With the New England Patriots set to clash the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl LX in two weeks, we’re a step closer to finding out who the next Las Vegas Raiders head coach is going to be.
The Silver & Black are afforded the opportunity this coming week to have second interviews with the assumed favorites for the gig: Seahawks offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak and Denver Broncos offensive pass game coordinator and quarterbacks coach Davis Webb.
With Raiders minority owner Tom Brady in the broadcast booth for Fox Sports during the NFC Championship tilt between the Seahawks and Los Angeles Rams, the roses he gave to Kubiak wasn’t surprising. Brady has called a few Seahawks games and the man tabbed with helping general manager John Spytek land a new head coach in Las Vegas continues to be impressed by Kubiak’s play calling.
And it’s not hard to see why.
Kubiak was at the controls of a Seattle offense that answered the Rams haymakers with sharp, knee-buckling uppercuts throughout the game. It was a dizzying array of short, intermediate, and deep passes that featured 2025 first-round pick and wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njiba (10 receptions for 153 yards and a touchdown) lined up in the backfield which thoroughly confused Los Angeles defensive coordinator Chris Schula (another candidate for the Raiders head honcho gig) and his unit Sunday night.
Kubiak schemed his offense expertly which allowed quarterback Sam Darnold to drop 346 yards and three touchdowns on the Rams and running back Kenneth Walker III to gallop for 62 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries.
Granted, since Kubiak and the Seahawks are headed to Santa Clara for the Super Bowl, the Raiders can’t officially hire him as the next head coach until after the big game. Our Matt Holder broke down the intricacies of the interviews/potential hires shortly after the title games concluded.
Meanwhile, Rams offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur (another candidate for the gig in Las Vegas), helped head coach Sean McVay engineer an offense that went toe-to-toe with the Seahawks. Quarterback Matthew Stafford threw for 374 yards and three touchdowns with wide receiver Puka Nacua having a game with nine catches for 165 yards and a touchdown.
We’ll see how serious the Silver & Black are with the candidates above — namely Kubiak — alongside Webb. With the Broncos knocked out of the postseason by the Patriots, Webb is free to have a second interview with the Raiders and is likely to garner interest from the Buffalo Bills.
A trio of former Raiders are Super Bowl-bound with the Patriots: Linebacker Robert Spillane, edge rusher K’Lavon Chaisson, and offensive tackle Thayer Munford Jr.
Spillane led New England’s defense with 97 total tackles in his 13 regular season games (13 starts) to go along with one sack, two interceptions, and five pass deflections. Chaisson racked up a career-high 7.5 sacks to go along with 31 total tackles in 16 regular season games (10 starts) while Munford played sparingly in the regular season but was an eligible tackle in the AFC title contest playing as the tight end in jumbo packages.
Spytek noted in his season-wrapping press conference back on Jan. 5 he needs to do a better job retaining players as Spillane and Chaisson left Las Vegas on free-agent deals with New England this past offseason.
“I was in charge last year when a couple good players left the building. And it’s one of the things I learned, you got to keep our good players here,” the general manager said. “And we were talking about it this morning. You look around the league there’s some former Raiders that are playing good football somewhere. And I got to do a better job in that world.”
Oh, and who can forget former Raiders head coach Josh McDaniels. He’s cemented himself as an elite offensive coordinator as he orchestrated the Patriots’ attack for head coach Mike Vrabel.
Who Dares (Doesn’t Always) Win
Sean Payton is no stranger to being bold. He dared big when he was the New Orleans Saints boss with the “Ambush” onside kick and it paid off with a Super Bowl XLIV win over the Indianapolis Colts back in 2010.
As Broncos head coach, Payton bucked the tiger in the AFC title tilt going for it on 4th-and-1 in the second quarter and the play call flopped badly. Instead of taking the points to go up 10-0 with momentum in hand, Payton called a run play, then it was changed to a bootleg pass play, and the pass hit the grass and the Patriots go the ball on their own 14-yard line.
It was like a jailbreak as New England defensive tackles Cory Durden and Milton Williams sprinted at quarterback Jarrett Stidham immediately altering the play into a mess. And, unfortunately for Denver, that was the last time they were inside New England’s 20-yard line the rest of the game.
As Mother Nature took her course and the weather conditions deteriorated — much like Stidham after a hot start — down went the Broncos. The 10-7 final score laments on that call by Payton, yet his hand-picked kicker Wil Litz ended up 0-for-2 on field goal attempts (the game-tying attempt in the fourth quarter tipped). Patriots kicker Andy Borregales had a whale of a time too finishing 1-for-3.
Thus, as they say, hindsight is 20/20.
