Coach Klint Kubiak mostly liked the formula his team followed to win his debut even if it wasn’t always pretty.
His Las Vegas Raiders controlled the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball and mostly avoided self-inflicted wounds on their way to a season-opening 27-13 home win over Miami on Sunday.
Here is a closer look at what went down:
Putting it into perspective
Look, the Dolphins aren’t very good. More than half of their cap space is currently dedicated to players no longer on the roster and Miami leads the league in rookies on the roster as well as the amount of first- and second-year players on the two-deep.
It’s going to be a long season.
But the Raiders not only did what they had to do, but showed they can execute the things they must do to have any kind of success this season. They were good in the trenches and showed they can make plays in all three phases that can help them win football games.
The victory doesn’t necessarily change the outlook for the season, but it showed progress and should provide some encouragement.
Star of the game
Running back Ashton Jeanty is the easy answer.
He surpassed 100 yards on the ground and caught two touchdown passes in a dominant performance despite coming off an ankle injury that had his status in doubt for a few weeks leading up to the opener.
The effort made some history as it was the second time in his career he caught two touchdown passes and eclipsed 100 rushing yards, tied with Christian McCaffrey and Brian Westbrook for the most such games in NFL history.
But a case could also be made for Kwity Paye, who had his hand in three sacks and created some chaos off the edge on several more occasions in his first game with the Raiders. It looks like he could give them a complementary option opposite Maxx Crosby.
Play of the game
Jeanty’s second touchdown reception was a thing of beauty, not necessarily from a pitch-and-catch perspective.
Kirk Cousins sailed a throw out in the flat that Jeanty had to reach a bit for and then turn up field toward the goal line. Both of them did their jobs on the play, but what made it special was the way coach Klint Kubiak set it up as a playcaller and how well fullback Connor Heyward executed it.
Kubiak set the play up with several looks out of the eye with Heyward leading Jeanty to the hole in similar down-and-distance situations throughout the game, often getting single-high safety looks from the Dolphins.
This time, Heyward hit the hole but Jeanty didn’t take the handoff. Instead, he leaked to the flat and Heyward cut linebacker Willie Gay Jr. in the hole. The resulting pile of bodies kept linebacker Jacob Rodriguez from getting to his coverage responsibilities and led to an easy touchdown.
Drive of the game
The Raiders may not have a more efficient offensive possession than their first one of the season.
Cousins led a 16-play touchdown drive that covered 93 yards over 8:58 and included seven first downs.
He completed all nine of the passes he attempted as the Raiders methodically matriculated the ball down the field.
It was a thing of beauty even if it wasn’t the most exciting possession one is ever going to witness.
Six different Raiders caught a pass and three had carries, including Heyward when he lined up under center for a fourth-down sneak.
What were they thinking?
They really weren’t many egregiously bad decisions or blunders in the game.
Kubiak’s first decision as a head coach was a very easy one on a fourth and less-than-1 on the opening drive, which was really an automatic. He kicked on a fourth-and-2 later in the half when he could have considered keeping the offense on the field.
It was a pretty good way to ease into the job. There will be plenty of tough decisions to make down the road.
Observations
■ Kubiak showed right away how important the fullback is in his system, keeping Heyward on the field for nearly 50 percent of the offensive snaps. The Raiders didn’t even have a fullback on the roster last season and less than 50 percent of NFL teams still carry one, but Kubiak believes in it.
“I think Connor had a really solid showing,” Kubiak said. “That’s what we have come to expect from him. I think when he came into the game, the thing about a fullback is that the picture always changes post-snap. You are the cleanup guy; someone misses a block, you’ve got to be Johnny on the Spot. We mis-target something, you’ve got to make the offensive line right. But him using his brain and then him getting guys on the ground stood out.”
■ It felt watching the game live and then even again on rewatch that Cousins didn’t really push the ball downfield much in the opener. He didn’t really have to because the Raiders were ahead the entire game and the short passing game was pretty effective, but the Raiders could benefit from keeping the defense honest by taking some deep shots. Kubiak agreed with that premise. The numbers, however, didn’t look that bad. Cousins finished 20th in the league for the week with 7.6 attempted air yards per attempt.
“(You just have to) chunk it deep,” Kubiak chuckled. “But to answer your question, I thought Miami did a good job of limiting the explosives. Credit to them.”
■ The offensive line looked just as good on film as it did live, if not better. Tyler Linderbaum is exactly the kind of game-changer he was brought in to be and he really seems to make everyone around him better as a result of both his play and communication. There weren’t a whole lot of missed assignments. Kolton Miller looked healthy and rejuvenated, while DJ Glaze was excellent in pass protection at right tackle. The Raiders finished fifth in the league in Pro Football Network’s offensive line metric with Miller ranking first individually among all tackles.
■ The defensive line, especially the interior, is a true rotation. That was the stated plan early in the offseason, but it was put into practice on Sunday. While Tonka Hemingway played 32 of the 56 defensive snaps, Jonah Laulu, Adam Butler, Foley Fatukasi and Thomas Booker all played between 19 and 21 snaps. It’s a formula that may continue because the group played better than expected. Fatukasi and Booker were particularly impactful.
Looking ahead
The Raiders head to their second home of SoFi Stadium to play the Los Angeles Chargers.
Coach Jim Harbaugh’s team should be angry and desperate for a win to avoid an 0-2 start ahead of an absolutely brutal stretch of seven games that could make or break their season.
Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on X.
