The Raiders’ Week 1 offense gave a clear preview of what Klint Kubiak wants to be.
Against the Miami Dolphins on Sunday, the new look in Las Vegas leaned on the run, worked the short passing game, and lined up a lot like the version Kubiak used in Seattle a year ago. Kirk Cousins was under center on nearly 65 percent of the Raiders’ offensive snaps, another sign that Kubiak is sticking to a very specific way of doing business.
That under-center preference came up in a conversation Kubiak had with FOX commentator Mark Schlereth before the game, and Schlereth said the answer caught him off guard. On Tuesday’s Stinkin’ Truth Podcast, Schlereth shared what Kubiak told him about why he likes operating that way.
“In their preseason game, going into this game, they were 20 of 30 snaps with Kirk Cousins in 12 personnel, heavy personnel, fullback. And they used it exclusively.
They also, Mike, which I thought was tremendous, they got into a bunch of under center stuff. They were… the number two in the league at 52.6 percent of the time when he was with Seattle last year and then the Rams were the only ones that were under center at a higher percentage.
He’s going to use it. So I asked him, ‘What is it about under center?’
And I said my perspective is you open up your run game, so you’re not eliminating… [around] 35 percent of your run game. So it opens up your run game and it opens up your play action because your quarterback has to turn his back to the defense which makes everybody’s feet stop.
Safeties and linebackers stop.’
But you know what he said? And this was something I hadn’t thought of, or I hadn’t really talked about.
He goes, ‘My number one thing about being under center, it makes the defense play legit and they can’t rush the passer as well because every fake, they’ve got to stop. They’ve got to protect the run.
So it makes our pass protection, our keys in protection so much better.”
The commitment to that style showed up again in the way the Raiders lined up. On Wednesday, Silver & Black Sports Network’s Jesse Merrick pointed to a Next Gen Stats number that underscores how tight Kubiak wants the formation to be.
According to Next Gen Stats, the Raiders averaged just 18.1 yards of width in their offensive formations on Sunday. That was more than five yards tighter than their average formation in 2025, and it marked the tightest single-game average width for the franchise in the Next Gen Stats era, which dates back to 2016.
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