Raiders' Coach Preparing For Seattle Reunion

Due to the work he did in his lone season as offensive coordinator with the Seattle Seahawks, which included designing and calling the plays for the Super Bowl LX champions, Klint Kubiak sat at the top of the list of potential 2026 NFL head-coaching hires.

He was so highly coveted that the last snippets of celebratory confetti had barely reached the field at Levi's Stadium - site of last season's Super Bowl on Feb. 8 - before the Las Vegas Raiders had announced his hiring as their new head coach on Feb. 9, replacing the departed Pete Carroll, who went 3-14 in his lone season at the Raiders' helm.

Now, nine games into his head-coaching career, Kubiak will square off with his former franchise when the 5-4 Seahawks visit Allegiant Stadium on Sunday (1:05 p.m. MT on CBS).

While Kubiak will lead a team into battle against Seattle that has clearly improved upon 2025's debacle, the good vibes that were created by Las Vegas' 3-0 start to the season have totally evaporated amidst a five-losses-in-six-games stretch that will see them bring a 4-5 mark into the game.

It will also be the first game in which Kubiak will be sending plays into rookie quarterback Fernando Mendoza with the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft elevated to the starter's role after Tuesday's trade of Kirk Cousins to the Minnesota Vikings.

Raiders' fans should not expect a huge dropoff in the performance of the Raiders' offense as Kubiak, who grew up at the knee of his father, former NFL head coach Gary Kubiak, a notorious offensive mastermind, has proven he can construct a potent attack.

That includes taking who was thought to be nothing more than a bridge QB - Cousins - and turning him into a coveted trade-deadline chip with 20 touchdown passes through nine games.

In fact, Kubiak has taken a Las Vegas offense that ranked 32nd in 2025 with 245.2 yards per game and turned it into one of the game's most potent with an average of 331.0 yards per contest.

And that's with the running game stuck in neutral, courtesy of a 32nd-best 2.9-yard average per carry and only 642 yards on the ground through nine games (71.3 per contest).

Kubiak's departure - along with, admittedly, the departure of running back Kenneth Walker III in free agency - has also been felt by the Seahawks. After Seattle averaged 351.4 yards per game in 2025, they are down to 327.8 this year with the run game down 13 yards per contest and the passing attack 11 yards in arrears. They are also averaging 22.4 points per game, well behind 2025's 28.4, which was the league's third-best average.

But while the Raiders may actually have the edge offensively on Sunday, the likely differentiator between the two squads will be the defense.

The Raiders' defense, to be blunt, has been a disaster as they are allowing a league-worst 29.8 points per game with 27 or more conceded in seven straight contests, which puts them within shouting distance of the all-time record of nine games.

One possible silver lining for the Raiders' D on Sunday is that Seattle backup QB Drew Lock is slated to start in place of the injured Sam Darnold.

The Seahawks' defense, on the other hand, is as good as ever. One year after leading the league with just 17.2 points allowed per game, they are surrendering 18.0 per game this year, while they rank in the top 12 in total yards, rushing yards and passing yards allowed.