The 2025 season was one of the worst in Raiders’ history and, unfortunately, it might have been the end of a career for one of the most accomplished head coaches in football history.
Pete Carroll lasted only one season in Las Vegas, and the story of his 2025 campaign was probably the most complicated of his 28 seasons as a head coach in college and the NFL.
From his coaching staff to the players, Carroll didn’t sign up for a perfect situation with the Raiders and on Tuesday, Raider Nation Radio host ‘JT the Brick’ talked about some of the details that led to the departure of Carroll and two of his predecessors.
JT said he has fewer concerns with Klint Kubiak than the three coaches before Kubiak and hinted at why he felt Carroll, Josh McDaniels and Antonio Pierce didn’t have more success.
From his flagship radio show on Tuesday, these were JT’s comments on the most recent head coaches in Vegas…
“I’m really optimistic about Klint Kubiak. I knew when Josh McDaniels came… I knew he wasn’t going to be great at dealing with the players one on one. I knew he was a great offensive coordinator, but as a head coach, I was skeptical about it. But I got behind the head coach because I wanted the team to win.
When Antonio Pierce came, I knew that he would get along with every player and be over the top with energy. He did. I didn’t know how we would scheme the games. Then we end up going to Pete Carroll. I knew that Pete Carroll would do a couple things. No. 1, he would get along great with the players. He always does. And no. 2, I thought he would put together a pretty good scheme because he did that in Seattle. He was known for being one of the better halftime adjusters in modern NFL history. Better than Tony Dungy, better than some other guys… He just didn’t have the players…
The Raiders went 1-3, then they went to Indianapolis and that’s when the wheels fell off. The wheels fell off of Pete Carroll. It was the beginning of the end. We lost 40-8. Daniel Jones had on a baseball cap in the fourth quarter and was laughing on the sideline. Giggling and laughing. Daniel Jones was laughing at us. 1-4. Season over. Done. No shot at the playoffs…
Then after that, they beat the Titans to go 2-4. And then at Kansas City, 31-0. As I brought up the box score to the 31-0 loss in Kansas City, I said to myself that has got to be the worst game I have ever seen played of all time. In Raider history, it had to be the worst game I ever saw played. It was that bad.
Do you remember that game? Listen to this. Kansas City had 434 total yards. The Raiders had 95 yards in the game. The Raiders had three first downs. Kansas City had 30 first downs. The Raiders were 0-7 on third down. Time of possession. Ready for this? Kansas City 42 minutes. The Raiders 17:52. I would go on record saying that’s the worst Raider game ever played...
That was last year. Everybody got wiped out. Almost everybody got wiped out expect for a couple of good coaches that remain. Good men got fired, who worked their a– off because the team fell apart. That will not happen now. I don’t know what the Raiders’ record is going to be, but this type of stuff will not happen because Klint Kubiak won’t allow it.”
Raiders in good hands going forward?
The good news for Kubiak and the 2026 coaching staff is that the roster is more talented than it was a year ago, and the organization as a whole seems to be in better alignment.
Last year, Carroll and GM John Spytek had different visions for the team, and it was evident by the way personnel decisions played out down the stretch.
Carroll was in “win now” mode from the day he was hired and JT said over the summer that Carroll’s coaching staff didn’t spend enough time developing young players…
“We didn’t have proper teaching last year. The coaches were not instructed to teach last year. They were instructed to coach. They didn’t teach. They had too many young players who were not taught how to play football at the NFL level.
They didn’t get enough reps because they had this system of competing where a lot of them were not aware of where they stood in the depth chart of competition because the coaches didn’t communicate. The ones who were fired, and their subordinate coaches didn’t do enough time teaching. They did a lot of coaching and being very vague about what your role was going to be.
The biggest turnaround this year in my opinion, this is just me, is that everybody is going to be on the same page with their role. You’re either starting or you’re not. We’re not playing head games with you that you might start if you prove to be better at times or do this.”
x: @raidersbeat
JT hangs up on you if you criticize Mark Davis. He’s a gem