The Las Vegas Raiders‘ undefeated start to the season has come to an end. The team just couldn’t make enough plays to overcome the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 4.
However, it may not have needed to be that way. The Raiders had the lead going into halftime, but just had too many things go wrong in the second half. One of the most questionable decisions came at the beginning of the third quarter.
They got stopped in their territory and brought kicker Matt Gay out for a field goal. He nailed the field goal, but the Chiefs got called for an illegal formation. Instead of keeping the points and adding the penalty yards to the kickoff, the Raiders decided to take the points off the board and go for it. They got stuffed and turned the ball over on downs.
According to head coach Klint Kubiak, the Raiders wanted to be aggressive. The Athletic’s Sam Warren broke down the thinking.
“Kubiak said the aggression was planned, and analytics and circumstance made it warranted,” Warren wrote. “It didn’t hurt the head coach in the moment, either, as his defense continued to torment Mahomes and forced a punt on the ensuing drive. In retrospect, the decision only became peculiar when Kubiak took a much different tack one quarter later.”
Later in the game, the Raiders were in a similar situation and ended up going for the field goal, which may have been the difference in the game. Warren called out Kubiak for going conservative when he previously preached being aggressive.
“If aggression was the game plan, Kubiak’s answer showed that he deviated from it, perhaps in reaction to the previous result,” Warren wrote. “It’s hard to fault him for either decision individually, but the incongruency can’t be ignored.”
Kubiak Doesn’t Have Regrets
It’s easy to understand why the Raiders would want to be aggressive. The Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes have dominated the team for years.
The strategy almost worked for the Raiders if it weren’t for a few mistakes that ended up killing the team. For his part, Kubiak doesn’t regret trying to be aggressive in the loss.
“We were gonna be aggressive for the game,” Kubiak said of the call in his postgame press conference. “Sometimes, you win in those situations. Sometimes, you go the other way. That’s part of being a competitor and doing what you feel is right in the moment.”
Kubiak: ‘I Blew It’
Even with all the mistakes, the Raiders had a chance to tie the game at the end. The offense was driving and nearly in field goal range, but on the last play, quarterback Kirk Cousins got hit and threw an interception, which ended the game.
It wasn’t Cousins’ fault he got hit, but according to Kubiak, it also wasn’t on the offensive line. The coach took the blame for the final play.
“I didn’t get the play call in fast enough to the quarterback,” Kubiak said. “Total missed opportunity. I blew it.”
Kubiak is still a young coach, so it shouldn’t be a concern that he’s dealing with some growing pains.
Raiders HC Klint Kubiak Called Out Over Inconsistency in Messaging