Klint Kubiak is trying to keep the Las Vegas Raiders from getting ahead of themselves, but the start they’ve put together is hard to ignore.
Three weeks into his first season as head coach, the Raiders are 3-0. That alone makes them one of the early surprises of the year, especially after a 2024 season in which Las Vegas won just three games under Pete Carroll. Now the Raiders are sitting at the same record they finished with last year, and they’ll try to protect that mark Sunday at home against the also-unbeaten Kansas City Chiefs.
The matchup comes at a good time for a team still trying to build its identity. After Kansas City, Las Vegas heads into a difficult stretch that includes games against New England, Buffalo and the Los Angeles Rams.
Still, Kubiak made it clear Monday that he’s not interested in talk of the postseason this early.
“Our job as coaches is to get them dialed in,” said Kubiak, who was the Seattle Seahawks offensive coordinator last season, on Monday. “The thing about our team is we have a mature team that’s very goal-oriented and has some strong leadership, and they’re not satisfied with what’s been done for three games.
“I know it’s a long season, and we know that in order for us to be successful, we just have to just get better every day and have a great Wednesday, Thursday, Friday practice to prepare for the game.”
The numbers, though, are on the Raiders’ side. Since the playoff bracket expanded to seven teams per conference in 2020, 23 of the 28 teams that opened 3-0 went on to reach the postseason. In the six-team format from 1990 through 2019, 109 of 148 teams that started that way advanced.
The last time Las Vegas opened 3-0 was in 2021, which also turned out to be the most recent season the Raiders made the playoffs.
Kubiak also came away impressed with how his team handled its latest test, rallying from an 11-point second-half deficit to beat New Orleans 35-27 on Sunday.
“You don’t really get to find out about somebody until the chips are down and their back’s against the wall,” Kubiak said. “Our backs were against the wall yesterday, down two scores.
So we found out a lot about guys’ resilience and toughness because everything’s fine if you’re up two scores at the end of the game. But what do you do when you’re down two scores?”
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