Raiders quarterback Geno Smith was back at practice on Wednesday after missing the team’s shutout loss to the Eagles in Week 15 and said he will be taking this week day by day to see if his shoulder and back are well enough to play against the Texans.
Smith’s thoughts aren’t only on the next game on the team’s schedule, however. At 2-12, it’s hard not to look at what’s gone wrong for the Raiders and at what they might do to put a more competitive team on the field in the future. Smith said “there’s no assessment to be made” about the season because the team’s record speaks for itself and that he was surprised by how his first season in Las Vegas has played out, but said he’s still bought in for the long term and “expecting to win a lot of games here.”
“Everybody wants to win and everybody’s really urgent, so that’s what we’re pressing towards,” Smith said at a press conference. “Everyone being urgent and getting things turned around. Nothing happens in one day, one year. We would have loved to win the Super Bowl this year, but that’s not our reality right now. The reality is we’ve got to get better, and we’ve got to focus on getting better day to day, and anything else outside of that really is nonsense.”
Smith is under contract for two more years and is guaranteed $18.5 million for the 2026 season, but the disastrous nature of this season will lead to changes come the offseason. One of those changes could be the departure of head coach Pete Carroll and that could impact whether Smith remains in the picture for a second season with the team.
