Klint Kubiak and his desert marauders passed the first test of the 2026 campaign by drubbing the visiting Miami Dolphins this past Sunday.
Widely considered a “gimmie” game due to the Dolphins being in the midst of a tear down and rebuild with a new general manager and head coach, the 27-13 victory was in-line with many expectations. In Week 2 and beyond, however, Kubiak’s Las Vegas Raiders embark on a five-game slate that features superior competition than what Miami offered within the confines of Allegiant Stadium.
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Over the next five games, the Silver & Black lock horns with the Los Angeles Chargers, New Orleans Saints, Kansas City Chiefs, New England Patriots, Buffalo Bills, before bookending with the Los Angeles Rams on October 25. While some may be quick to dismiss the season-opening matchup against a downtrodden Miami squad, that upcoming slate for Las Vegas isn’t easily as banished.
But it was only natural for Kubiak to field a question earlier this week on playing top-level competition as the Raiders enter what’s considered a tough stretch of their 2026 schedule.
“Yes. I mean, you learn something new every day in practice. You learn something new during the games. It’s a lot more stress going on. You learn a lot about your coaches too. You learn about your training staff, your strength staff. You learn about everybody in this pressure cooker that we work in, and that’s what makes the NFL so fun,” Kubiak responded during his media session this past Monday. “So yes, there’s a tough stretch coming up because that’s what the NFL is, but we just try to look one game at a time.”
That singular game focus per week is apt for a rookie head coach and his rebuilding football team. But being dismissive of the Raiders’ victory just because they played the rebuilding Dolphins has its pitfalls. Especially considering the Silver & Black surmounted instances where previous variants of the Raiders would’ve folded.
Whether you want to label it quicksand or an avalanche, when things have gone awry, Las Vegas habitually wilted against the mounting pressure instead of rising to the occasion. The jury is most definitely still out on this for Kubiak’s and general manager John Spytek’s rendition of the Raiders, however, against Miami, positive signs of potential change were present.
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From an outstanding pure hustle play by practice squad call-up Cody White that kept a long 79-yard kickoff return from becoming a touchdown that inspired the defense to rise up and force a field goal — which was missed by the Dolphins, by the way. But responding to the Dolphins’ interception and ensuing touchdown on the next drive after the lead was slashed to 17-13 in the third quarter, too. In the past, that was a pivotal turning point where the Raiders couldn’t dig themselves out of. But Kubiak and Co. showed resilience and resolve to respond with a touchdown of their own.
And that’s what this variant of the Silver & Black must make a habit of if it wants to succeed with a winning culture change.
“Yeah, that’s the expectation. When things don’t go your way, then you have the ability to change it, instead of sitting there and feeling sorry for yourselves, and you’ve got to change your own fortunes, and that’s what we expect from our guys,” Kubiak said when asked how much he appreciated the way the team responded after the Dolphins’ takeaway and touchdown.
“Yeah, you’re right. They come fast. We got to build on what we did well this last week, knowing that we have an extremely good opponent coming,” Kubiak added during his media availability this past Wednesday, reminding folk of the one-game-at-a-time approach. “We’re going there. Every week in the NFL is a completely new season. It’s 17 one-game seasons.”
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Kubiak’s affinity for the fullback position was something that stood out to me long before the Raiders hired him as the new head coach earlier this offseason. It’s a position that’s seen less and less in the modern NFL but was a traditional spot on the Raiders roster up until the 2024 and 2025 seasons.
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Kubiak was quick to sync with Spytek to get a “true” fullback on the roster and in free agency, the team pried away Connor Heyward from the Pittsburgh Steelers. And in the Week 1 win, we got an excellent example of the value the fullback brings to Kubiak’s offense — specifically — Kirk Cousins’ 13-yard touchdown pass to a wide open Ashton Jeanty in the third quarter.
Play action was dialed up and in the video above, you can see Heyward charging towards the gap and Dolphins linebackers react. But Heyward submarines one defender with a cut block and the aftermath prevented the other linebacker to chase and cover Jeanty — wide open, six points.
“Yeah, I think Connor had a really solid showing,” said Kubiak of his fullback. “That’s what we have come to expect from him. I think when he came into the game, the thing about a fullback is that the picture always changes post-snap. You are the cleanup guy; someone misses a block, you’ve got to be Johnny on the Spot. We mis-target something, you’ve got to make the offensive line right. But him using his brain and then him getting guys on the ground stood out.”
Heyward played 32 snaps on offense, which is 47 percent of the team’s total of 68 against Miami. He also notched eight snaps on special teams. And it’ll be interesting to see how the 27-year-old’s snap counts fluctuate or remain stable as the season progresses.
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Quote of Note
“I think it’s just staying true to who we are, playing our style, playing with a shocking operation, everything that we talk about, and just staying true to our fundamentals. Whether it’s snap one, snap 50, snap however many it takes in that game, but just staying true to our fundamentals and executing what’s called.”
—Las Vegas Raiders offensive coordinator Andrew Janocko on what the Raiders are working on this week regarding finishing games better
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