Las Vegas Raiders HC Klint Kubiak put his stamp on an ideology regarding the offense that’s important to get across to the fans
The Las Vegas Raiders are going to be creative under Klint Kubiak, but they’re also going to be fundamental.
The Las Vegas Raiders waited out every coaching hire this offseason to land Klint Kubiak, the former Seattle Seahawks offensive coordinator who won a Super Bowl with Seattle last season. Las Vegas made that decision believing Kubiak was the correct man for the job, and so far, the Raiders’ new head coach has shown he could be exactly that.
There’s still a lot left to learn and to fix. Kubiak has only coached one preseason game as a head coach in his entire career. He’s barely had a full training camp. We do have to give it some time. But it’s already obvious that Kubiak has what it takes to be a good head coach. The question is whether that’s going to happen this year, next year, or with some other team. You never know in the NFL. However, he’s got the mindset part right.
Creativity with a purpose
Kubiak is known for his offensive creativity, but it’s creativity with a purpose. All the pre-snap motion the Raiders offense uses isn’t just for show. It’s not just to move somebody around or confuse everyone. There’s a purpose behind every single motion. It’s designed to throw the defense off, create a mismatch, and give the offense an advantage.
We saw that in the first preseason game with Las Vegas’ opening scripted drive and even the second touchdown drive. The Raiders looked like a team with a plan, and that plan had layers. But if you ask Kubiak, it’s not about being creative in the offense. He wants to be known for something else entirely.
“I think I’d rather be known for being fundamentally sound. That’s things that we stress offensively. As you put more and more film on tape, you get more and more predictable. So you’ve got to keep finding ways to evolve. But as a coach, I’d rather be much more about the basics and being great at fundamentals. That’s what we harp on.”
You can see that philosophy in practice. They do the basics and the fundamentals, and they do them relentlessly at training camp. What Kubiak is saying isn’t coach speak. He truly believes it.
The Gary Kubiak influence
In a way, that probably comes from his father, Gary Kubiak. Yes, the elder Kubiak was offensively creative, but he was also fundamental. He was sound offensively. The Raiders aren’t going to do anything that isn’t fundamentally sound, even if it is creative enough to give them an advantage. That’s just not the way Klint Kubiak operates.
And it’s not just with the offense. We’re seeing that approach across the entire team through the culture that’s been put in place. It’s not a flashy culture. There’s nothing drastically different about what they’re doing. What are they doing culture-wise? They’re getting guys in who love to play football. They’re getting guys in who can play multiple positions, and they’re getting guys in who have great character. That’s what’s important.
The right man for the job?
Kubiak is already turning around this program. Will an official turnaround happen? We don’t know that yet. But what we do know is that he laid it out exactly how it is. He said exactly what needs to be said about being creative offensively. Yes, you need to be creative, but you also need to be fundamentally sound.
Kubiak has a great head on his shoulders. Everything he has said so far is starting to feel more and more like this was the right man for the job. But as we’ve said a million times, he still has to go out there and coach an entire season before we really know anything about the future of this franchise under his leadership.
