The Las Vegas Raiders kicked off the Pete Carroll era with a 20-13 road victory over the New England Patriots in Week 1. There were plenty of standout performers, but the defense was the biggest surprise, as they held the Josh McDaniels-led offense to just 3 garbage-time second-half points.
Geno Smith's performance also proved that the Raiders finally have a franchise quarterback. He became just the sixth quarterback in franchise history to throw for more than 350 yards and complete at least 70% of his attempts, while setting a Raiders record for passing yards in his debut.
More impressively, Smith did a great job of spreading the ball around, as seven players caught a pass, four of whom averaged over 20 yards per reception.