The Chargers are 0-1 and are set to face a 1-0 Raiders team this Sunday who have upset on their minds, on top of the added motivation to make a divisional rival face an 0-2 start to the year.
This week, we were lucky to have Matt Holder of Silver & Black Pride (SB Nation’s Raiders community) join us for an edition of 5 Question with the Enemy. Holder is always one of the best to do these with, so a big thanks to him for the conversation! Also, if you want to see his side of the interview where I answered
questions for him, head over to S&BP (linked above)!
Let’s go ahead and dive in!
1.) It’s yet another new era for the Raiders as they welcomed Klink Kubiak this offseason as their next head coach. Kubiak is coming off winning a Super Bowl with the Seahawks as their offensive coordinator and that’s a big reason why Las Vegas seemingly wanted to pair him with first-overall pick Fernando Mendoza. What were the expectations for this year and how have they changed, if at all, from when he was hired to right now in Week Two of the season?
In my opinion, the Raiders are playing with house money, and I don’t mean that as a pun to them being located in the gambling capital of the world.
This is year one of what will likely be a two-year rebuild, so no one should have high expectations in terms of wins and losses. Instead, this season is about watching a young team grow together and build chemistry for 2027 and beyond. Because of that, I’m okay with a slow start to the campaign, but I do want to see them playing more competent and competitive football down the stretch. Obviously, Mendoza is a big factor in that whenever he hits the field.
That being said, last week did inspire some hope that Las Vegas might be a little ahead of schedule. Yes, it was against the Dolphins, who are heavy favorites to land the 2027 No. 1 pick, and the Raiders were favored heading into the matchup. However, they flat-out dominated the game to distance themselves from the bottom of the barrel in the NFL, which is a big step for a club that just had the No. 1 pick and finished 3-14 a year ago. Factor in that one of the team’s best players, Brock Bowers, didn’t play, and the buzz in Vegas after the season opener is further justified.
2.) Despite being selected first overall, the Raiders decided to start veteran Kirk Cousins in Week One and it looks like he’ll hold the reins of the offense for the foreseeable future. What did you and the rest of the Raiders fan base think of that decision at the time and did you agree or disagree with it? Did his performance in Week One change that initial opinion at all?
The fanbase is kind of split on the decision, where a lot of people want to see Mendoza on the field immediately. I get that. Most No. 1 overall picks play right away, and fans want to see what the young guy is made of.
Others, such as myself, are perfectly fine letting Cousins get a few starts while the NFL’s worst offensive line in 2025 works out the kinks to begin this season, and the rookie gets more time to adjust to life in the league. I subscribe to the notion that organizations fail young quarterbacks more often than young quarterbacks fail organizations, and with this franchise’s history at the position, I’m perfectly okay with keeping the training wheels on Mendoza and playing it safe. Overall, I’d say most of Raider Nation is on board with the club’s plan.
As for Cousins’ Week 1 performance, it might have opened the door for Mendoza to start a little earlier than expected. Putting it simply, the 38-year-old’s arm is dead.
He was one-of-seven and threw two interceptions on passes 10 (ten!) or more yards past the line of scrimmage against the Dolphins. When facing better competition, not being able to throw the ball past the sticks consistently isn’t going to be a sustainable winning formula. And if the team isn’t winning, there’s no point in continuing to give reps to a quarterback who likely won’t be on the team next year when the future of the franchise is sitting on the sidelines. Of course, Mendoza has to show that he’s ready, too, but the calls for him are going to get louder if Cousins doesn’t pick it up.
3.) If you were Chargers offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel, how would you go about attacking this Raiders defense? Which players would you specifically try to target? Which matchups would you want to exploit?
Normally, I’d say run the ball right down the middle because Las Vegas’ defensive tackles are the weakest part of the defense right now. However, with Los Angeles’ interior offensive line, that’s a battle of incompetencies that nobody wants (or should want) to watch. So, I’d pivot toward Ladd McConkey, assuming he’s healthy enough to play and be effective.
McConkey being one of the few (maybe the only) bright spots for the Chargers last week is part of my logic. Diving deeper, I saw he spent about 70 percent of his pass snaps in the slot, which presents an interesting matchup. The Raiders traded with the Bills for nickelback Taron Johnson in the offseason, who was a second-team All-Pro a couple of years ago. Johnson is still a physical defender, but his movement skills haven’t been the same after battling injuries over the last two seasons. That got exposed on a few reps last week, and is something a quick and shifty receiver like McConkey could exploit.
Granted, the wideout’s production primarily came on the outside despite spending less time there in the season opener. Still, he should be the focal point because the Raiders have question marks at outside corner, too.
Eric Stokes was one of the few bright spots from last year’s team, earning a nice payday in the offseason and returning as the team’s top corner. But Stokes’ change-of-direction skills have always been an issue, and he got beaten on a few out-breakers against Miami. At the other spot, Darien Porter is entering his second season and started about half of the games during his rookie year. So, he’s still young, and Porter is considered “day-to-day” right now after suffering a foot injury last week. Behind the second-year pro is rookie fifth-round pick Hezekiah Masses, who has 10 NFL snaps to his name. Masses had a PBU in relief of Porter last week, but obviously, he’s very much unproven.
4.) Switching sides of the ball, if you were defensive coordinator Chris O’Leary, how would you plan on stopping this Raiders offense? How would you attempt to shut down running back Ashton Jeanty and tight Brock Bowers (if he plays)?
This goes back to your question about Cousins: load the box and make Kirk prove he can beat you over the top.
It helped that the game was already pretty much over, but the Raiders offense did stall in the fourth quarter last week when the Dolphins started blitzing and selling out to stop the run. Las Vegas’ offensive line also has question marks, with left tackle Kolton Miller and center Tyler Linderbaum being the only sure-fire starters heading into training camp. The unit played well last week, until Miami started sending its linebackers straight downhill. Then, it started to look a lot like last year, where Jeanty had no breathing room and ended up having a lot of negative runs.
Honestly, I don’t have a good answer for you on Bowers since we haven’t really seen him in Kubiak’s offense. He only played in 10 snaps and had just two targets during the preseason. So, I’m not entirely sure how Kubiak is going to use his “football robot from heaven“, especially since Bowers has a versatile skill set. But, at the end of the day, Kubiak wants to run the ball, and a smart strategy is to force Cousins to beat you regardless of which pass-catchers are on the field.
5.) Let’s go ahead and end this with a few lines of how you see this game going and then top it off with a final score prediction.
If you asked me this question last week, I would have 100 percent said the Chargers. But with the two teams essentially having polar-opposite Week 1 performances, I feel a lot better about the Raiders’ chances.
I still think Los Angeles has the overall talent and experience advantage, and its defense could give Vegas’ offense trouble in the trenches. Also, I’ll still take Justin Herbert and McConkey over Cousins and…Tre Tucker (?) when it comes to the skill positions. But I do think the Raiders can keep this to a one-possession game and cover. I’ll go 24-21 Chargers. Hope I’m wrong!
