The Seattle Seahawks won Super Bowl LX at the conclusion of the 2025 NFL season in large part due to a great defense schemed up by head coach Mike Macdonald. But it was star running back Kenneth Walker III who took home MVP Honors, and offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak put him in that position.
Now, Kubiak and Walker III are set to take the field together again, but this time, as mortal enemies. The former is the head coach and lead culture-changer of the 3-0 Las Vegas Raiders, and the latter is the new element of a revamped and highly successful Kansas City Chiefs offense to begin the year.
With the Raiders and Chiefs facing off in Week 4 for early AFC West supremacy, this matchup will very much be about knowing your enemy. Walker III should be a handful for a Las Vegas defense that is struggling against the run, but does Kubiak hold the keys to shutting his former player down?
Conversely, the Raiders' offense has been borderline elite to start the 2026 NFL season, but does Walker III have enough intel to give to Kansas City defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo to spoil the party at Allegiant Stadium? Time will tell. But this game should be electric and finally meaningful.
Raiders' run defense hasn't been what it needs to be so far this season
Overall, fans and analysts have been impressed with Rob Leonard's defense. And rightfully so, as the unit has closed out several games and is allowing 18.0 points per contest, good for the 8th-fewest in the league. There is no question that Las Vegas has slowed opposing teams down.
But can they do it consistently on the ground? Their composite numbers aren't exactly atrocious in the early going, but in both the Los Angeles Chargers game in Week 2 and the New Orleans Saints bout in Week 3, the Raiders got run all over for portions of the game.
Here's how they stack up in a basic sense.
Opponent Metric | NFL Rank for Raiders |
|---|---|
Rushing Attempts | 15 |
Rushing Yards | 19 |
Rushing Touchdowns | 11 |
Yards per Attempt | 22 |
Let's contextualize these a bit, though. In their first two games, the Raiders have been winning in the second half, so both the Miami Dolphins and the Chargers had to somewhat abandon the run. That always makes the final numbers look better, but doesn't necessarily change the reality.
In reality, Las Vegas is inefficient against the run, relinquishing 4.5 yards per attempt. That is losing football. And in their first three games, they have missed 11 tackles against the run, giving up 217 rushing yards after contact. This needs to be cleaned up against a very good Chiefs attack.
Kenneth Walker III is spearheading Chiefs rushing attack that could give Las Vegas problems
Through the first three weeks, Kansas City has been one of the premier rushing offenses in the NFL, and this is thanks to the addition of Walker III. Last year, they asked Patrick Mahomes to play hero ball, and now the all-world quarterback gets to lean on the league's leading rusher. Awesome.
Just take a look at what Andy Reid's offense is doing.
Rushing Metric | NFL Rank for Chiefs |
|---|---|
Attempts | 6 |
Yards | 5 |
Touchdown | 7 |
Yards per Attempt | 6 |
Not only are they running the ball a lot, but they are running it efficiently. Reid will undoubtedly come out and force the Raiders to stop them before he changes anything up; he is a coach who goes to the well until it is dry, and the well has seemingly been bottomless against Las Vegas in recent years.
Kansas City also ran the ball well against a stout Denver Broncos defense and a decent Indianapolis Colts front in the first two weeks. The Raiders haven't been able to reliably stop three average-to-below-average run games, the best of which ranks 14th in yards per attempt and 15th in attempts.
Walker III is, of course, at the center of this, as he has been the ball carrier for over 80% of the team's designed runs. And in three games, he has an astounding - I swear this is not a typo - 303 yards AFTER contact and 34 (!!!) missed tackles forced. He is an elite and elusive back coming into town.
For a Las Vegas team that has missed tackles in the run game at too high a rate this year and is giving up 4.5 yards per carry, that is a bit concerning. As Kubiak said, Walker III has "big play ability," and he can "hit a home run from anywhere on the field." That is a tall task for the Silver and Black.
How much will familiarity matter?
The good news is that nobody in the NFL landscape should know more about Walker III than Kubiak, who helped the running back to his best career season last year. He knows his strengths, but even more, he knows Walker III's weaknesses. Kubiak schemed around them all of last year.
As we mentioned earlier, Walker III does know Kubiak's offense well, too. But Kirk Cousins has said all offseason that he is amazed at how much Kubiak's offense has evolved over the years. Schemes change a lot more than players and their strengths and weaknesses or downright ability do.
So, if someone is bound to gain an advantage because of familiarity, it is Kubiak. And boy, do the Raiders need all the help that they can get against Walker III.
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