The New York Jets handed the Las Vegas Raiders a 95-yard touchdown gift on Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026. It was a present fifteen years in the making. Dylan Laube, the Raiders return ace, scored on the kickoff to erase a Jets lead. He now leads the NFL with a 34.1-yard average per return. The Jets knew he was dangerous but kicked to him anyway. That choice cost them the lead and the game.
A Foggy Run for the Record
Laube does not remember the details of the run that changed the score. A fog envelops him whenever he returns a kick, just as always. “I have no idea what’s going on the whole play,” Laube said, smiling, according to the New York Post. He operates on instinct while the defense tries to catch up. “It’s such an adrenaline rush,” he said. Or, as he put it: “You’re just flying across the field.” The Jets can confirm the speed was too fast to stop.
This score was the first kickoff return for a touchdown in the NFL this season. It was also the first for the Raiders since Jacoby Ford scored in 2011. That gap meant fifteen years of waiting ended in one blur. The Jets had a 13-7 lead before the play. Laube’s run put Las Vegas ahead 14-13 without their offense touching the ball. Raiders quarterback Kirk Cousins called it complementary football. “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,” Cousins said. The word gift is the key here.
Raiders Fans Turned the Stadium Around
The crowd at MetLife Stadium felt more like Las Vegas than New Jersey. In the second half, the building was seized by Raiders fans. The final count was 70,080 people inside. Black and silver jerseys dominated the stands. Raiders cornerback Eric Stokes flapped his arms to urge the fans to get louder. They did. They drowned out the home crowd.
Jets receiver Garrett Wilson admitted the noise was hard to handle. “They had some fans in the building and we have to handle it,” receiver Garrett Wilson said, according to the New York Post. “It’s a home game, regardless. Protect our home turf. We’re sitting there at 2-6. We have to give our fans a reason to come out. I get it. As a team, we have to operate regardless of the noise.” Olu Fashanu, the left tackle, committed a false start on third-and-5 due to being unable to hear the snap count. He took the blame. “I’m not going to say it’s because of the crowd,” Fashanu told The Post. “No matter what the environment is, I have to be locked in and hearing the snap count.”
The Cost of a Bad Kick
Laube ended the game leading the league with a 31.1-yard kickoff return average. His 17 attempts include five returns that reached at least 40 yards. That is nearly one in three. Putting the ball in his hands was risky, as the Jets had ample evidence of this. They did it anyway. Now the question is whether the next opponent learns from this mistake. A touchback might feel like giving up field position. A touchdown concedes considerably more.
The Raiders won the game 38-33 on Sunday. They had started the season 3-0 but were on a four-game losing streak before this win. They had not won a playoff game in 24 years. Yet they made the home crowd feel like a road trip. Head coach Klint Kubiak noted the support. “The silver and black was out,” Kubiak said. “We heard them, they were loud, and they supported us from pregame, through the game, and especially in that fourth quarter.” The Jets lost a game they could have won. They also gave a homecoming gift they cannot take back.
