The Las Vegas Raiders looked different in Week 1. Three key developments showed Las Vegas may finally have an identity under first-year head coach Klint Kubiak.
On Sunday at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, the Raiders beat the Miami Dolphins 27-13 in Klint Kubiak’s first game as head coach. It was not a perfect afternoon: Kirk Cousins threw two interceptions, and the passing game never stretched the field the way fans might have hoped. Once the lead was safe, the Raiders clearly eased off. Even so, three things stood out, and they are the reasons this win feels more useful than a typical Week 1 scoreboard.
The run game finally looked like a foundation…
Last year, the Raiders could not run the ball. That was not an opinion; it was the identity of the offense. They drafted Ashton Jeanty high in 2025 to fix it, then spent a season watching him work behind a line that could not create lanes. This preseason did not help much either, since the offense stayed vanilla and the looks were basic. Anyone trying to project the regular-season ground game was guessing.
Sunday took a lot of that guesswork away.
Jeanty ran 23 times for 102 yards, and backup Mike Washington added 41 yards on seven carries. Together they gave Las Vegas a physical presence Miami never solved. The Raiders finished with 37 rushing attempts and held the ball for nearly 35 minutes, which is how a team wins a September game when the passing numbers look modest. Cousins threw for only 160 yards, but he did not need more than that because the run game kept the chains moving and the Dolphins guessing.
The offensive line deserves as much credit as the backs…
Jeanty and Washington were not creating magic out of nothing; they were hitting holes that were actually there. On the opening drive, Las Vegas marched 93 yards in 16 plays and chewed up almost nine minutes, a drive that doesn’t happen if the interior is getting pushed backward. It happens when the line wins first contact and the backs trust what they see.
Jeanty was more than a runner, too. He caught six passes for 45 yards and scored twice through the air, both on 13-yard throws from Cousins. That is the version of Jeanty the Raiders drafted: a back who can punish a defense between the tackles and still slip into the flat or over the middle when linebackers bite on the run. Washington’s burst on limited touches was a bonus. If the Raiders can keep two healthy backs producing like that, defenses will have to load the box, which is exactly when play-action starts to matter.
There is a caveat, and it is fair: In the fourth quarter, with the game in hand, Jeanty’s carries produced almost nothing. That is what happens when a team sits on a lead, and it does not erase the first three quarters. For one afternoon, the Raiders ran the ball like a team that intended to.
The defense played complementary football from the first snap…
If the run game set the tone, the defense finished the argument.
Miami came in with Malik Willis and De’Von Achane, two players who can turn a clean look into a 20-yard gain in a hurry. Las Vegas did not let that happen. Achane managed just 36 yards on 11 carries, and Willis completed 15 of 27 passes for 220 yards but threw no touchdowns, took five sacks and turned the ball over. The Dolphins converted just 2 of 10 third downs, a sign of a defense winning the down-to-down fight, not just collecting highlight plays.
The coverage was sticky. Receivers did not find easy windows, and when Willis held the ball, the rush arrived. Maxx Crosby, still being eased back after last season’s knee surgery, still recorded 1.5 sacks. Kwity Paye made his presence felt early with a sack and tackles for loss, while Nakobe Dean and Folorunso Fatukasi added pressure on third down. The Raiders did not just get to the quarterback; they made Willis uncomfortable before the ball came out.
The takeaways punctuated the effort…
Rookie safety Treydan Stukes intercepted Willis, becoming the first Raiders rookie with an interception in his debut since 1982. Late in the game, Jeremy Chinn forced a fumble that Quay Walker recovered. Those plays did not just pad the stat sheet; they ended Miami’s last real chances.
That is the difference between a defense that looks busy and a defense that wins games. Sticky coverage without a pass rush still gives a quarterback time, and a pass rush without coverage still leaves receivers open. Las Vegas had both: The front won in the trenches, and the back end stayed attached. When Willis tried to force something, the ball came out.
Defensive coordinator Rob Leonard’s group also handled sudden change well. After Cousins’ first interception, Miami answered with a 14-yard Willis touchdown to cut the lead to 17-13. A lot of recent Raiders teams would have wobbled there, but this one answered: The ensuing kickoff return set up another Jeanty score, and the defense never let Miami back into the red zone with momentum.
The play calling put players in positions they could win…
This is the piece that ties the other two together.
Kubiak’s offense was not exotic for the sake of being exotic; it was timed. Early on, Las Vegas leaned on volume and patience. The first drive was a statement: run the ball, stay on schedule and make Miami tackle for nine minutes straight. Once the Dolphins had to respect the run, play-action and short throws to Jeanty opened up. Jack Bech’s 15-yard touchdown on a crossing route, which opened the scoring, was a simple concept executed against a defense that had already been on the field too long.
The Raiders clearly pulled back in the fourth quarter. The calls got safer and the run game stalled, which is no mystery: Leading 27-13, a first-year head coach is not going to empty the playbook. The encouraging part is what came before that. The offense scored touchdowns on three of four red-zone trips and converted enough third downs to keep drives alive. It never needed Cousins to win a shootout.
Related: Maxx Crosby sounds different and that could be huge for the Raiders
On the other side of the ball…
On the other side of the ball, Leonard disguised his packages well enough that Willis rarely looked settled. The Dolphins did not know when the extra rusher was coming or which coverage was behind it, which is how a defense generates five sacks without asking one player to beat a double team every snap. The front four won enough one-on-ones, and the second-level players arrived on time.
Both coordinators did the basic job that too many staffs miss: They asked their players to do things they are good at. Jeanty ran and caught in space. Crosby and Paye rushed from spots that created angles. The secondary was not asked to cover forever. Cousins was asked to be accurate and on time, not heroic, and when he forced two throws later, the defense bailed him out. That is complementary football. That is also coaching.
Let’s pump the brakes…
A 27-13 win over a Dolphins team still finding itself will not rewrite the AFC West. It should, however, change the conversation inside the building. The Raiders can run the ball. The defense can get off the field. The staff can call a game that does not look like last year’s stalled version of itself.
That matters heading into next week, when the Los Angeles Chargers visit off a 26-14 home loss to the Arizona Cardinals. Justin Herbert and company will be angry, and they should be: A bounce-back game against a division rival is exactly the setting where a talented roster tries to erase an ugly opener. Las Vegas will not sneak up on anyone after Sunday. What the Raiders can take into that game, though, is simpler than a new trick play. They now have tape showing the run game works, the defense can generate pressure and takeaways, and the play callers can keep 11 players pointed in the same direction.
If those three things show up again, the Chargers will have to beat a team that already knows how it wants to play. That is a better starting point than hope. And after one Sunday in September, hope is no longer the only thing the Raiders have.
*Top Photo: Ramble Illustration/Getty Images