LAS VEGAS — It was a whole lot of Maxx Crosby, Jonah Laulu and Devin White — and seemingly every other defender wearing silver and black, too.
The Las Vegas Raiders, who had allowed at least 40 points in two of their past three games, came in droves to overwhelm the visitors’ offense Sunday at Allegiant Stadium.
The result was a suffocating 20-10 victory over the Tennessee Titans.
The Raiders (2-4) ended a four-game skid, and the Titans (1-5) — a week after ending a 10-game losing streak that dated to last year — missed an opportunity to win consecutive games for the first time since November 2022, a 47-game stretch.
“We’ve been talking like we want to play good football for a long time,” Raiders first-year head coach Pete Carroll said. “It just hasn’t come together yet. The last time we won was such a long time ago, we can’t even remember it, but (the victory is) really important for us. These guys deserve to feel like they feel right now.”
Neither of the struggling teams did much on offense as the Raiders and the Titans combined for 451 yards. Las Vegas won fairly easily despite pedestrian numbers from quarterback Geno Smith (174 yards and one touchdown passing) and running back Ashton Jeanty (75 yards and a touchdown rushing while averaging 3.3 yards per carry).
Titans rookie quarterback Cam Ward, the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft, was 26-of-38 passing for 222 yards. He connected with David Martin-Robinson for the second-year tight end’s first touchdown as an NFL player, but the heavily pressured Ward was intercepted and lost two fumbles.
The Raiders set the tone in the first half, when they shut out the Titans. It was the first time Las Vegas has blanked an opponent in a half since the second half against the New Orleans Saints last Dec. 29.
The teams combined for 2.39 yards per play in the first half, the lowest in the NFL since the Baltimore Ravens and the Jacksonville Jaguars combined to average 1.80 on Oct. 24, 2011.
It didn’t help the Titans that they lost veteran receiver Calvin Ridley in the second quarter to a hamstring injury. He was coming off a five-catch, 131-yard performance a week earlier against the Arizona Cardinals, when the Titans rallied late as their hosts stumbled.
Sunday in Las Vegas, though, belonged to the defense — at least for the home team.
White resembled the player who was a top defender for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers earlier this decade, finishing with nine tackles, a sack, an interception and a forced fumble. He joined Trace Armstrong in 2002 and Khalil Mack in 2016 as the only Raiders players since 1999 with a sack, forced fumble and interception in the same game.
“I don’t know anybody could put up more numbers than Devin White did today,” Carroll said. “Geez, it’s a stat line.”
The Raiders sacked Ward six times, tying the quarterbacks season high. Las Vegas sent pressure on 36.4% of dropbacks, according to Next Gen Stats, a season high for the Raiders. That strategy seemed to surprise the Titans.
“They did a good job mixing up some coverages,” Tennessee second-year head coach Brian Callahan said. “They pressured a lot more this game than they had going into it. They zero blitzed us (with no deep safety) a few times, which is not something they had done a lot of.”
Crosby had two sacks. He has a nine-game streak with at least one tackle for loss, the longest for a Raiders player since 2008. Laulu recorded his fourth sack in six games, the first Raiders defensive tackle to accomplish that since Bill Pickel in 1986.
“This is a good feeling knowing we go to work every day and we practice really hard,” Laulu said. “You guys should see the stuff we do out there as a D-line. It’s just us coming together collectively and pushing each other. Our mindset is to be the heartbeat of the team.”
Titans defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons picked up another sack, extending his streak to three consecutive games with at least one quarterback takedown.
Carroll earned the 171st win of his NFL career, moving him into a tie for 17th with Bill Parcells on the all-time list. Carroll has also been a head coach for the New York Jets (1994), New England Patriots (1997-99) and the Seattle Seahawks (2010-23), leading the latter franchise to a pair of Super Bowl appearances and one title.
He also averaged double-digit wins during his nine seasons as head coach at the University of Southern California from 2001-09.
The Titans completed a three-game road swing and are home next Sunday against the New England Patriots, who are 4-2 in their first season with Mike Vrabel as head coach. Vrabel was Tennessee’s coach from 2018-23, getting fired after back-to-back losing campaigns that started a playoff drought for the Titans that reached three years last season, when their 3-14 record led to the top pick in the draft this past spring.