Raiders HC Klint Kubiak has an obvious problem in his coaching style that he has to acknowledge won’t work with this team
The Las Vegas Raiders lost another game, but Klint Kubiak has to start realizing he can’t go for it on fourth down as much as he has been.
The Las Vegas Raiders have a massive issue. For one, they either can’t close out games or can’t stay in games the whole way. Second, head coach Klint Kubiak has a coaching problem he needs to acknowledge quickly.
It’s cool when you go for fourth downs, and you get them a ton. It’s cool when you convert risky plays, and they work. But when it doesn’t work, you shouldn’t keep doing it over and over when obvious flaws are preventing you from dominating. Kubiak has failed to see that.
Against the Los Angeles Rams, they lost 35-21. Sure, they probably wouldn’t have won even if he didn’t go for it on fourth down. But it would have been a much closer game, and who knows what would have happened then. Kubiak took points off the board in a few situations, and he simply shouldn’t have.
Raiders should have scored at least 28 points in this game vs. the Rams
A game that was 35-21 could easily have been 35-28 if you factor in the two field goals they should have made and the extra point they should have gone for, rather than going for it on fourth down and going for two. Of course, that’s all hindsight. Still, why haven’t we learned this yet? Vegas has the league’s lowest fourth-down conversion rate at 40%.
And maybe the first few games of the season against bad defenses clouded Kubiak’s judgment. Weeks 1- 4, the Raiders were 4/6 on fourth down. Since then, they are 2/7. They are facing better defenses, and some of these are in the red zone, where they have shown no signs of being a good team.
Coming into this game, the Raiders ranked 22nd in Red-Zone Scoring Efficiency at 55%. For comparison, the NFL’s best team in that area, the San Francisco 49ers, are at 85%. It’s time for him to acknowledge they’re just not good there, and they need to stop being so risky.
Maybe next year he can start doing that, but this year, take the points. This is a rebuild. If you take points off the board, you get the blame. If you put points on the board, you don’t. It’s that simple.
