me personally i think if we make the playoffs he should stay

I'm seeing a lot of "keep Kirk?" posts and just want to remind the Nation that Kirk is a bridge QB. His contract was structured in such a way as to force him to only be a bridge QB. Spytek deliberately worked an $80 million poison pill into the deal. For reference, that's how much Dak and Aaron Rodgers are getting paid this year combined. That $80m would hit during his age 40 season. If you're frustrated with Kirk's struggles to throw deep or outside the numbers at 38, imagine what that velocity looks like at 40.

If Kirk had signed a 1 year deal, it could be very tempting to resign him after how well he has played this year. However, Spytek structured this deal in a way that forces sticking to the long term plan. Mendoza is the future of this franchise, and Spytek is protecting us all from an emotional short term decision.

Win lose or tie, Raiders til I die

A "kiss on the head" would not seem to be a mortal sin; and he hasn't played in the NFL since, despite being a top player at a critical position and, even today, only 30 years old.

Every week, I see posts here asking why we can't black out our own stadium.

TL;DR: There are a ton of obvious reasons, but price relative to quality is the first thing I thought to graph. Come at me.

When you compare ticket prices to winning percentage, we are a huge outlier. In a bad way.

A lot of us were willing to travel and pay reasonable prices for bad football in Oakland. Vegas isn't difficult or expensive to get to from California. Opposing fans from further away travel there every Sunday. So why aren't more California-based Raiders fans doing the same?

The issue obviously isn't fan loyalty. The loyalty of this fanbase is clinically insane. I think fans have had trouble reconciling the premium price with the terrible product. That said, it looks like quality is improving at least.

If ownership wants to black out Allegiant, they need to price tickets for the product they have to sell, not the product they want to sell.

Make of the data what you will. I'm optimistic Klint will make those tickets worth the price of admission soon enough. So all of this is probably moot anyway. Whatever.

Just Win Baby. 🏴‍☠️

Red-zone struggles aren’t new to Kubiak. Coordinating the Seattle Seahawks’ offense last year, he had a unit that scored touchdowns on a little more than 55 percent of its red-zone opportunities, 22nd in the NFL.

“We always want to be great in all facets, but you’ve got to play to your strengths,” Kubiak said. “So, moving the ball and scoring points was good yesterday.”

Kubiak’s closing message on the Bills loss was a need to finish games; he’s not satisfied with just competing. A lack of execution down close is hindering his team’s chances to do so. In a three-point defeat, taking points off the board three times looms large.

“What do you got to do to get over the hump? You’ve got to score on all five possessions in the red zone, not just two of five.”

'Tis the season

Bills can't move us 💪

Losses sting so bad but realized I should be very proud of this young developing team. Nice to see the majority of fans coming together to realize that. Y'all keep me sane haha ☠️

Fan since I was born. Oakland games were crazy. My dad used to take us for big divisional games. I remember seeing a guy with a split jersey of Romanoski , half raiders, half broncos. He ended up getting beer thrown at him in the bathroom. You were playing with fire if you wore the opposition.

Its heartbreaking to see the stadium full of opposing fans. I went to Vegas this past weekend for my birthday and it kills me seeing the stadium 70 percent blue. I can't even go see them play at a bar when the bar is full Bills fans.

I'm a dodger fan. I can't even imagine dodger stadium over run with Giants fans. Would never happen. This team needs more support from the locals. Or the team needs to figure out a way to keep ticket sales based on zips. Idk what needs to be done but it's shameful. Everywhere you go the opposition is there.

This team is built the right way, and the way he’s playing I think Kirk could keep Mendoza on the bench for at least another year.

We will never know, but the team was primed. The next year they still got to the superbowl

Hey all, join our Athletic Raiders beat writer, Sam Warren, as he tackles everything from Kirk, Fernando waiting in the wings, the defense, Jeanty and so much more.

Drop your questions below:

As someone who’s been a fan over 30+ years, let me tell you I haven’t been this excited in a while. Yes we lost to the chiefs, and the bills. But my god we finally look like a real competitive team. We haven’t been able to say that in many, many years. Aside from the flashes in 16’ & 21’ our team hasn’t been this dangerous in a long time. Much kudos to this new coaching regime. We have a competent front office, and I hope Kubiak gets a similar contract to what we gave Gruden last time. As a fan base we cannot reasonably expect to turn a complete 180 in our first year, but we are headed that way. And fast. Thats the exciting part for me. We are disciplined, and focused. As Adams once told Surtain “He’s not there yet!” Neither are we. Don’t let these close losses get you down guys. In fact it should be the opposite, again, its year 1 for this new system. We are already pushing top tier teams to the very end of games. Sky’s the limit. Go Raiders!!

There is no easy win in the NFL and I hope that Kubiak continues to show us that this team is headed in a different direction

Brining this to the top as this is live now.

Yes we have had disappointing losses the last 3 weeks but two of them we legit could have won. The bills and Chiefs are arguably the best teams in the nfl let alone the AFC. We only lost by a field goal in both games so that’s some significant improvement.

We need some more talent to start winning more of these games and I have trust in spytek and Kubiak. We’ve had good talent acquisition recently. Getting players like Mike Washington in later rounds is very impactful to the overall team.

I will say I get tired of seeing away fans take over Allegiant stadium. I wish something could be done to help that situation. It’s much easier for our guys to win in a true black hole environment. I know many hate the Vegas move but it’s better for the franchise in my opinion. Either way it’s the reality now.

I hope starting to win/be competitive will help with more raiders fans going out to the games and season ticket holders going to the games instead of selling the tickets.

Hello everyone! I just wanted to share my dad’s story with fellow Raiders fans because of how much he loved this team. ❤️🏈

He was a lifelong fan of the team, supporting them through the Los Angeles days, the Oakland days, and now the Las Vegas era. He used to joke that the front office should have asked for his approval before moving the team to Las Vegas!

I have fond memories of watching Super Bowl XXXVII on television with him, and the Raiders were something that remained close to his heart throughout his life.

The reason I'm posting this is because unfortunately my dad passed away on September 26 after a long battle with stage 4 COPD and stage 4 colorectal cancer. I realize this may not be read by many people but I simply feel it's my duty as his daughter share with you all just how much this team meant to him.

When it came time to say goodbye, we made sure he was laid to rest with some Raiders memorabilia as a way of honouring his lifelong love for the team. Even in his final resting place, we wanted a piece of something that brought him so much happiness to be with him.

I wanted to share his story because, while the Raiders are a football team to many people, they were so much more than that to my dad. They were a lifelong passion, a source of memories, and a part of who he was.

Thank you for taking the time to read this, I hope that someone out there has a similar story and I just wanted to keep his memory alive by sharing that there was a devoted fan who stood by the team through every chapter of its history, and that his love for the Silver and Black never wavered.

Once a Raider, always a Raider.

With heartfelt appreciation,

A daughter remembering her dad 🖤🤍

“I think he’s been a leader on our offense. A huge reason why we were able to score on six of 10 possessions.”

No surprise that Raiders coach Klint Kubiak didn’t take the bait today when asked about center Tyler Linderbaum’s struggles yesterday.

Linderbaum said after the game that he “didn’t feel good” about his performance.

Kubiak added, “for a guy that is hard on himself, that usually tells you that he cares. He is a leader, he is accountable and that’s Tyler.”