Analysis: Resilient effort from Pete Carroll, Raiders falls just short at Texans

Las Vegas Raiders running back Ashton Jeanty (2) celebrates after scoring against the Houston Texans during the second half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025, in Houston. Photo by: ASSOCIATED PRESS

NFL Network reported Sunday morning that coach Pete Carroll’s future with the Raiders was unsurprisingly, “in doubt,” but that the 74-year-old veteran was out to convince owner Mark Davis not to move on from him after one season.   

The Raiders’ Week 17 game at the Houston Texans might bolster his case. Carroll came out highly energized, even by his standards, and the players seemed to follow his lead.

Las Vegas had its most spirited and overall best performance in weeks despite falling 23-21 to Houston for a ninth straight defeat.

Unlike arguably every other loss in the stretch, the Raiders were the better team by the box score. They just made too many mistakes to ultimately upset a Texans’ team currently sitting in a playoff spot and chasing a third straight AFC South title.

Raiders quarterback Geno Smith returned after missing a game with a shoulder injury and threw for 201 yards and two touchdowns on 16-for-23 passing, but he made one fatally errant pass early.

On a third-and-1 play in the first quarter, Smith threw a short pass behind rookie running back Ashton Jeanty and Houston star cornerback Derek Stingley picked it off and returned the interception 31 yards for a touchdown.

That was enough to keep the Texans ahead of the Raiders for all but three minutes of the first half when a 7-yard touchdown pass from Smith to Brock Bowers tied the game despite an anemic offensive start from the former.      

The Raiders’ defense, led by consistent disruption by superstar edge rusher Maxx Crosby, rendered the Texans’ offense so inefficient that the fans at NRG Stadium booed the unit on multiple occasions.

Houston managed only 270 total yards and 4.4 yards per play by the end of the game, with Las Vegas outpacing it via 315 total yards and an average of 5.9 yards per play.

The Raiders took the lead early in the third quarter when Smith found Jeanty racing alone down the sideline for a 60-yard touchdown pass. Jeanty broke one tackle inside the five-yard line to find the end zone for the first time since a Week 13 loss to the Browns.

Houston responded with points on two of its next three drives, as kicker Ka’imi Fairbairn made his third of three field goal attempts from 51 yards before Dalton Schultz caught a 1-yard touchdown pass from quarterback CJ Stroud.

The latter put the Texans up two scores at 23-14 after a penalty-assisted drive where cornerback Lonnie Johnson drew a controversial pass interference flag in the end zone.

Penalties unraveled the Raiders all afternoon as the officials flagged them nine times for 85 yards as opposed to the Texans’ tallies of four flags for 29 yards.

But the Raiders never folded, noticeably different than last week when many accused them of quitting in a 31-0 loss to the Eagles. Jeanty broke a 51-yard run — the second-longest of his career — after Schultz’s touchdown to give the Raiders a chance at a comeback down only two points with a little more than five minutes to play.

The defense then helped force Houston into a perilous 3rd down-and-20 situation from its own 7-yard line, but rookie cornerback Darien Porter interfered with Houston wide receiver Nico Collins to give the home team an automatic first down.

Houston then picked up a necessary pair of first downs to run out the clock.

The Raiders played much better with Carroll’s job reportedly on the line but still showed plenty of the sloppiness that has them tied for worst record in the NFL with the New York Giants at 2-13. Those two teams meet next Sunday at Allegiant Stadium in a game that will in all likelihood determine which teams finishes last and picks first in the 2026 NFL Draft.

Carroll seems unlikely to be around to offer his input into the pick by then, but the loss against the Texans showed he’s not giving up hope just yet.