HENDERSON, Nev. — The Las Vegas Raiders opened the Klint Kubiak era with a victory, but their new head coach isn’t allowing the Silver and Black to spend much time celebrating it.
The Raiders (1-0) head to Los Angeles on Sunday for their first AFC West matchup of the season against the Los Angeles Chargers (0-1) at SoFi Stadium. While the stakes and level of competition are increasing, Kubiak’s message remains consistent: focus on today, trust the process and continue improving.
Las Vegas walked away from its season opener against the Miami Dolphins with a win, but Kubiak saw plenty on film that needs to be corrected. For a coach who has quickly earned the respect of his locker room with a straightforward approach, that should come as no surprise.
Kubiak Gives Injury Updates on Brock Bowers, Darien Porter
One of the biggest storylines entering the week is the health of star tight end Brock Bowers. Kubiak provided updates on Bowers and defensive back Darien Porter, with both players considered day-to-day.
“Just hitting on injuries, DP [Darien Porter] has a foot so he’ll be day to day,” Kubiak said. “Brock [Bowers] will be day to day as well.”
Bowers’ availability will be worth monitoring throughout the week. The expectation when Bowers was initially injured was that he could potentially return for next week’s road game against the New Orleans Saints. If Bowers is able to get back on the field against Los Angeles. It would provide a significant boost to the Raiders’ offense against one of their biggest division rivals.
Raiders Face a Bigger Test Against Chargers
The Dolphins presented the first challenge of the season, but the Chargers represent something different. Miami is working through the early stages of its own rebuilding process with a young coaching staff. Los Angeles, meanwhile, gives the Raiders an AFC West opponent led by Jim Harbaugh and a roster familiar with the intensity that comes with divisional football.
Kubiak acknowledged that the Raiders will learn more about themselves as the level of competition increases. “Yes. I mean, you learn something new every day in practice,” Kubiak said. “You learn something new during the games. It’s a lot more stress going on. You learn a lot about your coaches too. You learn about your training staff, your strength staff, you learn about everybody in this pressure cooker that we work in, and that’s what makes the NFL so fun.
“So yes, there’s a tough stretch coming up because that’s what the NFL is, but we just try to look one game at a time.” That last sentence might be the most important.
The Raiders aren’t interested in getting ahead of themselves after one victory. Kubiak is attempting to build a team capable of handling the week-to-week grind of an NFL season. That means not allowing one result good or bad to dictate what happens next.
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Robert LaMar is a Deputy Editor for Dice City Sports. You can follow him on X via @RobertLaMar26
