Ethical Sports Takes

The Las Vegas Raiders have completely turned things around so far this season, and I won’t sit here and pretend I predicted it because I didn’t.

The Raiders finished last season 3–14, one of the worst records in football. Through just three weeks of the 2026 season, they have already matched their entire win total from last year with a 3–0 start. Las Vegas scored just 241 points in 2025, an average of 14.2 points per game, dead last in the NFL, while allowing 25.4 points per game. Through three games this season, the Raiders are averaging 29.3 points per game while allowing just 18.0.

That’s not a small improvement. Their scoring has more than doubled while the defense has cut more than a touchdown per game off its average.

The Wins Are Becoming Hard to Ignore

Las Vegas opened the season with a 27–13 win over Miami. I’ll be fair: that one didn’t shock me. Miami looks like a team headed toward a rebuilding year, and beating the Dolphins wasn’t enough by itself to convince me that the Raiders had suddenly become a legitimate football team.

Then came Week 2.

The Raiders went on the road and beat the Los Angeles Chargers 26–14. That got my attention. A lot of pundits were extremely high on the Chargers entering this season, yet the Raiders didn’t just sneak past them. Las Vegas went into Los Angeles, forced three turnovers and won by 12 points.

Then in Week 3, Las Vegas went into New Orleans and beat the Saints 35–27, overcoming an 11 point deficit and scoring 19 unanswered points to finish the game.

At some point, you have to acknowledge what is happening. The Raiders aren’t 3–0 because of one fluky afternoon. They have won three games in three different ways.

This Season Was Supposed to Be About Fernando Mendoza

Think about how much the conversation surrounding this team has changed in three weeks.

Entering the season, the question wasn’t whether the Raiders could compete for the AFC West. It was essentially: How many games will they lose before they throw Fernando Mendoza into the fire?

Las Vegas had just selected Mendoza with the No. 1 overall pick, and Kirk Cousins was the veteran standing between the rookie and the starting job. Cousins won the job, but everyone knew Mendoza was waiting behind him.

Three weeks later, that entire narrative is dead.

Why would you even consider changing quarterbacks right now?

Cousins has thrown three touchdown passes in each of the Raiders’ first three games. He has 661 passing yards, nine touchdowns and three interceptions, with a 107.2 passer rating. His nine touchdown passes are tied with Brock Purdy for the most in the NFL.

Mendoza can sit and learn.

There’s no fire to throw him into anymore.

The Raiders are winning, Cousins is playing some of his best football in years, and Las Vegas can develop its potential franchise quarterback without asking him to rescue a terrible football team. That’s about as good of a situation as the Raiders could have hoped for when they drafted Mendoza.

Better Coaching, Leadership and Structure

This is where I think the turnaround begins.

Klint Kubiak deserves a ton of credit. The offense looks organized, players have defined roles and Cousins is being put in situations where he can succeed. This team simply looks better prepared and better coached than the Raiders we watched last season.

There also appears to be a stronger organizational structure surrounding the football team. Tom Brady, the greatest quarterback of all time, is part of the Raiders’ ownership group. Brady isn’t the head coach or general manager, so I’m not going to pretend every football decision comes from him, but having someone with his experience and understanding of winning involved with the organization certainly doesn’t hurt.

For years, the Raiders have been searching for stability. Coaches have come and gone, quarterbacks have come and gone, and losing seasons have piled up.

Right now, this finally looks like an organization with a plan.

The Defense Has Been Completely Different

The offensive improvement will naturally get attention because scoring nearly 30 points per game is fun, but don’t overlook what has happened defensively.

The Raiders have already forced nine turnovers through three games. They forced two against Miami, three against the Chargers and four against New Orleans, with those takeaways helping Las Vegas erase an 11 point deficit against the Saints.

Defensive coordinator Rob Leonard deserves plenty of credit, and of course the defense still has Maxx Crosby, one of the best defensive players in football, leading the unit.

Last season, Las Vegas allowed 25.4 points per game.

This season: 18.0.

Combine an opportunistic defense with an offense that has suddenly become one of the highest scoring units in football, and it’s not difficult to understand why the wins have followed.

The Raiders Finally Have an Identity

Maybe this is the biggest difference.

What was the identity of the 2025 Raiders? They couldn’t score, they struggled defensively, they lost 14 games and they finished near the bottom of the NFL in essentially every meaningful measure of team success.

Three games into 2026, I can actually tell you what this Raiders team wants to be. They’re physical, opportunistic defensively, getting excellent veteran quarterback play and look well coached. Most importantly, when something goes wrong, they don’t immediately collapse.

We saw that against New Orleans. The Raiders trailed 27–16 and could have folded on the road. Instead, they scored 19 unanswered points and won 35–27.

That’s something good football teams do.

Are the Raiders For Real?

It’s still only three games. I’m not going to crown the Raiders as Super Bowl contenders after three weeks, and we have a long season ahead before we know exactly how good this team is.

But I’m also not dismissing this anymore.

They’ve more than doubled their scoring average. The defense has dramatically improved. Kirk Cousins is tied for the NFL lead in touchdown passes. They’ve already matched last season’s win total.

And they’re 3–0.

I didn’t see this turnaround coming. I don’t think many people did.

But through three weeks, the Raiders have earned the right to be taken seriously.

And now comes the biggest test yet.

The 3–0 Kansas City Chiefs against the 3–0 Las Vegas Raiders. This will be the first regular season meeting in the history of the rivalry where both teams enter 3–0 or better.

If Las Vegas wants to show the rest of the NFL exactly how far it has come, beating Kansas City would make one hell of a statement.

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