us, it seemed. And so, the kicking game has come back around. Couple guys have been switched around, moved around, I think Tom [McMahon] did a nice job adjusting and the last couple games have been very solid. You kind of don't even want to know they're out there and every once in a while they make a play, and that's kind of taking place. “

Las Vegas Raiders Special Teams Coordinator Tom McMahon from Training Camp — Las Vegas Raiders Special Teams Coordinator Tom McMahon

Carroll elaborated on a massive deficiency versus the Chiefs.

“And defensively was different yesterday, we really missed Maxx [Crosby]. Maxx's dynamic play and the things that he does, that was obvious to me, but that's come along. Offensively now, we've settled down giving the football up, and so now we need to kind of get going again and get moving and get productive. Yesterday was a mess of making first downs and they did a great job on us. We missed some guys out there. Jakobi [Meyers] was really important to us, not having him, and the fact that we were so close to getting Brock [Bowers] back. We've been without Brock for almost a month now. He missed three games. It seems like forever. And he's such a central figure in our offense, to have him coming back will just seem different. I think everything about it will look different. And we're counting on that."

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