Raiders’ Kirk Cousins Outlines Roadmap to Success for Silver and Black

HENDERSON, Nev.—The Las Vegas Raiders (3-3) have a tremendous opportunity on Sunday versus the team anointed in the preseason by the pundits as the unequivocal Super Bowl favorites, the Los Angeles Rams (2-4), to send the visitor’s season spiraling, and their season on a projectile that could end in the NFL Playoffs.

An NFL Rarity

It's an incredible journey, and we aren’t even halfway through the regular season.

For the Raiders to get the big win, it is no secret that 15-year NFL veteran QB Kirk Cousins will lead the way.

Still young in life (38), the sage veteran of football experience is old in NFL years, and wise beyond them.

Matthew Stafford is leading the Rams into the Black Hole. — Oct 18, 2026; Inglewood, California, USA; Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford (9) sets to pass in the fourth quarter against the Arizona Cardinals at SoFi Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Matthew Stafford, the Rams QB, is 38 as well, but in his 18th season.

Sunday’s game will be the most unique in the NFL, simply because of the wisdom and experience of the two opposing QBs.

I covered Cousins in high school and every game of his college career, and Stafford as a Lion. I know, respect, and admire them both, and I am excited to have a front-row seat for this epic QB duel at Allegiant Stadium on Sunday.

Captain Kirk

Quarterback Kirk Cousins knows the Rams are loaded with great coaching and players, and the record doesn't reflect what they are bringing to the desert.

“I know the Rams are 2-4, but when you watch the tape and see the statistics behind the record, you see a really, really good football team that could easily have one of the best records in the league. So, we understand the challenge we have, the great players they have and great coaches, and we’ve got to be at our best.”

Third Quarter Woes

Klint Kubiak has made it clear that the Raiders need to improve their third-quarter production, and he put enormous emphasis on it this week in practice. Cousins elaborated on that.

“We’ll emphasize it in our practice routine, create a stoppage in practice to simulate that. We did that a couple weeks ago as well, so we’ll practice it the best we can, and then it’s an absolute point of emphasis. It’s got to be better.”

Mayer’s Maturity

When Michael Mayer entered the NFL in 2023, he was considered the best TE in that draft. Shockingly, he slipped to the 35th pick (second round), and the Raiders' war room erupted with applause (according to a source in the room) when they picked him.

Cousins wasn’t here in 2023, but today he is as excited about his Notre Dame Fighting Irish teammate as anyone.

“He’s a good football player. I think Klint [Kubiak] is using him well, but he’s catching the football and making things happen, breaking tackles. He’s where he needs to be when he needs to be there, he’s got great hands, he’s accountable, and you can depend on him. I think there’s a reason our organization extended him, and he’s showing why, game in and game out.”

Cousins elaborated on how he started to identify Mayer as a go-to target.

“Maybe the first practice in OTAs. Natural hands, good feel for the position, could create space. Even when he’s covered, he can create space to get open. He had a great spring. In fact, we gave out, I don’t know if ‘award’ is the word, but Klint [Kubiak] gave out an award at the end of OTAs, and Michael [Mayer] was the top guy on offense. He had a great spring, and he’s carried it over to camp and into the regular season.”

Time Builds Trust

Cousins and Kubiak have both talked about players earning trust. Especially young players, so I asked him to take the fans inside that process and how players do that, not just with him, but with the team.

“Similar to what I said about Michael [Mayer] be where you’re supposed to be when you’re supposed to be there, make plays with the ball in your hands when it comes your way, and do your job. The old Patriots line, ‘Do your job.’ We all have a job on each play, 11 of us, we've all got to do our job and each job is different. When you are consistently doing your job, you build trust.”

Love for the Rookie

The Raiders went from concern to encouragement this week on the health of rookie RB Mike Washington Jr., who, if healthy enough to play, Kubiak told me has earned more reps this weekend than against the Rams. Cousins elaborated on what Washington Jr. has done to earn that.

“When you see the 30-plus-yard run for a touchdown against the Saints, you see the ability to break away. In practice, it’s hard because you’re not being brought to the ground often. So, until you get to the real thing, it’s difficult to evaluate. I think he’s run hard, and he’s continuing to get comfortable in the offense."

"I think every week as a rookie, no matter what position you're playing, you’re gaining confidence and earning trust. It’s a building process, and coming up on Week 7, the sample size is getting large enough to build that up.”

Superman

I heard another NFL executive this week call Brock Bowers "Superman" because he can do just about anything on the field. Cousins has seen a lot over his career, but the Georgia Bulldog still won his respect.

Las Vegas Raiders TE Brock Bowers | Darrell Craig Harris, On SI

“He’s done a great job. We do ask him to run a pretty wide route tree, and I think it’s important that we give him variety so he’s less predictable to cover. He’s done a great job catching the football in traffic. Any time a player can be versatile, and you can ask a lot of them, they're harder to defend, and I think that’s true of Brock [Bowers].”

When Bowers comes up for his new deal (his rookie contract runs through 2028), Bowers is expected to transform the TE market. According to one league executive, “He is being used as a WR1 and contributing as a WR1, and if he actually hit the free agent market he would get paid like a WR1.”

So with him doing so much more than just being a TE, does Cousins still see him in that role?

“Yeah, I’d call him a tight end. It’s more about can you help in the run game, can you help in pass protection, can you at any moment wear a different hat? Brock [Bowers] can absolutely do that, so as a defense, you need to honor that.”

Downfield Stretch

As teams stack the box to stop Klint Kubiak’s commitment to the run game, Cousins and WR Tre Tucker’s chemistry is taking off downfield. Cousins said they use the deep attack to open running lanes.

“Any time you go back and look, there are always plays where you say maybe we could have taken that one, or vice versa, maybe in moments you were too aggressive and should have checked it down. I think that’s what happened on the second-to-last drive, where we had three straight incompletions. It really needed to be a check-down deal more than trying to take it down the field the way I did. So, it’s both.”

Cousins went even deeper: “The key is, when you take the shots, you want to hit them. Otherwise, it’s a gain of zero, and it doesn’t matter if you almost hit it or how close it was. If it’s incomplete, you’re back to second-and-long or third-and-long, and you don’t want that. If you’re going to take the shots, you want to hit them and give yourself a chance to be in favorable downs and distances.”

I have known Kirk for decades, and in all that time (22 years), I have never known him to engage in or practice hyperbole. It isn’t part of his character. So when asked to talk about Tucker’s speed (which GM John Spytek may have painted himself into a corner over), Cousins’ genuine enthusiasm tells the true story.

"He's fast. I mean, he can roll. Everybody's fast in this league, and I used to joke that there's certain guys, like in high school when you play in high school, you hear about these guys that are unbelievable. And you go see them, you're like, oh yeah, they jump out. That starts to dwindle in college, and it dwindles even more in the NFL because everybody's good."

"But over my career, there have been like a couple guys where you're like, it feels like I'm back in high school where they're just different. It was Adrian Peterson, Percy Harvin, like certain guys where you're just watching and you're like, whoa.”

Cousins wasn’t done praising Tucker: “But Tre [Tucker] has speed where throwing to him, it's like I've thrown to a fair number of guys over my career, and he can roll. There's only a handful of them at the very top. You know Brandon Banks, Deshawn Jackson, Aldrich Robinson, where it's like I can just hit the launch button and don't really have to worry about overthrowing them. And I put Tre in that category."

Fernando Mendoza | Darrell Craig Harris, On SI

The Nandolorian Rising

Nobody knows the time and effort it takes to become an elite NFL QB better than Cousins. He has a front-row seat every day to the development of Fernando Mendoza, the Raiders' No. 1 overall pick in the last NFL Draft, when NFL executives called him the best QB in the last four years.

"Yeah, he's making plays, learning every day, and just refining, as we're all doing. I'm in year 15, still trying to refine, and he's doing it. Thought he played well against New England, and he'll be ready if for when his number is called, he'll be ready, and he's staying ready."

No Rest for Cousins

What has always separated Cousins from the crowd is that others don’t move him because he sets such a grueling, high standard for himself. That is why, in year 15, he still has a laundry list of things he is trying to get better at.

"Footwork, progressions, decision making, your leadership, your presence, your communication skills, your toughness. You're always being tested, mentally, physically, emotionally, and every day you're asking yourself, am I meeting the standard to win a championship? And I think when you go back and look at a game like Sunday, and it's happened a couple times, several times this year, 90% is good.”

Cousins let us in on how his analytic brain works, adding, “And it's not the 90% that I get worried about. It's the 10% where you say that's not up to the standard of what it takes to win a championship. And so, how do we get that 10% to shrink to 3% to 2% And you're always going to do that. You're always going to have plays you want back, but that's what you're trying to trim to make sure that you meet the standard to go win a championship."

Arrogance is not a word you hear around Cousins. Whether it is faith, family, or football, he relentlessly pursues improvement. That is why the mentor isn’t too egotistical to learn from Mendoza or even Aidan O’Connell. Cousins' appetite to improve keeps him teachable, and that sets him apart in a league full of egos.

"All the time. When I first met him, I said, ‘Hey, let's talk about back shoulders. You're one of the best out there I've seen on tape throwing back shoulders. I don't think I've done as good a job of it as I could have over my career. Teach me.’ That was the first time I met him. So that's ongoing.”

Cousins continued, “I remember with Aidan [O'Connell], I missed Brock Bowers against the Chiefs early on a third down. Had not played with Brock extensively. Aidan's been with him for years. The next week, Aidan pulled up clips of him throwing the same exact route to Brock, and we watched him to kind of see what that needs to look like."

"The next week against the Patriots, using that clip as help, we were able to hit it. So, you're constantly trying to learn from guys because they do have experiences that you haven't had, and they can help. And so, you got to be a good question asker and learn."

Tyler Linderbaum, Kirk Cousins | Darrell Craig Harris, On SI

Unity Is Critical

Fans often downplay locker room culture, but they shouldn’t. The very best teams may not all like each other, but they are united and on the same page.

Credit to Spytek and Kubiak, this group not only likes each other, but the Raiders are genuinely close in the locker room, something Cousins addressed.

"I just really like the guys. I may have said it before, I don't know if I have but I joked with them that you guys have restored my faith in Gen Z with the way you conduct yourselves, your habits, your coachability, your work ethic. Football matters to you, so I continue to see that. It's easy to say when you're 3-0 and you lose three in a row; I continue to see the same quality guys and habits and desire to come to work. And so, that certainly gives you a good place to start from."

Follow the Leader

The common denominator on this team is the genuine appreciation and respect they have for Klint Kubiak. I asked Cousins how much it helps that, whether it was after the impressive 3-0 start or after the last 0-3 stretch, Kubiak is the same guy every day.

"Klint's [Kubiak] going to be steady. He's certainly when you're winning, he's not going to pat you on the back or tell you how great you are. I mean, he wants to go right back to work, and so I definitely don't feel at all in the last three weeks that there's been like a letdown or that that's why we've lost."

"I think guys are playing hard. We certainly can play better, but effort and commitment to doing the right things and giving all you have to winning has been there, and we've just got to go find those inches."

Finish Strong

It isn’t about how you start; it is about how you finish, and Kubiak has hammered the point that the Silver and Black must get better at closing games. Cousins went deeper into how that happens.

Kirk Cousins, Fernando Mendoza | Darrell Craig Harris, On SI

"I think you look at the third quarter, it was brought up at the start. I think it's a great point. We've got to be better in the third quarter as a team, and we've been strong in the fourth quarter in terms of just moving the football, scoring points. But second to last possession of the game, you can't throw three straight incompletions."

"So, you got to get the drive started. You got to get it going and give us a chance there to take that ball down the field and put up points and get back in the game and those are the kinds of opportunities we got to have when they come in the fourth quarter. We got to make most of them."

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