Greatness among AFC West coaches pushes Pete Carroll, Raiders - ESPN

PETE CARROLL KNEW the cards he was dealt from the moment he signed on to coach the Las Vegas Raiders after a year away from football.

In the AFC West, the star power among the head coaches rivals what's seen on the field. Carroll, Sean Payton (Denver Broncos), Jim Harbaugh (Los Angeles Chargers) and Andy Reid (Kansas City Chiefs) have all won at the highest level. They have combined for 741 wins (52 in the postseason), 20 conference championship game appearances, nine Super Bowl appearances and five Super Bowl wins — three by Reid.

Carroll and Harbaugh are the only ones to have coached in a Super Bowl and national title game since the BCS/College Football Playoff began in 1998.

«Isn't that something?» Carroll said. «If you're going to be any good, you've got to beat the best teams. You have to beat them, and so if this division is loaded with that, then that's what's going to make us what we are.… I've got to get my act together.»

Carroll, 74, has a résumé that stacks up with the rest of his counterparts. He has 183 wins and won more playoff games (10) from 2010 to 2019 with the Seattle Seahawks than the Raiders have won (nine) since 1983.

But Carroll and Las Vegas sit at 2-6 going into Thursday night's matchup against Payton and the Broncos on the road (Prime Video, 8:15 p.m. ET). And the gap between the Raiders and the rest of the teams in the division couldn't be any wider. Las Vegas is in last place, and the Chiefs (5-4) are in third place behind the Broncos (7-2) and Chargers (6-3).

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Even though Carroll is on the outside looking in, the competition level among the coaches has lived up to the billing.

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