The AFC West’s early-season script has turned plenty of heads, and the Raiders are right in the middle of it. Las Vegas is off to a 3-0 start after its seesawing win over the Saints, and that sets up a huge matchup with the also-unbeaten Chiefs for first place in the division.
It’s a place the Raiders didn’t exactly expect to be, especially considering how willing they were to trade DE Maxx Crosby this offseason. Yet here they are, unbeaten and talking like a team that believes it has something real going.
“I mean, this is football,” Crosby said via Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer. “You’ve got to show up and play the games.
In the offseason, there’s a lot of chatter and stuff like that. But for us, this group, we’ve been just focusing on the day-to-day.
We play for each other. We’ve got real close connections in this locker room, and that’s how you come back and make a second-half push like that on the road and get a big win.
So, super excited about what we’re building.”
The Chiefs, meanwhile, are getting a clearer picture of what Rashee Rice can bring after his return from a knee procedure that limited him during camp. In Week 3, Rice led the team with seven catches for 88 yards in his third game back, and he says the difference in how he feels now is obvious. That shift has shown up in the confidence he’s playing with and the way he’s approaching each snap.
“I feel a lot different. I feel a lot more confident,” Rice said, via the Chiefs Wire.
“I continue to strengthen my legs, knowing that these legs are going to get me through the whole season, as well as just being able to be confident knowing that the ball’s going to come to me on certain plays. Even if the play is not being called for me, I know that I have a possibility of getting the ball.
And I just kind of feel a lot more conditioned mentally and just being able to continue to run throughout the game.”
On the Chargers side, Quentin Johnston was left reflecting on the closing moments after the loss to the Bills. He said there were things he could have done better late in the game, and he acknowledged how hard it is to absorb a result that doesn’t match the work that went into the week. Still, the message he took from it was simple: keep moving.
“Obviously, some stuff at the end of the game, I feel like I could have done better. I think we all seen that, but sometimes it’s just hard to take.
You work week in and week out so hard for a certain thing, and it goes a different way. Obviously not the way that you wanted to, but it’s not always going to, so I just got to keep my head up is kind of what he was telling me.”
In Other News...
Raiders Head Into Week 4 With Two Key Injury Questions
The injury picture around the Raiders has already become a familiar part of the early-season conversation, with Treydan Stukes missing multiple games after a concussion and Jack Bech dealing with a fractured forearm. Even with a few players back in the fold, Las Vegas has been forced to keep adjusting its plans as the season has opened, and the Week 4 build-up has brought another round of uncertainty.
Head coach Klint Kubiak said Bech is expected to be out for a period, while Jackson Powers-Johnsons groin injury is still being evaluated. For a Raiders team trying to settle into a rhythm, the difference between getting key bodies back and waiting on more answers could shape how they approach the next stretch, even before the full injury picture comes into focus. [Read more 🡒]
Raiders 3-0 Start Just Made Kubiaks Call Look Even Bigger
Three games into a season rebuilt by major offseason changes, the Raiders have spent the early going looking more stable than many expected. The 3-0 start has given Klint Kubiak plenty of reasons to like how his team has responded, especially after Las Vegas had to battle back from a second-half deficit in its Week 3 win.
Kubiak also made a lineup call against the Saints that ended up carrying real weight, and tight end Bowers rewarded it with a big afternoon on the ground. Bowers finished with 116 rushing yards and a touchdown, and his impact helped the offense click alongside Mike Mayer, giving Las Vegas another sign that the early-season formula is working. [Read more 🡒]
Raiders May Have Unlocked A Brock Bowers Problem Defenses Hate
The Raiders have been leaning into a version of Brock Bowers that looks more like a problem for defensive coordinators than a classic tight end. Instead of lining him up in one spot and asking him to stay in the dirty work, Las Vegas has used him mostly as a receiver, with most of his snaps coming in the slot or out wide while Michael Mayer handles more of the traditional tight end responsibilities.
It already showed up in a big way in Bowers first game, when he turned 10 catches into 116 yards and a touchdown, and the matchup issue is obvious from there. The question now is how long the Raiders can keep using him this way without giving something back elsewhere, because the formation flexibility that makes him so dangerous also raises real stakes for the run game and for how the team eventually values him. [Read more 🡒]