After winning a Super Bowl title as offensive coordinator for the Seattle Seahawks under head coach Mike Macdonald, Klint Kubiak became a hot commodity as a candidate for head coaching vacancies around the league.
Ultimately, Kubiak decided to take an offer from the Las Vegas Raiders in hopes of turning the storied franchise around after a disappointing stint by former Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll.
Cooper Kupp Never Saw This Side of Klint Kubiak With Seahawks
During his time with the Seahawks, Kubiak was well-received by his players in Seattle and gained the reputation for being somewhat of an offensive genius.
On Sunday in Week 10, Kubiak will face his old team, with the Raiders hosting the visiting Seahawks at Allegiant Stadium, and one of his former players in Seattle, veteran wide receiver Cooper Kupp, is seeing a different coach in Las Vegas, via Gregg Bell of 93.3 KJR.
“There’s some clips I’m like, ‘There’s no way that’s Klint,'” Kupp said.
“There’s some clips I’m like, ‘There’s NO WAY that’s
Kubiak is clearly enjoying his time as a head coach and running the show in Las Vegas and, so far, has somewhat exceeded expectations, with the chance to improve his team’s record to 5-5 on Sunday against his former team.
“It’s cool to see him out there,” Kupp said of Kubiak. “I always said the only thing would be like the energy, but he seems to have plenty of that energy over there now. Never showed that over here. But it’s good to see that he’s letting loose a little bit.”
If Kubiak can get a win over the Seahawks on Sunday in Las Vegas, there’s bound to be another sighting of a very happy man on the sidelines, as beating the defending Super Bowl champions will be no easy task for the Raiders, especially after making a change at the quarterback position.
Klint Kubiak Claims Fernando Mendoza ‘Prepared’ to Take on Seahawks
Following a last-second trade, with the Raiders shipping veteran quarterback Kirk Cousins to the Minnesota Vikings in exchange for a third-round draft pick, Las Vegas will be starting rookie and No. 1 overall pick, Fernando Mendoza, under center against the Seahawks.
It’ll be a tough challenge for the former Heisman Trophy winner, facing arguably the best defense in the NFL.
Even though it’s a risk to thrust Mendoza into the fire against an elite defense, Kubiak is confident in his rookie quarterback’s ability to hold his own, as he believes the young gunslinger is well prepared for this moment.
“He’s prepared,” Kubiak said of Mendoza. … “His daily preparation has been up to standard, and now he’s got to go prove it in the game.”
Kubiak believes Mendoza is solely focused on the task at hand, even though he’ll be going up against an elite defense.
“Every week in the NFL is tough, and this is the best defense in the NFL,” Kubiak said. “Again, he’s got to go do his job and not worry about a whole lot else.”
Raiders’ Klint Kubiak Has Cooper Kupp Doing a Double Take