TC Martin

Raiders Open Season with Resounding Win 

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The Las Vegas Raiders opened the Klint Kubiak era with a convincing 27-13 victory over the Miami Dolphins on Sunday afternoon at Allegiant Stadium.  It was the Raiders first home opener to begin the season since 2021 when they defeated the Baltimore Ravens as a decided underdog.   

 

Although the Raiders were the favorite in this contest over a lowly Dolphins squad, the victory was impressive in more about the way they played and executed on both sides of the ball. 

 

It started with Kirk Cousins, who was making his first start for the Silver & Black after coming over in the offseason as a free agent with a 16 play, 93-yard touchdown drive to open the scoring for the Raiders. It was a lead they never relinquished.  Cousins completed his first 10 passes of the game and set the tone for a team that was in desperate need of a successful veteran quarterback. 

 

Cousins completed 21 of 30 throws for 160 yards while throwing for three touchdowns.  He has now thrown for 301 touchdowns in his 15-year career moving him into 14th place all time in NFL history.  Cousins became the first Raiders quarterback to throw three TD's in an opener since Kerry Collins in 2005 vs New England. 

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Two of the touchdowns went to Ashton Jeanty who rushed for 102 yards and caught six passes for 45 more. This as Jeanty's third 100-yard rushing game since being drafted by Las Vegas as the sixth overall pick last year. 

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The defense did their job as well forcing three Miami turnovers and holding Pro Bowl running back De'Von Achane to only 36 yards. Achane set an NFL record last year for the highest yards per carry in a single season.  The Raiders had five sacks on Dolphins QB, Malik Willis.  

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Las Vegas will bask in the glow of being 1-0 and winning Kubiak's debut. They won't get too excited as they won their opener last season at New England, who went on to appear in the Super Bowl while the Raiders managed to only win two more games the rest of the way and finished with the league's worst record at 3-14. 

 

The Raiders schedule will get much tougher moving forward.  The travel to Los Angeles next week to face the Chargers who were upset by Arizona followed by a trip to New Orleans.  They will then play the toughest part of their schedule with games against Kansas City, New England, Buffalo and the Rams over a four-week stretch. ​​