Vegas scored on its opening drive with Smith hitting Tre Tucker for a 26-yard touchdown. The rest of the half was quiet: Smith threw a ball into traffic that was tipped and intercepted on the second drive, then the Raiders had three three-and-outs before missing a final field goal.
However, after the break, Smith divebombed the Patriots defense.
Smith’s 362 passing yards set a Raiders debut record, surpassing Dan Pastorini’s 317 in 1980. His nine passes of 20-plus yards tied a team record since 1991.
“That’s how we want to play football,” Smith said. “We want to make sure that we make the right reads. I want to make sure that I’m making the right decisions and getting the ball into the hands of the playmakers. We’ve got a lot of great players and that’s something that we can take advantage of. I want to spread the ball around if need be but I want to find the open guy, first and foremost.”
Sunday was Smith’s sixth game with 350-plus passing yards and his third in two seasons. Only Joe Burrow has more 350-plus yard games since 2024.
Pete Carroll, now 4-0 in his debut as head coach with new teams, downplayed Smith’s performance, saying it met his expectations for the veteran.
“He’s been doing this now. Geno had a regular game today,” Carroll said. “I don’t think it was a big statement game or anything like that. I just think that’s what he does. And we’ll do better than that. He’s got it in him to do better than that.”