Kubiak Talks Changes While Dodging Quarterback Questions

The Las Vegas Raiders had another rough day, and the Raiders lost their fourth in a row. They got badly exposed against another contender, as the Los Angeles Rams ran out to a 28-6 lead at halftime, then went on to get a 35-21 win in a game that wasn’t nearly as close as the score indicated. 

It was the second time in three weeks that the Raiders have been exposed in a blowout loss, and Kubiak said “we’re thinknig about everything” in a piece from Ryan McFadden of ESPN when he was asked about possibly subbing in quarterback Fernando Mendoza given the margins the Raiders were facing in this game. 

The question was fair, but the answer was very indirect. That hasn’t been Kubiak’s style at all so far, but he’s now facing a four-game losing streak that includes two losses in which the Raiders haven’t been all that competitive. 

This is where we find out a lot about who Kubiak is as a coach. It’s easy to be direct and sound tough but fair when your team is winning unexpectedly, but this losing streak was very predictable, and it would have been far more unusual if the Raiders had been able to get a win against a murderer’s row of games that included the Kansas City Chiefs, New England Patriots, Buffalo Bills and the Rams. 

The Raiders almost pulled it off against the Chiefs and Bills, but they couldn’t quite get there. Kubiak coached admirably for the most part, but now he’s in something close to a no-win situation. 

Mendoza could have used the experience in the fourth quarter yesterday, and Kubiak almost certainly knows that. The Raiders came back to within ten points as they scored two touchdowns to make it 28-18, but the ease of the Rams’ drive that followed was yet another indicator of the clear difference between these two teams. 

If Kubiak had inserted Mendoza, however, the questions about having him take over right now would have been louder, especially if Mendoza had been able to direct the kind of dink-and-dunk drive he pulled off against New England. That would make Kubiak’s call this week a lot tougher, as he has a beatable opponent coming up in the New York Jets, and a win would pull the Raider back up to .500 at 4-4. 

Meanwhile, his starting quarterback is manning up. Kirk Cousins said he doesn’t want to be on the field if he’s not the best option, and his coach needs to figure it out and make a definitive call as quickly as possible.