HENDERSON, Nev.—The Las Vegas Raiders (3-2) looked terrible in a 45-17 blowout loss to the New England Patriots (3-2) on Sunday.
To say that nearly nothing went right would be correct. While some players did perform well, and I will discuss that in my weekly report card, to call it anything other than a bludgeoning would be disingenuous to the reader and simply journalistic malfeasance. I detailed that in my winners and losers article.
One Person Emerged
Early this morning, a Raiders player contacted me. They had seen the video I posted of Klint Kubiak’s postgame press conference, and it moved them.
“Thanks for KK [Klint Kubiak’s] press conference after the game. That guy is the real deal man. We let him down, but he owned it in that, I love playing for him.”
I was stunned.
After years of Raiders coaching fanning accountability and quietly throwing shade at everyone but themselves, the overachieving first-year head coach didn’t do so.
I have told you for months that as a reporter I appreciate Kubiak’s honesty.
He has been marvelous as the leader of the Silver and Black; the only shocking thing about Sunday was how long it took this team to perform that badly. The fact that we were even considering that they might have flipped the script to talking about the NFL Playoffs is nothing short of amazing.
Missing players at key positions, thin at others, and young nearly everywhere, the Raiders' head man stepped to the microphone and pulled no punches.
“It's on me to get us ready to go, and we weren't ready to go.”
NFL on Notice
The NFL was watching, and they paid close attention.
One highly successful NFL executive called me shortly after I got off the plane this morning. I called him on my way to the facility, and he told me, “You could see Klint was livid, embarrassed, and he was mad at himself.”
I told him about the player’s comments. He wasn’t shocked.
“Just like his dad man. That is integrity, those guys [Raiders Players] will run through a wall for him when you do that. High class move by him.”
Kubiak Under the Microscope
I asked Kubiak today about the message he sent to his locker room. The steely-jawed leader of the Silver Black answered resolutely to a locker room that hangs on his every word.
"Well, I just think that if guys know what to expect from you that you're the same guy, whether you win or you lose, at least that's what I try to be; I'm not saying that I'm successful at that, but that's what I want from others to be consistent."
"Some of that you can count on, hold someone to a standard, and if it's not there, tell you the truth. If it is there, tell you, 'Good job'. But however you handle something, win or loss, the goal is to win the game. And we did not win yesterday, and we have a long season ahead of us, and we have big goals."
Why He Stood Out
After the butt-kicking the Raiders took on Sunday, many people might be shocked to see Kubiak emerge as a shining example of the Raiders' promising future. But here is what you have to understand.
Every player in that locker room who failed on Sunday, and it was many of them, and every coach who failed, and it was many of them, knew coming into the season that this was a rebuild.
To use the proverbial Vegas term, they were playing with house money for one reason: Kubiak.
Kubiak had willed this team to 3-1. They trust him. They believe in him.
They saw him celebrate some terrific wins, and on Sunday they saw the same reaction to getting humiliated. They saw him step to the microphone, and while technically speaking to millions across the NFL pantheon, he was really talking to his players and coaches.
He took the blame. He should have. But several men here should have, in the past, and didn’t. He took the heat; took the blame, and he led from the front.
Anyone who knows anything about football knew what this season was from the start. If you didn’t know, you either haven’t followed my reporting since last December, or you were caught up in the ether of overachieving. Tom Brady, John Spytek, and Kubiak are cutting no corners. This was and is a rebuild.
Reality vs. Fiction
Coaching the Raiders isn’t easy. Arguably the biggest name in NFL history, Al Davis, looms over this storied franchise. Icons like John Madden and Tom Flores coached here. To say that Kubiak is one of them would be ludicrous and insulting to both Kubiak and those men.
They are the standard that he has set for himself, but he is off to a great start.
After only eight months, to say he has the same character and mentality as those men is not hyperbole, and it is promising. More promising and realistic than the Raiders have had in a long time.
The Raiders are so much better than last year, but they still have a long way to go before they hoist their next Lombardi Trophy. But they know they have their leader.
No off-the-record finger-pointing, no quiet excuses; like a general, the Raiders' young coach stepped up and led.
The Raiders aren’t winning a Super Bowl in 2026. That should surprise no one. But they have found their leader. They have found the anchor of their foundation.
Klint Kubiak is a lot of things, but as one Raiders player put it, “That guy is 100% for f---ing real. That’s my motherf---ing coach.”
He’s your coach, Raider Nation.
He emerged from a terrible loss, leading the Silver and Black out of the smoke and the haze from the front.
I do not know his father, but I do know what he stood for and did. He raised his son in his image. Kubiak lived up to his father’s stellar reputation as a leader of men.
Make no mistake, he is his own man, a Raider man. He’s your man, Raider Nation.
The loss stunk for Raider Nation, but it gave all of us, fan or not, a glimpse of your future.
There will be more tough losses this year, but the balm is that there will be much bigger wins in the future, and more of those than these.
Future free agents love to play for winners, and Kubiak proved that in his worst loss.
If steel is forged in fire, then count Sunday as an inferno.
But out of that inferno, Kubiak showed something tangible, real, and valuable. He has what it takes to lead this rebuild and to take this franchise where it needs to go.
Players won’t magically appear on the roster tomorrow; they'll arrive as these young players develop and mature, and as free agents and future NFL Draft picks are added.
But you have your coach. Finally, and he is a good one. There will be more fires, but the fire he just led his team through should have burned away the doubts. Now, back to the Raiders rebuild.
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