The Raiders are done being punchlines

The NFL regular season is a race — one that the Las Vegas Raiders have struggled to run for the better part of a decade. It’s not for lack of trying, though. Since 2020, the Raiders have had six head coaches of all types. They brought Jon Gruden out of the Monday Night Football booth back in 2018. When he resigned in controversial fashion, special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia took over and helped lead the Raiders to the playoffs. Despite that, Bisaccia wasn’t promoted from interim head coach to full-time head coach. That title, instead, went to Josh McDaniels, which ended the exact same way his tenure in Denver did a decade earlier – with a one-way flight back to Foxborough after a 9-16 record. This time around, the Raiders did promote the interim head coach as Antonio Pierce was given the job ahead of the 2024 season and was one-and-done after a 4-13 season. And after years of retreads, quote unquote “gurus,” and a player’s coach who was given a job he was vastly under qualified for, the Raiders were supposed to snap out of their funk in 2025 when they hired Super Bowl champion and future Hall of Famer Pete Carroll, who then traded for quarterback Geno Smith, of whom he had shared much success with in Seattle. And somehow, Carroll was the biggest disaster of them all, going 2-15 and becoming the second straight one-and-done head coach in Vegas. But this time is different. Truly. After one of the more disappointing seasons in team history, the Raiders braintrust went back to the Seahawks well and hired Klint Kubiak, the offensive coordinator who was fresh off helping Sam Darnold and Seattle win the Super Bowl. Due to recent history, though, as well as a perceived lack of talent, expectations were understandably low for Vegas – and that seems to be perfectly okay with them. After winning just two games in 2025, the Raiders have three wins before the end of September and are one of just five teams that remain unbeaten heading into Week 4. Not only are they winning games, they are doing so convincingly. They defeated the Miami Dolphins 27-13 to kickoff the season. And sure, the Dolphins aren’t a good team. However, had Vegas barely eked out a win or lost, we would have crucified them, so they deserve credit for winning decisively. In Week 2, they went on the road and beat a Chargers team who was a popular pick to win the AFC West by the score of 26-14 and picked off Justin Herbert twice. In Week 3, against a fellow on-the-rise team in the New Orleans Saints, Vegas outlasted New Orleans to win a 35-27, with Maxx Crosby forcing a fumble late to help secure the win for the Raiders. The win marks their first 3-0 start since 2021, and just their third such start since the turn of the century. It’s not just that the Raiders are winning, it’s that these aren’t flukes. These aren’t stolen wins like Week 2 in 2024 where the Ravens blow a 23-13 fourth-quarter lead to Gardner Minshew. Nor is it a Christmas Day win over the Chiefs despite only gaining 205 yards of total offense. The 2026 Raiders through three weeks currently rank eighth in pass success rate, and Kirk Cousins leads the NFL in touchdown passes while ranking 10th in EPA per pass, per Sumer Sports. Not only are the Raiders efficient offensively, but Rob Leonard’s defense has been superb. Las Vegas currently has the third best defensive EPA per play, trailing only the Seattle Seahawks and the Minnesota Vikings. Their four interceptions lead the NFL, and their 10 sacks rank fourth. None of this is accidental. This team isn’t a mockery masking as a menace. The 2026 Raiders are kicking doors down, not sneaking in the back when no one his looking. Does this mean they will be one of the final 14 teams playing in January? That’s not necessarily the point. The point is that they’re in the race – something we haven’t been able to say in a very long time. That’s the cold open – this is the Hot Read. Three and out Respect Brock Purdy I’m mostly saying this to myself. Back in the summer, I released by top 40 NFL quarterbacks ranking, where I slotted Purdy in at No. 18 – one spot ahead of Aaron Rodgers and one spot below C.J. Stroud. Allow me to omit my wrongdoing and tell you all how fantastic Purdy has played thus far. Through three games, Purdy is lapping every other quarterback in total EPA. He currently sits with an EPA mark of 56.42 – the next closest quarterback is Josh Allen at 28.39. He’s also completing north of 72 percent of his passes, which ranks fourth among quarterbacks with at least 25 dropbacks, and his nine touchdown passes are tied with Kirk Cousins for the league lead. Additionally, we can throw away the narrative that Purdy is solely producing due to being in Kyle Shanahan’s system because when the play has gone off script, Purdy has remained terrific. He ranks third in EPA per play when pressured, and his three touchdown passes under pressure are second in the league. And because of Purdy’s strong play to begin the season, the 49ers are 3-0. I can admit when I’m wrong, and I was wrong from the very beginning about Purdy – what a player he has blossomed into over the last handful of seasons. Aaron Rodgers, Mike McCarthy put on vintage performance After a Week 2 loss that truly felt like an early rock bottom for the Pittsburgh Steelers’ offense, Aaron Rodgers and Mike McCarthy turned the hourglass upside down and delivered the explosive offense that Steelers fans were promised upon McCarthy’s hiring back in January. After scoring just 16 points in the first two games, the Steelers’ offensive unit exploded for 30 points against a Cincinnati Bengals defense that entered Week 3 coming off a dominant showing against the Houston Texans in which they didn’t allow a touchdown. Rodgers threw three touchdown passes, running back Jaylen Warren racked up 127 yards on the ground, and the Steelers totaled 411 yards en route to defeating their division rivals to get to 2-1. Even in a new era, it is dangerous to count out the Pittsburgh Steelers. Case Keenum, Ben Johnson lift Bears over Eagles Performances like the one we saw from Case Keenum to close Week 3 are why we love sports. After injuries to both Caleb Williams and Tyson Bagent, the 38 year-old Keenum was thrust into the starting lineup in what would be his first regular season game in north of 1,000 days. You wouldn’t have known it had been that long since the University of Houston legend suited up, though, by how well he played. On his first drive, he drove the Bears down the field and threw a touchdown to Luther Burden. And with a 13-7 lead in the third quarter, Keenum connected with Kalif Raymond for a 41-yard touchdown pass that ended up being the nail in the coffin for the Philadelphia Eagles. Keenum finished the game going 24-of-34 for 247 yards and three total touchdowns, as Ben Johnson put together a masterpiece of play-calling against a Vic Fangio defense while holding the Eagles to their fewest points in a game during the Nick Sirianni era. One play that changed everything The ending of the back-and-forth shootout between the Baltimore Ravens and Dallas Cowboys featured several questionable decisions, but the one that may be getting overshadowed is the kickoff from Dallas to Baltimore at the end of regulation. After Dak Prescott purposely air-mailed a ball out of bounds despite having George Pickens open in the front of the end zone for the potential go-ahead touchdown, the Cowboys kicked the game-tying field goal and kicked the ball back to the Ravens with just seven seconds remaining. However, instead of putting the ball in play, Brandon Aubrey booted a touchback, which didn’t take any time off the clock. That would have been forgiven if the Cowboys just played the normal prevent zone we see in these situations. Instead, they played man defense, which allowed Lamar Jackson to connect with Zay Flowers, call a timeout, and bring out Tyler Loop for the game-winning field goal. Should the Cowboys miss out on the postseason, this will be a game they look back on and wonder how they did so much so wrong in such a short sequence of plays. Buy or sell Buy: Jacksonville Jaguars The Jaguars are 2-1, and both of their wins have come in blowout fashion. After a 35-6 dismantling of the defending AFC Champion New England Patriots, the Jaguars sit comfortably atop the AFC South, and their quarterback is off to a fantastic start. Trevor Lawrence is ninth in the league in EPA per play (min. 25 dropbacks) and his seven touchdown passes rank third in the league. Throw in the fact that the Jaguars are also fourth in defensive EPA per play, and you have a team that looks bound to repeat their success from 2025. Sell: Denver Broncos It’s infuriating watching the Broncos. I can see with my eyes that Bo Nix isn’t good, and yet somehow their defense will come alive and make enough plays to put their offense in the perfect position to score just enough points to win. And while that’s all well and good, this isn’t sustainable. Especially when Bo Nix has a lower EPA per play than Cam Ward. I’ll end up being right. For the time being, though, Broncos fans will continue to convince themselves they can win the Super Bowl. Buy: Texans, Bucs, Chargers are done All three of these teams had playoff expectations entering the 2026 season. And as it pertains to the Texans and Chargers, some were each of them to be the AFC representative in the Super Bowl. We can talk about how great the Texans’ defense is all we want – it doesn’t matter when the offense can’t score points, which is exactly what we said would be the only thing that could keep the Texans from reaching their potential. They’ve allowed just 39 points over the last two weeks, but their offense scored 23 points. Yes, they overcame this exact deficit last season, but to expect that type of turnaround in consecutive years would be a big ask. The Chargers were our cover story last week, and so I ask once again – what is the excuse for Justin Herbert this week? Go on, Herbert hive. Tell me how it isn’t his fault that he only put up 16 points after his defense forced five turnovers. Tell me how he isn’t to blame for squandering a fumble recovery in plus territory by throwing a terrible interception right back to the Bills. Josh Allen certainly didn’t play a good game himself, but the difference between good quarterbacks and elite quarterbacks is overcoming poor performances and still finding ways to win. Allen did that. Patrick Mahomes did that. When has Herbert done that? The Chargers also have the hardest remaining schedule in the league – they’re done. Throw in Baker Mayfield’s thumb injury keeping him out for 2-4 weeks and Tampa having to turn to undrafted rookie Jalon Daniels and you have a trio of teams whose season is all but over before we even reached October. Sell: Drake Maye It pains me to say it, but yeah. Something is clearly wrong, and it’s not new to 2026. Maye hasn’t played a quality game since Week 17 against the Jets in 2025. He currently has one touchdown pass to six interceptions, and his decision-making has been questionable at best and unacceptable at worst. Have we ever seen this abrupt of a drop-off from a quarterback where he goes from being MVP runner-up to a legitimate net negative for his team? This feels like an unfortunate first of its kind case study. Prediction to track Week 1: Steelers will trade Joey Porter Jr: TBD Week 2: Rams will beat Broncos handedly: Incorrect Well, the Rams ruined what was set to be a spot-on prediction, so now we conclude Week 3 hoping to get on the board with our predictions. With that in mind, I’ll go back to the primetime blowout well and say the Sunday Night Football matchup between the Lions and Panthers will be a decisive win for Detroit. Carolina was a team that got far too overrated heading into the season after winning eight games in 2025. My one concern is that Bryce Young has taken advantage of bad secondaries thus far, and the Lions do have a bad secondary so I’m really setting myself up for failure. That said, Detroit’s offense is too good to not have one of their yearly routs where they drop 40+ points. Even if the Panthers do connect on some explosive touchdowns, Detroit wins 41-24.

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