Fresh off an improbable comeback win in Baltimore and returning to Las Vegas for a home opener against a winless Carolina squad that had just benched its starting quarterback, the Raiders were set up Sunday with a perfect opportunity to move to 2-1.
Instead, Antonio Pierce's squad laid a massive egg in front of the Black Hole.
The Raiders scored just seven points through three quarters while allowing Andy Dalton and the heretofore moribund Panthers to roll to a 26-point lead by the start of the fourth frame. Las Vegas eventually dropped its first 2024 game at Allegiant Stadium, 36-22, and fell to 1-2 on the campaign.
After getting booed out of the building Sunday, Pierce was, let's say, not pleased with his team's effort.
"We got our ass whooped," the Raiders coach told reporters, via the team transcript. "We got to put pads on, I don't know, got to get on the sled. Same group that's, for the most part, all come back and same technique, same coaches, it's not a different scheme, so obviously we have to coach better and be some hard asses on the guys, and guys have to take some rough coaching because just didn't see that on either side of the ball. We had an opportunity to run the ball and we didn't. Didn't do that at all. We tried and tried and tried, and I would have booed us, too. Offensively, defensively, we didn't do a good enough job up front, not good enough."
Against Las Vegas' defense, Dalton became the first quarterback this season with at least 300 passing yards and three passing scores in a game. The Raiders allowed the likes of Chuba Hubbard and Diontae Johnson to post career games. After totaling just 352 yards through its first two games, the Panthers put up 437 against Las Vegas.
On the other side of the ball, the Raiders were no better, finishing 3 of 11 on third down and scoring just thrice on 12 possessions. The run game that Pierce rightly admonished picked up just 55 yards on 16 carries. The game got so out of hand that Gardner Minshew was replaced by Aidan O'Connell in the fourth quarter.
Pierce was not impressed with Las Vegas' performance broadly but had his strongest criticism for his club's leadership.
"I think as the game went on -- I don't think it was the team," Pierce said. "I think there was definitely some individuals that made business decisions, and we'll make business decisions going forward as well."
Asked what positives he could take away from the defeat, Pierce quickly retorted, "Nothing."
Leaders in the Raiders' locker room weren't sure whom Pierce was talking about but concurred with their head coach that Sunday's showing wasn't good enough.
"We've got a lot of people that have to look in the mirror," Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby . "Everybody's got to continue getting better. It's not the end of the world, but it's a wake-up call, you know what I mean? We've got to be better. Period ... simple as that.
"I don't know. There's a lot of things. You've got to watch the film. Just wasn't good enough. Just a bad loss. I mean, s----y. We didn't play our best football."
The Raiders will be in similar company next Sunday, as they look to bounce back against the 1-2 Browns, who also had a surprising home loss in Week 3. Las Vegas hopes it can deliver a better result for its fans -- and get back to business -- in Week 4.
"I thought today was just bad by all of us," Pierce concluded. "Bad day for the Raiders."
