Raiders' Missed Tackles, Missed Opportunities: Las Vegas' Defensive Woes Hit Rock Bottom in Week 13
The Las Vegas Raiders’ season continues to spiral, and Sunday’s 31-14 loss to the Chargers was just the latest chapter in what’s become a year defined by frustration, inconsistency, and flat-out poor execution. Now sitting at 2-10, the Raiders aren’t just losing games-they’re unraveling in the most fundamental areas of football. And nothing highlights that more than their ongoing issues with tackling.
Let’s call it what it is: the Raiders' defense isn’t finishing plays. And that’s not a one-week hiccup-it’s a season-long trend that’s only getting worse.
A Season-Long Problem Comes to a Head
Missed tackles have haunted this team since the preseason, when they whiffed on 28 in just three exhibition games. Fast forward to Week 13, and the Raiders hit a new low with 20 missed tackles-a season-high that tells you everything you need to know about the current state of this defense.
It wasn’t just one guy having a rough day either. Ten different defenders missed at least one tackle, and seven of them missed multiple. That’s not a breakdown-it’s a system failure.
And it was Chargers rookie running back Kimani Vidal who made them pay. He broke 12 tackles on the day, including a devastating 59-yard touchdown run that turned a manageable 7-point deficit into a 14-7 hole early in the third quarter. That play didn’t just flip the scoreboard-it deflated a defense that had already been teetering on the edge.
Head coach Pete Carroll didn’t sugarcoat it.
“The big run really was a backbreaking play,” Carroll said Monday. “We got them third-and-(two).
They run it. We got guys in position.
We don’t get off the field there, and that was a difference maker.”
It’s hard to argue with that. The Raiders had the right look, the right call, and defenders in position.
What they didn’t have was execution. And that’s been the theme all year.
The Numbers Are Brutal
With 122 missed tackles this season-averaging nearly 10 per game-Las Vegas leads the league in a category no team wants to top. They’ve had five games with double-digit missed tackles and only one game all year with fewer than five.
That outlier? Week 1-the same week they picked up one of their only two wins.
It’s not a coincidence.
You can’t win in the NFL if you can’t bring ball-carriers down. You can scheme all you want, but if your defenders aren’t finishing plays, the rest doesn’t matter. And right now, the Raiders are paying the price for it every single week.
Carroll’s Philosophy Isn’t Translating
To his credit, Carroll says the team has been working on tackling all season. He’s emphasized it in practice, drilled it repeatedly, and even built an entire philosophy around how they teach it. But at this point, the results just aren’t there.
“We work on it really hard with a lot of emphasis,” Carroll said. “We make a big deal about it.
We have a whole style of how we do it... We just got to do it better.”
That’s the problem. The Raiders aren’t doing it better. And for a team that’s already fired offensive coordinator Chip Kelly and special teams coordinator Tom McMahon, the spotlight now shifts even more intensely to the head coach.
What Comes Next?
With the season all but lost, the question isn’t just whether the Raiders can fix their tackling issues-it’s whether Carroll will be the one tasked with doing it in 2026. The missed tackles are a symptom of a larger issue: a lack of discipline, both in technique and in execution.
And when that becomes a pattern over 13 weeks, it’s not just on the players. That’s a coaching issue.
Whether it’s Carroll returning or a new regime stepping in, one thing is clear: this team has to get back to basics. That starts with wrapping up, finishing plays, and playing with the kind of discipline that keeps games from slipping away.
Because right now, the Raiders aren’t just missing tackles-they’re missing chances to compete. And in a league that punishes every mistake, that’s a formula for exactly what we’re seeing: a 2-10 record and a long offseason ahead.