Raiders’ Geno Smith Dropped Another Bar After Beating Patriots in Week 1
Going into Foxborough and getting a win is never an easy task for any team in the NFL, especially with the improved New England Patriots under new head coach Mike Vrabel. Nonetheless, it’s exactly what the Las Vegas Raiders went into Gillette Stadium, walking away with an imposing win.
The Silver and Black ended up winning 20-13 behind Geno Smith’s 362 passing yards, which was the most in a Raiders debut.
Smith will have some things to improve on, as he threw an interception, but for the most part, he was great, completing 70.6% of passes and posting a 102.8 rating.
After the game, Smith made some impressive remarks, showing the confidence level he has had throughout his career.
“I’m me. That’s all I think about. I don’t think about anything else; I’m me,” Smith said after the game, per NFL.com. “I know who I am, I know what I can do.
“Mistakes happen, things happen within the game. There was a tipped pass, I made the right read, could’ve made a better throw. … Not going to hang my head, I’m keep going. … I just know who I am. I know what I can do on that field so I never worry.”
Can Geno Smith Be the Answer for the Raiders at QB?
While the Las Vegas Raiders have had some below-average quarterback play at times, Smith proved that he might be the answer. It’ll be interesting to see how Pete Carroll utilizes him in the future, as there are still areas for improvement, but this might be the best quarterback play the Raiders have had in a very long time.
They also did good things on the ground, despite Ashton Jeanty only averaging 2.0 yards per carry. He still rushed for a touchdown, showing that Smith might have some more weapons than initially expected.
Geno Smith Brings Impressive Trait to Las Vegas
Perhaps more importantly than anything else for the Las Vegas Raiders, they needed someone at the quarterback position with confidence.
When examining what Smith did, Paul Gutierrez of the team’s official site noted that the mentality Smith will bring to this organization is exactly what it needs. If they want to make any noise this season, it’ll have to be because of what Smith instills in the rest of the roster.
“Smith did not blink. Not until after he had picked himself up, dusted himself off and authored a franchise record for most passing yards in a quarterback’s debut and the final gun had sounded on the Raiders’ feel-good 20-13 season-opening win at the Patriots on Sunday.
“And that mentality is exactly what the Raiders need from the most important position in team sports if they want to make some noise this season, something the Raiders have missed at quarterback for years,” he wrote.
Smith has been criticized as a player in the past and has certainly heard all the noise.
However, if he can continue to do what he did Sunday for the Raiders and they clean up some other things, this should be a much better season than many had anticipated entering the year.
Things won’t get any easier for the Raiders, not only in a tough AFC West but in general.
Packers’ Colby Wooden Fires Back at Critics After Dominant Run Defense Performance
Micah Parsons, a contrarian opinion had taken hold, too–the Packers defense would get chewed up in the running game.Three days before the Packers were to play the Detroit Lions in their 2025 opener, defensive lineman Colby Wooden got a phone call. It was his father. While much attention had been foisted on the Packers in recent days after the stunning trade for pass-rusher
The Packers had to trade away stalwart defensive lineman Kenny Clark to acquire Parsons, and the feeling was, that would be costly in the team’s efforts to handle the run. Detroit, after all, rushed for 2,488 yards last season, sixth in the NFL. Without Clark, surely the Packers would be in trouble.
Wooden, who is helping replace Clark in the middle, took the call from his dad, who said, “Do me a favor, shut ‘em up.”
And he, along with the entire Packers defensive front, did just that, holding the Lions to 46 yards on 22 carries, their lowest rushing output since Week 6 in 2023. Wooden, Devonte Wyatt and Karl Brooks held the line admirably in the middle all day for the Packers.
Colby Wooden: ‘I Took That Personal’
Wooden, for one, was insulted by the questions about the team’s inability to hold against the run.
“I for sure took that personal …” Wooden said. “So I just, did my job, went out there, stopped the run. I took it personal. Honestly, I felt like it was kinda disrespectful, like, ‘Oh, they gonna run the ball.’ So I made it my mission—we, excuse me—we made it our mission to shut them down.”
That’s not easy to do against the combo of Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery, nicknamed Sonic and Knuckles.
“We know what they want to do,” Wooden said. “Last year, they wanted to run. They call them Sonic and Knuckles, or whatever. They want to run them 30 times. So we know they want to run that ball. We’ve got to do our job to stop the run so they can get back and let (Parsons) go get them.”
Packers Filling Roles With Micah Parsons on Board
Wooden said the effect of having Parsons on the field was obvious, and it works both ways. When offenses focus on corralling Parsons, the other Packers must step up.
“Everybody’s got a job to do, everybody got a role,” Wooden said. “Everybody’s got to buy into their role. We know what attention and what he comes with. And we know we got to stop that run, go help him out, if he is getting is getting chipped, doubled or whatever, now it’s somebody else’s turn to win their one-on-one.”
Packers Have Commanders Next
And despite the obviously encouraging results, Wooden is not getting ahead of himself. The Commanders will be next on the docket, with fearsome young quarterback Jayden Daniels on hand.
“It’s just one week,” Wooden said. “It’s Week 1. It’s great to start off with a win, dominate. But we’ve got to keep it going. We got a good team coming here on Thursday, we know we got to be ready to stop that run and contain that quarterback. So we just gotta keep going, keep getting better, keep jelling.”
