Sunday provided renewed hope for Raider Nation as the Las Vegas Raiders completed a nine-point comeback to beat the New York Jets on the road for their first win in over a month.
This renewed hope isn’t the win itself, but the changes made to get the Raiders’ offense and defense working, though the latter remains a dicey situation. Head coach Klint Kubiak is showcasing that he isn’t a typical coach who has come through the franchise over the last several years or decades.
This is a coach who wants to win no matter the cost, and that is exactly what the Raiders need with their roster rebuild.
Key Changes Play a Major Role in Victory
Beating the Jets and ending a four-game losing skid isn’t just about ending a losing streak; it is about how Las Vegas got it done and what they did before the game to do it.
Kubiak made three big decisions that may have fixed the offense moving forward: 1) he named rookie offensive lineman Trey Zuhn III as the starting right guard over Caleb Rogers and Jackson Powers-Johnson, 2) he made rookie running back Mike Washington Jr. the early-down rusher and lead ball carrier, and 3) he turned Ashton Jeanty into strictly a receiving threat out of the backfield.
Those three moves led to a great day for the Raiders offense, a surprisingly effective run game, and more consistent movement at the line of scrimmage.
“Yeah, I thought overall, outside of Mike [Washington Jr.], the offensive line did a really good job,” Kubiak said on Monday. “Tight ends blocking well. Mike ran well, so gave us a spark in the run game. But I don’t think it was a one-man show. It was a group effort, and I think we were able to stay more balanced yesterday.”
How Changes Could Lead to More Success
Defensively, we saw a serious rotation at No. 2 cornerback with Darien Porter, Hezekiah Masses, and now Jermod McCoy, who was unimpressive in his debut. Kubiak told reporters Monday that McCoy will continue to get more exposure as the weeks go on, which is a valid approach to evaluating these young cornerbacks.
“I think obviously Zeke made some plays for us, had a big tip pass,” Kubiak expained. “Jermod in his first action. He’s going to continue to get better, he’s got plenty of things to improve on, as does Zeke, as does DP [Darien Porter], as does everybody. But we feel like we’re going to continue to rotate those guys through.”
While the changes defensively may not save them in the short term, the Raiders may have solved their problems on offense for the remainder of the season (this might be an overreaction on my part).
Making Washington the early-down rusher allows the Raiders to simplify their rushing attack to a gap-blocking scheme while still providing wide-zone elements. Jeanty’s value as a pass-catcher is amplified out of the backfield as an easy checkdown option for quarterback Kirk Cousins. Zuhn may have finally brought stability to the offensive line with his steady game against the Jets.
These keys allow the Raiders to be more efficient as a unit on this side of the ball, and as we saw with the passing game, it all ties into the potential of being a highly explosive group that will need to score a lot of points to win. This may not be sustainable next year, but Kubiak has the right approach that led not only to a comeback win, but also to more success down the road.
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