Klint Kubiak is now the coach of the Las Vegas Raiders, and his old team will get a taste of life without him.
Klint Kubiak is now the rookie coach of the Las Vegas Raiders, but he left a strong legacy with the Seattle Seahawks. Kubiak was the guy who got quarterback Sam Donald over the top to a Super Bowl win as his offensive coordinator, but he’s moved on to run the Raiders’ operation.
What’s especially interesting about this is that the Seahawks are running it back, mostly. They spent their offseason re-signing their former players, and coach Mike McDonald has come up with a cheesy version of what he’s doing called “running it forward.”
This is a perfect initial test of Kubiak’s value to the franchise. The Seahawks hired Brian Fleury to replace Kubiak, and he’s expected to keep most of Kubiak’s offense intact. His schemes are expected to feature more motion and pre-snap movement, as well as a more creative use of the tight ends. Receivers like Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Rashid Shaheed and Cooper Cupp are expected to be moved around more to add some new looks.
But keeping Darnold from going off the rails wasn’t easy for Kubiak, who used a strong running game to simplify things for the turnover-prone quarterback. But a big part of that running game, Kenneth Walker III, is now with the Kansas City Chiefs, so what Fleury is planning will put more on Darnold’s plate, which generally isn’t a good idea.
The good part of this is continuity, but will it be enough? Zach Charbonnet is currently on the PUP, so the quality of the running backs this year will probably be a dropoff.
Tomorrow night will be the first test of this. It will tell us something, but probably not a lot. Super Bowl champions generally when this first game at home, although there have been exceptions, most notably a few years ago when the Detroit Lions came into Arrowhead and shocked the Chiefs.
But Seattle’s opponent, the New England Patriots, doesn’t exactly look fierce right now. They’re coming in after a preseason in which their coach, Mike Vrabel, has actively complained about his team’s depth, and there was a cornerback controversy when Christian Gonzalez, the Patriots’ shutdown corner, came within days of not playing until he finally got paid today.
Moreover, the Patriots looked toothless against Seattle last year. Their offensive line was overwhelmed, so the game was over early, and that intact Seahawks defense will be a big challenge. We will get a small idea of how much Kubiak meant, though, based on how Darnold looks tomorrow night.
