The Las Vegas Raiders came so close to starting the season 4-0 with a win over the Kansas City Chiefs. That would’ve been a massive staement ot the NFL.
The Raiders went into halftime with the lead, and head coach Klint Kubiak declared to the broadcast that his team was going to win. It was close, but the Chiefs ended up pulling off the 30-27 win.
However, there were things the Raiders could’ve done that may have changed the outcome. On the first drive coming out of halftime, the team was driving but got stalled. They decided to kick a field goal, which Matt Gay made, but an illegal formation penalty on the Chiefs led to the Raiders going for it on fourth down.
The offense got stuffed, so instead of having three points, the Raiders got nothing and gave the ball back to the Chiefs. Kubiak took accountability for the decision after the game.
“Total missed opportunity. So I blew it,” Kubiak said after the game.
The Raiders’ run game couldn’t do anything against the Chiefs, which was a major reason why they lost. Kubiak also took the blame for those struggles.
“I put it on myself,” Kubiak said. “I have to do a lot better of a job of putting us in better positions. We’ve got solid backs. We’ve got a solid offensive line. Myself and the coaching staff, there’s plenty of things we can do better for our players.”
Kirk Cousins Defends Kubiak
Kubiak has been massively impressive for the Raiders this season, but he’s clearly hard on himself. There’s nothing wrong with a rookie head coach getting outcoached by three-time Super Bowl champion Andy Reid.
Quarterback Kirk Cousins appreciates Kubiak defending his players, but he defended the coach.
“That’s Klint. He’s always gonna point the thumb at himself and how he can be better,” Cousins told reporters. “I think there’s a lot going on there. We’re trying to get to the optimum play, clocks running down. I really think in hindsight, the mistake I made, among hundreds of mistakes probably, was take the delay game. Like just take the delay of game, who cares about five yards? We gotta get in the right play, get to out of bounds. So I even look there and I say, I was trying to snap the ball to avoid penalty and you look and you say, ‘We don’t want to be in that position, but if we are, is a penalty better?’ These are all the things I’m gonna probably not sleep tonight and ask myself.”
Raiders Heading in Right Direction
Beating the Chiefs would’ve been a huge statement for Kubiak and the Raiders, but a close loss isn’t something to get too worked up over. This team is still way further along than anybody expected.
Even when the Chiefs punched the Raiders hard, they continued to punch back. That is not something that could be said after the Raiders teams of the past few years. Kubiak appears to be the real deal, but how they bounce back against the New England Patriots in Week 5 will be very telling.
Kirk Cousins Has Words for Klint Kubiak After Raiders HC ‘Blew It’