Klint Kubiak and the Las Vegas Raiders head into Week 7 still trying to steady themselves after a rough stretch that has put their place in the league’s pecking order on display. The Rams are slumping too, and that makes Sunday’s matchup feel like the kind of game that could turn on a few key sequences rather than a full four quarters.
Both teams enter on losing streaks, with the Rams having dropped two in a row and the Raiders three straight. If this one stays tight, the result may be decided long before the closing minutes. For Las Vegas, the third quarter looms as a critical stretch.
That matters because the Raiders have lived in close games all season. A game like this could bring out the same late-game issues that have already shown up in their recent losses, especially if neither side manages to pull away.
One of the clearest areas to watch on Sunday is along the offensive line. Against the Buffalo Bills, Las Vegas opened with Caleb Rogers at right guard instead of Jackson Powers-Johnson, and that kind of lineup decision is worth tracking in Week 7. The Raiders’ front still needs help, and it needs time together to settle in.
That unit also has a tough road ahead. Las Vegas will keep running into formidable defensive lines in the coming weeks, and how the group holds up should help define which spots the Raiders attack most aggressively in the offseason.
The offense itself has taken a real step forward from last year, but the past three games have exposed where the cracks still are. The weaknesses were never a secret, but now they’ve shown up on the field in a more obvious way. Too often, the Raiders have failed to finish games they had a chance to win, and part of that has been an offense that hasn’t produced enough points when opportunities came around.
“I think when you get further into the season, obviously, teams know what you do. The more reps that you get, they have more time to see your scheme, so it's an evolving scheme.
It's getting the players home, and then when we do get home, making sure we get the ball out. So, that's the cat-and-mouse game of the NFL,” Kubiak said before Wednesday’s practice.
The other major piece of this rebuild is the youth on the roster. Las Vegas has leaned heavily on young players in major roles, and that group played a meaningful part in all three of the team’s wins. The Raiders’ future in 2026 and beyond will depend a lot on how well the staff develops that talent.
Against the Bills, many of those younger players turned in productive performances even in a losing effort. Kubiak pointed to that group as an important part of the team’s foundation.
“A lot of key contributors and guys that we're still counting on. I think that's a big part of being successful in the NFL is getting your young guys to play early, and credit to John Spytek for the young men that he's brought in, not only as good players, but guys that are team-oriented individuals that are about the Raider Way,” Kubiak said.
“So, they just have to keep developing. And young guys, they have setbacks too.
You have a good game, okay, you get beat, and now you just keep competing. That's the league.
It's the most competitive business that I know, and that's what makes it the most rewarding."
That leaves Week 7 with a straightforward but important question: can Las Vegas take the useful pieces from its loss to Buffalo, clean up the mistakes, and make enough improvement in a week to beat a Rams team that’s talented but beatable? That’s the test, and it starts with whether the Raiders’ young core can build on what it showed last Sunday.
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