Kubiak trying to learn, get better every day

HENDERSON , Nev. — In some respects, Klint Kubiak and Fernando Mendoza share a similar path in the NFL. Both are in their first year in their roles — Kubiak as the Las Vegas Raiders’ head coach, Mendoza as a rookie quarterback who the Raiders selected with the No. 1 overall pick in April’s NFL Draft.

But that’s where the similarities end. The Raiders can afford to be patient with Mendoza. With Kubiak, there is no grace period. He is tasked with significantly improving Las Vegas’ standing in the AFC West and get this team into the postseason mix.

So far, he has looked impressive in his head coaching role. He is organized. He’s engaged. He’s building bonds with his players as well as his coaching staff. Everyone appears to be on the same page.

We’ll have a better idea of where things stand, sort of, in less than a week when the Raiders host the Arizona Cardinals Thursday at Allegiant Stadium in the first of three preseason games.

The Cardinals, who played Carolina Thursday in the Hall of Fame Game at Canton, Ohio and lost in the final seconds to the Panthers, 33-30, will have a leg up on the Raiders. They’ve had a chance to play a lot of people and make some observations of their personnel in game-like conditions. For Mike LaFleur, Arizona’s first-year head coach, that’s big.

Kubiak? He’s probably not playing any of his key performers in the first preseason game. That likely means no Maxx Crosby, no Kirk Cousins, no Brock Bowers, very little, if any time for Ashton Jeanty and limited minutes for his projected starters on the line on both sides of the ball.

Which is fine when the true objective is to have the Silver and Black ready to go on Sept. 13 against Miami. No sense of risking injuries this early in the process. Besides, he needs to take a long look at numerous individuals so why not let them get the minutes?

“Just our situational football to improve,” kuziak said of preparations over the next few days for the preseason opener. “We started using a lot more crowd noise, way more situations now that we start repeating installs and banking reps. We just want to see those neurons fire faster now that it's not a new play coming at them.”

Mike McCoy, who has been in Kubiak’s shoes from when he was the head coach of the Chargers and is the Raiders’ assistant head coach, said he has been impressed with how Kubiak has handled things so far.

"Well, Coach has done an outstanding job, number one, of developing the culture here and how he wants us to practice every day and laying out the plan,” McCoy said. “We spent a lot of time in the offseason program, and we got back from vacation making sure everything was detailed, every minute to be as efficient as possible with the way we meet from the first time they walk in the building till the time they leave at night, just to make sure that we're helping these players be the best they can be and help build the best team come the opener."

But it takes more than organizational skills to succeed in the NFL. It’s about building relationships, both with your players and your coaches. You listen to what McCoy said, what the players say and what you see on the practice field at the Intermountain Health Performance Center and it seems like Kubiak gets it.

Ultimately, he’ll be judged on the results on the field. After a 3-14 season a year ago under Pete Carroll, it shouldn’t be too high of a bar for Kubiak to clear in moving the Raiders forward.

Every NFL coach preaches competition from within. Here, the assistants are very hands-on with their teaching, not watching from a tower or from afar. There’s a connection building between staff and players and as Kubiak seeks to change the culture of losing that has accompanied the Raiders since their move from Oakland to Las Vegas in 2020, he does so by looking forward, not behind.

He appears to be in lockstep with general manager John Spytek in the roster construction of this year’s team. Each trusts the other to do their job. And if the goal is to get a little better each day and not take any backward steps, that means Kubiak is also learning, growing into the job, making sure everybody is on board with the philosophy and engaged in the process.

"I think just making a decision to come here and being familiar with Spy and our scouting staff, that's no surprise,” Kubiak said. "Those guys are very professional and they're turning over every rock to try to make the bottom of our roster better at all times. And it's a collaborative effort, we work together. Really blessed to work with him.”

As for Mendoza, Kubiak is encouraged by what he has seen so far.

“He's just continuing to get better,” he said. “He's improving. Every day brings a new challenge — crowd noise today. So, there's new things that he's learning every day.

“Again, he's working hard. He's like every other rookie. They are introduced to a whole new level of football and there's going to be days of failure and days of success. As long as they keep getting better, that's what we're looking for.”

That applies to the head coach as well.