Las Vegas Raiders head coach Pete Carroll just sent the NFL a message in the coldest way possible
The Las Vegas Raiders are coming into the season with the national perspective of them being pretty bad, and not anyone having any real expectations of them other than the fact that they should win more than four games, their 2024 total. But that shouldn't be too hard, considering almost every aspect of this team […]
The Las Vegas Raiders are coming into the season with the national perspective of them being pretty bad, and not anyone having any real expectations of them other than the fact that they should win more than four games, their 2024 total.
But that shouldn't be too hard, considering almost every aspect of this team is better than it was last year. But what are the expectations of this team in terms of wins? Some have this team winning nine games, some have them winning six games, which would be an improvement over last year.
No one is really expecting this team to win ten games, though. No one is expecting this team to compete for a wildcard or playoff spot. And, sure, it makes sense why no one is expecting that — they won four games last year and are in the AFC West, where the Kansas City Chiefs, Denver Broncos, and Los Angeles Chargers all made the postseason.
The Raiders were the lone team in the division to not make the postseason. But, let it be known, the ones who don't have the Raiders getting double-digit wins are the ones who will have to be apologizing to head coach Pete Carroll, who has turned teams around quickly, just like he did with the Seattle Seahawks, where he won a Super Bowl.
And, he's standing on business about it all.
Pete Carroll lets everyone know his track record
“Oh, we are going to win a ton. We are going to win a bunch of games. I can't even imagine anything else. I've been winning 10 games a year for 20 years or something, you know? I mean, what are my expectations? We are going to win a bunch, and I don't care who hears that. It doesn't matter to me. It ain't about what anybody hears. It's about what we do. And so, that's why expectations are really high. The standards need to be set so that the expectations can be met. We'll see what happens. I wish I could guarantee it to you, but I can't even think of what else it could be, other than being really successful.”
Since 1997, Pete Carroll has been the head coach of the New England Patriots, USC Trojans, and Seattle Seahawks. He has won less than 10 games 10 times since then. And, since 2002, when he was with the Trojans, it's only happened seven times. In his last few seasons with the Seahawks, he had fewer than 10 wins, but he was very close in those seasons with so many one-score losses between the three seasons, and one season having nine wins.
So, yeah, he kind of does this.
With Pete Carroll, I guess the conversation is more about whether he still has it. Can he adapt to this new era of football? Or, does his way still win football games? And, how long can he coach for? Those, along with the questions surrounding the actual team, are the things that Carroll is doubted for, not the history he has in this sport.
Because, make no doubt about it, he's a Hall of Famer.
‘There’s a million things’ – Raiders’ Pete Carroll used mandatory minicamp to learn the things he needed to learn about his new team
The Raiders are getting some things done that they need done.
