When the Raiders took running back Ashton Jeanty at the top of the first round in 2025, they had performances like Sunday’s in mind.
Jeanty ran 23 times for 102 yards and caught a pair of touchdowns in a 27-13 win over the Dolphins. That came after Jeanty missed extended time this summer with an ankle injury, but he showed no signs of it on Sunday and the Raiders showed no signs of being the overmatched team that went 3-14 last season.
“The past is the past,” Jeanty said in a postgame press conference. “We’re moving forward, and we’re not worried about what happened last year. This is a new team, new staff, and we’re building a new culture here. And that’s a culture that’s going to win football games.”
There was a lot of talk about the Raiders turning the corner when they beat the Patriots in Week 1 under Pete Carroll last year, but they promptly went on a four-game losing streak that was much more indicative of how the year would play out. Klint Kubiak’s charge will be making sure that the positives against Miami remain in place and riding Jeanty like they did on Sunday will likely be part of that plan.