The Raiders left New York with a win, but it took a string of sharp calls to get there.
Las Vegas went to the East Coast and ran into a Jets team that was better than its record suggested. New York controlled the trenches early, piling up 140 rushing yards in the first half while holding the Raiders to just 97 total yards on offense. By the time the game tightened late, the Raiders had already spent plenty of energy just keeping themselves afloat.
One of the biggest moments came in the closing stretch, when Las Vegas had to choose between punting the ball back to New York with a two-point lead or sending Matt Gay out for a field goal from midfield to push the margin to five. The risk was obvious either way.
A miss would have handed the Jets the ball near midfield and a chance to win with a field goal. The Raiders stayed with Gay, who has missed only one field goal this season, and he delivered.
Special teams ended up accounting for 14 of Las Vegas’ 38 points on Sunday.
The other major turning point was up front, where the Raiders finally made a change that had been building for weeks. After the loss to the Los Angeles Rams in Week 7, the decision not to get Zuhn more involved - especially at a spot of need - had started to look harder to justify. Las Vegas drafted Zuhn because he can play all five offensive line positions, but with three starting spots already settled and the guard play still shaky, the team finally gave him a shot where the unit had been getting bogged down.
He responded well in his first start at offensive guard. That matters even more because most of his productive college work came at offensive tackle, and he said during the offseason that tackle is the position he is most comfortable with. Still, the Raiders had been cycling through options at guard, and neither Jackson Powers-Johnson nor Caleb Rogers had held the spot at a level that could stabilize the offense.
Washington’s work on the ground also gave the offense a needed lift, and the Raiders found ways to support that production beyond just handing him the ball. But the guard spot remains the clearest storyline coming out of the win. In one game there, Zuhn looked more prepared for the job than anyone Las Vegas has tried this season.
That leaves the Raiders in a simple place heading forward: it is Zuhn or bust. If he can’t give them steady play the rest of the way, there may not be much else they can do to solve the position before the season ends. Week 7 already offered some reason for cautious optimism, and Week 8 only strengthened that feeling.
If Zuhn keeps this up, it changes more than one spot on the depth chart. It gives John Spytek and the front office something real to weigh before the trade deadline, especially if a rookie can step in midway through the season and handle a position the Raiders were not planning to address until the offseason. It would also add more value to the trade that brought in Zuhn and rookie safety Treydan Stukes.
The next test will be tougher. San Francisco is a much stiffer challenge than New York.
But at minimum, Zuhn has shown he is no worse than the other options Las Vegas has used at right guard this season. At best, he may have already become their starter there for the foreseeable future.
In Other News...
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Davis also framed Kirk Cousins as the kind of veteran presence that can help bridge the gap while Mendoza keeps learning the professional game. He said the rookie is progressing well, but there is no need to force the issue right away, which leaves the Raiders with a patient approach for now and a bigger question still hanging over when the next chapter actually begins. [Read more 🡒]
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The challenge for the Raiders is obvious: Crosby remains central to what they do, especially with the current state of the defensive line, yet his value could be at its peak if the team ever decided to listen. Even with the possibility of significant offers coming in, Las Vegas would have to weigh the immediate hit to its defense against the kind of return it would demand to even consider moving one of the franchises most important players. [Read more 🡒]
Raiders Fans Just Got A New Reminder Of Al Davis Legacy
Christian Bale is helping bring one of the most influential figures in Raiders history back into the spotlight. Speaking on ESPNs SportsCenter, Bale discussed his role in David O. Russells upcoming movie Madden and described Al Davis as a complicated force who rose through the organization and left a lasting imprint on the Raiders and the NFL.
For Raiders fans, the timing makes the reminder feel especially relevant, with the film set to arrive during the 2026 NFL season. Bale also pointed to Davis once a Raider, always a Raider mindset, along with his civil rights record and broader impact on the league, underscoring why Davis remains such a central part of the franchises identity. [Read more 🡒]