The Las Vegas Raiders are trying to turn the page fast after taking their first loss of the season, and this week’s practice made clear they’re treating it like a test of the group’s makeup, not just a bump in the road.
The disappointment from Sunday was still hanging around after the Raiders fell to the Kansas City Chiefs. They played well enough to keep it tight, but a handful of mistakes let the AFC West standard-bearers leave with the win. The Raiders may have earned respect for hanging around, but that isn’t the standard inside the building.
That’s where the focus now shifts: how Klint Kubiak’s team handles its first real dose of adversity with expectations rising from where they were just a month ago.
“We’re a very mature group,” Kubiak said before practice on Wednesday. “Moving on, preparing for the next opponent.”
That next opponent is the New England Patriots, and the trip itself adds another layer. It’s the Raiders’ first true cross-country road game of the season, and it comes against a Patriots team that has dealt with turnover issues early but is also riding momentum from its best performance of the year against the Buffalo Bills. Drake Maye capped that outing with a game-winning drive and earned AFC Offensive Player of the Week honors, so there’s at least some confidence building on the other sideline too.
For the Raiders, the answer has to come from the same place Kubiak and the players keep pointing to: discipline, routine, and a short memory.
“We’re process-oriented. That’s really what we focus on,” said edge rusher Maxx Crosby about the group.
“Every week’s the Super Bowl in our eyes, and we just got to take it one day at a time.”
There was at least some encouraging injury news for Las Vegas on Wednesday. Guard Jackson Powers-Johnson returned to practice after missing Sunday with a groin injury, and the team is also working to get wide receiver Dont’e Thornton Jr. back on the field. Thornton’s practice window opened Wednesday, which points toward a return coming soon.
That would matter for a receiving group that has already taken hits, with Jack Bech and Jalen Nailor going down in back-to-back weeks. Thornton, a 2025 fourth-round pick, would give the offense another needed option.
“He was able to be out there in OTAs and it’s been hard to get him back in the mix as much since,” admitted quarterback Kirk Cousins about being able to develop a rapport with Thornton.
“He’s a great teammate. He’s a great person.
He’s worked really hard. He stayed patient, had a great attitude and it’s the kind of guy you really pull for.”
In Other News...
Maxx Crosby Just Took The Mahomes Rivalry Somewhere Personal
Maxx Crosby has never been shy about the Patrick Mahomes matchup, but he took the familiar Raiders-Chiefs edge in a more personal direction during an episode of his podcast, The Rush. Crosby talked about the ongoing physical and psychological chess match he and Mahomes seem to play every time they line up across from each other, a rivalry built as much on stubbornness and feel as it is on pass-rush production.
Crosby also pointed to one of the stranger details of the matchup, saying Mahomes makes unusual vocal sounds when he gets tackled. It is the kind of observation that only comes from repeated collisions and plenty of time spent trying to get inside an opponents head, and Crosby has done plenty of both, piling up 6.5 sacks and 49 quarterback pressures against Mahomes in his career. [Read more 🡒]
Raiders Loss Put A Few Veterans On Notice Fast
The Raiders first game of the 2026 season against the Chiefs offered an early look at where the roster already looks solid and where the margin for error is thin. A few veterans came out of the opener with some encouragement attached to their names, including Spencer Burford, who held up better in pass protection, while the team also got reminders that one play can tilt a game fast in a division matchup.
Kwity Paye did not make much of an imprint on the defensive side, and Dareke Youngs fumble on a kickoff return became the kind of mistake that can swing momentum before a team has settled in. In a loss that doubled as an evaluation game, the Raiders found enough positives to keep building on, but the individual letdowns also made clear which players will have to answer quickly the next time they take the field. [Read more 🡒]
Raiders Catch A Break As Patriots Defense Enters Week 5 Shorthanded
The Raiders Week 5 prep got a little more interesting when the Patriots opened the week with a long injury list on defense, including eight players who were absent from the first practice. For a Las Vegas offense looking to build momentum, the timing matters, because New Englands depth chart is already being tested before the game even gets into full swing.
Christian Gonzalez and Christian Barmore were among the most notable names, with Gonzalez expected to remain out and Barmore possibly limited to some activities. The Patriots do have a few players on injured reserve who are eligible to return, but coach Mike Vrabel said it does not sound like any of them are likely to be activated this week, leaving the Raiders with a clearer path to attack a defense that may be piecing things together on the fly. [Read more 🡒]