In reality, the comment may have slipped out by accident. Raiders coach Klint Kubiak had one eye on the locker room and had half-anticipated a question about the team’s underperforming running game before the half, one that he started to answer before CBS sideline reporter Tracy Wolfson was finished asking. And as he promised he would fix it, he also promised the Raiders would beat the Chiefs.
There was no Lane Kiffin in him. No P.J. Fleck in a maroon track suit performatively diving into a crowd surf. No Sean Payton half-smirk and pause for effect. Nothing in Kubiak’s cadence or affect suggested it was anything but a simple, verbal hiccup—not unlike Mike Macdonald’s classic We Did Not Care—that could end up defining this era of Raiders football. This was the NFL’s quiet man saying what was on his heart, having just downloaded the first half of football against one of the best teams in the NFL and not looking the least bit rattled.
