Are the Raiders back to playing competent football?
Based on Sunday’s 27-13 win over the Dolphins, head coach Klint Kubiak has the team moving in a good direction, and as former Raider Marshall Newshouse pointed out on Monday, one of the most encouraging signs on Sunday was something the Raiders didn’t do.
“If you’re a Raiders fan, it just felt good, I think, despite some of the negatives, you know, from the Cousins’ interception and stuff like that. Overall, it was a pretty clean game,” Newhouse said on the Just Win podcast.
“There was, you know, guys that were open, some blocks missed, that’s football. The other team gets paid, too. But it was a clean game. It didn’t feel like there’s a lot of nonsense, a lot of bullsh– going on, and you can hang your hat on that a little bit.”
Aside from Kirk Cousins throwing a pair of interceptions, the Raiders played one of their cleanest games in a long time on Sunday, and it will be interesting to see if they can keep that momentum as the schedule gets more difficult.
In week 2, the Raiders will travel to Los Angeles and face a Chargers team that was a huge disappointment in week 1.
As others have pointed out, the Chargers have an awkward coaching dynamic forming between HC Jim Harbaugh and offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel.
McDaniel and Harbaugh are trying to blend different philosophies in their first year together and it’s going to be interesting to see how that dynamic plays out. Against the Cardinals on Sunday, it was a disaster.
Quote of the week…
It’s only Tuesday, but the quote of the week is already here. From flagship host ‘JT the Brick’ on his Monday radio show…
“Maybe they’re in trouble. Maybe they got injuries,” JT said of the Chargers on his Raider Nation Radio show.
“But they’re pretty good and they’re well coached. Not that Mike McDaniel knucklehead with his, you know, no socks and his jeans that only go down to his calves and all that. God, who the hell bought into that crap? But overall, the Chargers, if you give Justin Herbert a clean pocket and the Raiders don’t get to Herbert, he’s been known to tear us up. He tears us up when he has a clean pocket. I think the Raiders have the ability to match up there.”
In case you missed it…
The video (below) was taken two weeks ago, and it clearly shows Harbaugh and McDaniel in a disagreement about how to hand a football to the running back.
If the two can’t agree on how to hand off the football, how are they going to agree on the innovative plays McDaniel is reportedly bringing to the Chargers’ offense this year?
x: @raidersbeat