Tom Rock: LI's Dylan Laube puts on a show in homecoming with kickoff return TD for Raiders
Dylan Laube of the Las Vegas Raiders runs a kickoff to the end zone for a second-quarter touchdown against the Jets at MetLife Stadium on Sunday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
Turns out scoring a 95-yard touchdown on a dead sprint down the left sideline is the easy part. At least it is if you are Dylan Laube. Because when he crossed the goal line, that’s when the real work began.
The former Westhampton High School star is starting to become well-known for two things as he emerges as one of the NFL’s top special teams players in his third year in the league.
The first is making game-changing plays like the ones he delivered against the Jets on Sunday. The biggest one of those plays came early in the second quarter and gave the Raiders a one-point lead in what eventually became a 38-33 victory.
The second and sometimes more important trait — and sometimes the more exhausting one, too — is getting the Raiders hyped up about them.
“I think I get more tired celebrating because I’m screaming and running around,” he told Newsday of his high-octane celebrations. “Any big play on special teams fires up the crowd, the offense, the defense. It’s a special kind of a play. And I just get so jacked up.”
So after he scored, he started swooping across the end zone with his arms extended before leaping up to chest bump anyone he could find wearing the same silver and black colors he was. “I was going nuts,” he said.
After he made a big tackle on a kickoff return that helped the Raiders maintain the momentum they gained in taking a 35-30 lead in the fourth quarter, he sprinted to the corner of the field and began screaming for the Vegas fans there to bring some noise.
Dylan Laube of the Las Vegas Raiders and Jeremy Ruckert of the Jets meet after their game at MetLife Stadium on Sunday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
They obliged.
And when he was on the field for his one and only offensive snap in the game, the victory formation kneel-down on the final play, he gave quarterback Kirk Cousins a quick hug and soaked up all the feels from having put such a big dent into his first career “home” game.
With close to 100 friends and family members he knew about scattered throughout the building and with his parents and three siblings sitting behind the Raiders’ bench, the Long Island kid came home and put on a show.
Perhaps his best play of the day? A short pass he threw after he was handed the football with which he had scored. He tossed it to his father, Kyle, who used to bring young Dylan to this very building to watch the Giants play.
“I know that’s special for him to see how hard I’ve worked,” Laube said. “Really, it’s for them. At the end of the day, the name on my jersey is to make them proud.”
Laube’s kickoff return was the first for a touchdown in the NFL this season. It was the first by the Raiders since 2011.
It also was his second career touchdown. He scored his first last month against the Patriots in Foxborough on a short run. That game also was a homecoming for him; he played collegiately for New Hampshire.
This one was different, though. “This is my true hometown,” he said.
There was another significance to the game, at least from a Long Island high school perspective.
Laube was a co-winner of the 2017 Hansen Award — presented to the top player in Suffolk County — after leading Westhampton to an undefeated season. The person with whom he shared that prize also was on the field Sunday. Jets tight end Jeremy Ruckert (Lindenhurst) earned the same accolade.
Back then they were rivals even though they never played against each other. Now they are part of history. Sunday was the second time two Hansen Award winners played in the same NFL game. The only other occasion was on Dec. 2, 1984, when Mike Tice (Central Islip) was the starting tight end for Seattle and Chris Dieterich (Ward Melville) was a starting guard for Detroit.
Ruckert sought out Laube and the two shared a moment amid the chaos of the postgame clamor. The two haven’t had any interactions, they said, since the night of the All-County awards dinner nearly a decade ago.
“I’ve been keeping tabs on him from afar,” Ruckert told Newsday earlier in the week. “There are not many people from Long Island playing in the NFL, so any time his name would come up on Twitter making a play on special teams or during the offseason, I would keep up with it and check it out.”
Laube said of Ruckert: “He’s a hell of a player. It’s cool seeing two Long Island guys playing really good ball. And it was cool to see him.”
Sunday was the kind of performance that could open the door for Laube to become more than just a local story here and in Las Vegas. The 5-10 player from the relatively small East End high school could push for Pro Bowl and All-Pro special teams honors at the end of the season.
As he walked out of MetLife Stadium on Sunday night, he wore a black ski cap that had the words “Bring The Juice” embroidered in gold on the front. “My role on this team is to bring the juice every single time,” he said. “I try to bring it with a tackle, a return, a block. I try to do everything I can to make something happen.”
On Sunday, he did all of that better than he ever has before.
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
