Raiders Collapse in Indy: What Went Wrong vs. the Colts

Key moments, costly turnovers, and a QB decision that left fans stunned — unpacking the Raiders’ tough loss to the Colts.

Author

Jesse Merrick
October 06, 2025

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QUOTE OF THE DAY

"Nothing you did the last game, last season, last week, in practice — none of that stuff matters, man. It’s about executing on gameday, getting to the game, one play at a time, doing your job, every guy, all 11 doing their job on all sides of the ball, and taking the approach that we’re gonna get it done. There is nothing else that matters. This is the big boy league, this is the NFL. It’s the best of the best, and you’ve gotta go out there and you gotta get it done. Like I said, until we figure that out, we’re gonna have the same results.”

— Raiders QB Geno Smith following the loss to the Colts

Photo Courtesy: Arnie Bazemore

In today’s newsletter, we’re breaking down the Raiders’ brutal loss to the Colts — pinpointing where the game slipped away, the key stats that told the story, and why Pete Carroll stuck with Geno Smith instead of turning to Kenny Pickett. Plus, we’ve got an update on Brock Bowers’ injury status and what it means heading into Week 6.

RAIDERS VS. COLTS POSTGAME REACTION

Looking for instant reaction from the Raiders’ brutal loss to the Colts? Check out the latest episode of the Silver & Black Sports Network Podcast, where I break down everything that went wrong on offense — from red zone failures to Geno Smith’s turnovers — and why the defense couldn’t get enough stops when it mattered most.

RAIDERS FALL 40-6 TO THE COLTS IN INDY

Photo Courtesy: Indianapolis Colts

Things looked great early on for the Raiders in Indianapolis. The defense forced the Colts to go three-and-out on their first drive, and the Raiders put together a 16-play, 80-yard scoring drive that lasted 9:50. The only issue is that the score was a field goal (more on that later), and the Colts got right back on the field quickly.

On their second drive of the game, they too marched down the field, going 83 yards in 13 plays, but they capped that drive off with a touchdown after Daniel Jones connected with Tyler Warren for the score. No big deal, though, it was only 7-3, but things turned quickly after that.

Following Indy’s go-ahead scoring drive, the Raiders offense shot itself in the foot. First, Jordan Meredith picked up a holding penalty to put them behind the sticks, then Geno missed a wide-open Ashton Jeanty out of the backfield, and Dont’e Thornton couldn’t haul in a pass that Geno dropped in the bucket to him on a fade ball. Then on fourth down, the wheels fell off, Ian Thomas barely chipped Segun Olubi, and he got home to block the punt, hurting All-Pro punter AJ Cole in the process. The Colts took over at the eight-yard line, and four plays later, Jonathan Taylor punched it in for the score. It was only 14-3 at that point, but that’s when the wheels fell off for the Raiders.

They abandoned the run, couldn’t convert on third downs, Geno threw two interceptions, and the Colts picked apart their soft zone coverage, scoring touchdowns on four of their next five drives to the tune of a 40-6 beatdown.

“Things happened early enough that got us behind, just felt like we needed to hang, and keep going, and stay close, and the game got away because we couldn’t score enough. There are big plays that are happening to us that have to be solved. We have to get the kicking game cleaned up; we can’t let this happen, with the blocks and the significant field changes. They’re just huge, huge to deal with…we have others be able to overcome that stuff and we just don’t seem to be able to do that yet.”

— Pete Carroll, Raiders Head Coach

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KEY STATS FROM THE LOSS TO THE COLTS

3RD DOWNS

The Colts went 8-for-10 on third down. They picked up a total of 84 yards on their eight third down conversions and the Raiders also gifted them with a pair of first downs off of third down penalties. That’s not winning football.

“I just feel like, we had our opportunities, not only for defense, and I feel like third down was a big part of what killed us. When you let an offense keep a drive going, that can hurt. I just feel like we just got to make those plays. We had them in third-and-10, a couple third and get off the field. That's the money down, we’ve got to get it. And whether it's just putting it on ourselves, making a play, being more aggressive, going into the quarterback and speed him up. Whatever we do, we just got to be ready as a unit to get the job done. But we were putting ourselves in the best position to be successful and we just didn’t finish.”

— Devin White, Raiders Linebacker

REDZONE STRUGGLES

Redzone scoring has been an issue for the Raiders over the years and it reared it’s ugly head again in the loss to the Colts. Vegas had four redzone opportunities on Sunday in Indy, they scored a grand total of zero touchdowns on those drives and settled for a pair of field goals instead.

“We’ve just got to get better, and capitalize in the red zone. Right now, I think we're probably one of the worst teams in the red zone so we’ve got to get better. On third down, fourth down, we’ve got to be better. I can't say there's a specific answer, we just got to go back, watch the film, everybody look in the mirror and see how we can get better.”

— Ashton Jeanty, Raiders Running Back

On the flip side, the Colts got six redzone opportunities and they scored six on each and every one of their possessions inside the 20.

The Raiders have put together some drives at times this season, but they need to find a way to capitalize on those drives and get into the end zone. This team isn’t good enough to settle for field goals.

IS IT TIME TO BENCH GENO?

Geno Smith threw a pair of interceptions on Sunday vs. the Colts, pushing his total on the season to nine interceptions. That’s good for the league lead in INTs. Many fans have been calling for him to get benched. Pete was asked whether or not he thought about turning to Kenny Pickett at any point on Sunday and he essentially said he wanted to keep Geno out there to get him more reps so they can get closer to turning this thing around.

I get wanting a change and the interception numbers look bad, really bad, but benching Geno isn’t the answer right now. That’s not a conversation I’m really entertaining till after the bye week. He’s lost other games, the games vs. the Chargers and Bears come to mind, but outside of that, he gives them the best chance to win, in my opinion.

MISS ANYTHING?

Catch up on some of our recent stories:

Kolton Miller’s Replacement & Is Maxx Crosby the NFL’s Top Defender?


— Breaking down Miller’s replacement plan, and Maxx Crosby’s place among NFL elites.

Raiders vs. Bears: Geno’s Picks, Jeanty & Crosby Shine


— Breaking down Geno’s interceptions, Jeanty & Crosby’s big nights, and where the game truly turned.

WHAT’S UP WITH BROCK?

On Friday Pete Carroll told us they expected Brock Bowers to play in Sunday’s game against the Colts but that didn’t pan out. He said they held Brock out of practice on Thursday and Friday with hopes that he’d be ready to roll but once Saturday rolled around things changed after the walkthrough on Saturday.

“We were going to rest him all the way through the week and he thought – we all thought – that that was going to make a difference. But as he got down to it on Saturday, he couldn't feel it. He couldn't get right. Kind of happened to (Eric) Stokes too. He practiced during the week and got through it, but his knee didn’t respond well enough to feel like he can go 1,000 miles an hour out here on game day. So, a little wishful thinking. Optimism, relentless optimism. Obviously, we’ll get there. If Brock (Bowers) could have played, he would have. If Stokes could have played, he would have. And we thought that by resting them it would make a difference, and we didn’t get as much out of that as we had hoped.”

— Pete Carroll

Brock hasn’t been the same since he suffered that knee injury in the opener against the Patriots. As much as it hurts to see him miss a game, even he couldn’t have made enough of a difference in a 40-6 ballgame. We’ll be monitoring his status when the team returns to practice on Wednesday but it sounds like this one could be awhile. At this point I’m beginning to wonder if it’s best to shut him down till after the bye week.

WHAT’S NEXT?

We’ll hear from Pete Carroll this afternoon at Raiders HQ. There’s not much you can say about a game like this but he usually offers better insight into games after he’s had a chance to look over the film.

After that, keep an eye out for our next episode of the Silver & Black Sports Network Podcast dropping on Wednesday morning. We’ll turn the page to the Titans and start to disect that matchup with a beat reporter from Nashville.

Catch ya next time,

Silver & Black Sports Network is an independent media outlet. We are not affiliated with, endorsed, or sponsored by the Las Vegas Raiders or the NFL.

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