Dylan Laube used to go to MetLife Stadium with his dad to watch the Giants. Turns out the kid from Long Island had a pretty good idea of what to do once somebody let him on the field and kicked him the ball.
The Raiders’ third-year running back earned AFC Special Teams Player of the Week honors after returning a kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown and adding a special teams tackle in Sunday’s 38-33 win over the Jets. His parents were there to see him go the distance. So were 11 guys in Jets jerseys, none of whom laid a hand on him.
The timing was particularly good for a Raiders team trying to snap a four-game losing streak. Geno Smith had just found Isaiah Williams for an 18-yard touchdown to put the Jets ahead 13-7 in the second quarter. Twelve seconds later, Laube was in the end zone and Matt Gay was coming on to kick the Raiders back into the lead. Kirk Cousins could stay right where he was.
As for how it all looked to the guy with the best view of it? Good luck getting much of a scouting report out of Laube.
“I have no idea what’s going on the whole play,” Laube said, laughing. “It’s such an adrenaline rush.”
His description of the experience pretty well covers what the Jets saw, too.
“You’re just flying across the field,” he said.
The Jets had fair warning. Laube went into the game leading the NFL’s qualified kickoff returners at 31.1 yards per attempt. He’d already broken one for 53 yards against the Chiefs. Sunday was the first time anybody in the league had taken a kickoff all the way back this season.
The tackle deserves a mention of its own. A lot of return men finish their afternoon with a pretty clean jersey if the other team decides to kick the ball over their head. Laube still has to go downfield and get somebody on the ground. There’s a reason the Raiders keep finding work for him.
Now it’s the 49ers’ turn to decide how much work to give him Sunday. The Jets were kind enough to leave them 95 yards of film to study.
