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There is confidence, and then there is stubbornness to the point of being irresponsible.
The Jets crossed that line Sunday by kicking the ball to Dylan Laube in the Raiders win to snap a four-game losing streak.
The Raiders’ return ace entered the game leading the NFL with a 31.1-yard kickoff return average. The Westhampton, New York, native was back in the region where he grew up, with family and friends on hand to cheer on the Long Island product.
Apparently, the Jets thought the occasion needed a gift.
Ninety-five yards later, Laube had delivered his thank-you note.
Just don’t ask him for a detailed account of the trip. As is the case every time he returns a kick, it’s all a fog.
“I have no idea what’s going on the whole play,” Laube said, smiling.
That’s the funny part. The guy inflicting all this damage pretty much blacks out in the football sense, operating on instinct while everyone else watches the highlight unfold.
“It’s such an adrenaline rush,” he said.
Or, as he put it:
“You’re just flying across the field.”
The Jets can confirm.
Laube’s touchdown immediately wiped out their newly acquired 13-7 lead, putting the Raiders ahead 14-13 without requiring their offense to take the field.
It was the NFL’s first kickoff return for a touchdown this season and the Raiders’ first since Jacoby Ford’s 101-yarder against Cleveland on Oct. 16, 2011.
Fifteen years of waiting. Then one exhilarating blur.
“It’s complementary football,” Raiders quarterback Kirk Cousins said. “Especially when you go on the road, to be able to have that seven-point gift given to your offense and get the wind at your back makes a big difference.”
Gift is the operative word.
The Raiders still had to block it, and Laube still had to finish it. But the Jets supplied the opportunity despite ample evidence that putting the ball in his hands was a dangerous proposition.
He now leads the league with a 34.1-yard average, with five returns of at least 40 yards among his 17 attempts.
That’s nearly one in three.
At some point, opponents have to decide whether the possibility of pinning the Raiders back is worth the risk of watching Laube race past their coverage unit.
There is an alternative: Kick it through the end zone, accept the touchback and make the offense earn its points.
Weather, leg strength and execution can complicate that assignment. But when the option is available, the argument for taking it is getting stronger every week.
A touchback might feel like conceding field position. A touchdown concedes considerably more.
The question now is whether the next opponent learns from the Jets’ mistake or convinces itself that its coverage unit will be different.
Laube would presumably welcome another demonstration.
“It’s what winning football teams do,” Cousins said. “There are so many different ways to win in this league.”
Laube seems determined to explore all of them.
He also delivered a big tackle on kickoff coverage and came within inches of blocking a field-goal attempt. The touchdown commanded the attention, but his fingerprints were all over the special teams effort.
“My role is to kind of bring that juice every single time and I try to make it with a tackle, with a return, with a block,” Laube said.
For someone who describes returning kicks as an adrenaline-fueled blur, he has a clear understanding of his responsibility.
Make something happen. Give his teammates a reason to get excited.
“Any big play on special teams just kind of fires up the crowd, the offense, the defense too,” Laube said.
Doing it just a good punt away from his Westhampton, and with plenty of family and friends watching from MetLife Stadium, made it all the more special.
“He’s back home, you know, a lot of family here, so it was cool for him to have that moment,” Raiders coach Klint Kubiak said.
His value, though, extends well beyond a homecoming highlight.
“Dylan is a stud player for us,” Kubiak said. “He continues to make plays, and as you continue to make plays the expectations continue to rise and he’s earned that.”
So should opponents’ reluctance to give him another chance.
This wasn’t an anonymous returner catching the Jets by surprise. The league-leading average was right there. So was the film.
They kicked to him anyway.
Perhaps Sunday finally persuaded someone that the smartest way to cover Laube is to make sure he never gets the ball.
He might not remember much of the ride.
The Jets should remember the lesson.
