The Raiders are moving through camp like a team that knows exactly how much work is still ahead, but also one that’s starting to see the payoff. After their first preseason game against the Arizona Cardinals, Las Vegas went back to the practice field and kept stacking better days, with Monday morning serving as another solid step forward before the trip to Texas for a practice and preseason game against the Houston Texans.
That progress has shown up on offense, where the Raiders continued to look sharper in the details. Kirk Cousins was in rhythm during red zone work, while Fernando Mendoza kept showing the kind of confidence, poise, and accuracy that stands out even among rookie quarterbacks. Aidan O’Connell also turned in several strong throws, including some he likely would not have finished in previous seasons.
The bigger picture is clear: Las Vegas is trying to build an offense that can attack defenses in a variety of ways, both expected and unexpected. On Monday, the Raiders worked on threatening every level of an opponent’s defense, and the structure of what they’re building looked deliberate. The idea is to create favorable matchups on a given pass play and then layer in answers off those looks.
That approach has been a major part of the early message from first-time head coach Klint Kubiak, who has emphasized that the Raiders are still a work in progress. After Sunday’s practice, which was arguably the best all-around session the team has had under him, Monday became another day of tightening the screws and refining the details.
"Just as a team, we've got to improve. There's a lot of improvement, offense, defense, special teams.
There's things that I liked, there's things where we've got to get better. We put a lot of time into that yesterday, and we all know again it is our fourth week of training camp.
We are a team that's still gelling together,” Kubiak said following training camp.
The encouraging part for Las Vegas is that the mistakes that have slowed them down are starting to shrink. False starts have come down, the turnover count has stayed minimal, and the offense looks more comfortable executing what Kubiak and offensive coordinator Andrew Janocko want to run. The Raiders still have a long road in front of them, but the foundation is going in with purpose.
That matters even more because the offense is being installed against a defense that features multiple players who rank near the top or in the top half of the league at their positions. That daily challenge is helping the Raiders sharpen faster than they have in past seasons, and the improvement has been noticeable.
Kubiak, though, keeps circling back to the same standard: this has to carry into the games that count. The preseason work is useful, but the real test is coming soon.
"I think I'd rather be known for being fundamentally sound. That's things that we stress offensively, and as you put more and more film on tape, you get more and more predictable," Kubiak said.
"So, you've got to keep finding ways to evolve. But as a coach, I'd rather be much more about the basics and being great at the fundamentals so that's what we're going to harp on."
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