Klint Kubiak has spent the last seven months trying to reshape the Raiders the only way he knows how: a little more each day.
As Las Vegas gets ready to host the Miami Dolphins on Sunday at Allegiant Stadium, that work is still ongoing. Kubiak made that plain Wednesday before practice at the Intermountain Health Performance Center.
“It’s a daily thing,” Kubiak said. “We never stop trying to get better.
"We'll never be satisfied. We're always trying to get better.
“The culture is about the people in the building. Obviously, it can start with us as coaches, but ultimately the culture is set by the players on the field.
We're going to find out Sunday what we're all about. I really like the guys that we have, but the players set the culture.”
That message has been taking hold in the locker room. Guard Jackson Powers-Johnson described the atmosphere under Kubiak as more focused and more workmanlike.
“It’s more businesslike,” Powers-Johnson said. “There’s competition within.
We just come in trying to get better. The main focus is football.
It’s not the other things.”
Safety Jeremy Chinn, who has been part of a tight battle in the secondary, said he has seen the same thing from the start of Kubiak’s time with the team.
“It’s the way we come to practice every day, the way we work,” Chinn said. “We get in early.
We do our work. We want to win now.
That’s why we play this game.”
Chinn said Kubiak made his point quickly.
“My first impression was he doesn’t talk a lot but when he does, it’s intentional and you want to hear every word he has to say,” Chinn said. “I think the focus here is to be a disciplined team and you can see that with everybody.”
He also pointed to the competition that has been built into every part of the roster.
“Yeah, it was definitely competitive in every spot on the field,” he said.
That kind of message isn’t new in Las Vegas. Pete Carroll preached it.
So did Antonio Pierce, Josh McDaniels and Jon Gruden. But this version seems to be landing differently, at least early, with Kubiak leaving a clear imprint on the group.
“We’re trying to move forward,” Kubiak said. “Trying to get better.”
Kirk Cousins, who will start at quarterback Sunday for the Raiders against the Dolphins, said Kubiak has the traits of an NFL head coach.
"I think Klint is committed to continuous improvement.” Cousins said.
“I don't think he's ever felt like he's arrived or that he can just put it to bed and just let the system be what it is. I think he's always trying to evolve it.
“I think he's a great listener. I think he can adapt, I think details matter to him, situations and there's urgency with Klint.
So, there's a lot of traits that you want to feel and see from your head coach and from your coaching staff. And I think Klint has so many of them in spades, and I think it helps him lead us as a team."
Kubiak said the evaluation process is ongoing, and Sunday will be part of it no matter how the game plays out.
"We're still growing offensively and defensively, special teams,” he said. “We're a growing team, and you find out about yourself in games. We're going to find out a lot about ourselves on Sunday.
"It's a long season. You just want to put your best foot forward at 17 sprints in a row, so we get our first opportunity on Sunday."
For Kubiak, the job has been about building habits before the results arrive. Now he gets his first real test in front of a home crowd, with a chance to show how far that daily work has carried the Raiders.
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