Kirk Cousins didn’t have to light up the box score to make the Raiders look like a different team on Sunday. He just had to give them something they haven’t had enough of in recent years: stability.
That was enough in Las Vegas’ Week 1 win over the Dolphins. Cousins finished with 160 yards, three touchdown passes and two interceptions, a line that won’t jump off the page on its own.
But the Raiders weren’t asking for fireworks. They were asking for structure, and he delivered it well enough to keep the offense on schedule and the game moving in their direction.
For a franchise that has cycled through seven different starting quarterbacks since 2023, that matters. The Raiders spent the offseason trying to clean up the chaos at the position, and they did it by pairing their future, rookie Fernando Mendoza, with a veteran bridge who already had ties to Klint Kubiak. Cousins was the answer for that in-between stage.
Sunday showed why.
Las Vegas put together multiple scoring drives that lasted more than six minutes, a sign of an offense that could stay on the field and wear down the clock. That also kept Miami from getting many extra chances against a Raiders defense that did its part. Cousins said after the game that those long possessions were part of the bigger picture.
“I think that's an important aspect. We did have some long drives with a lot of plays.
Think it's a conditioning thing. It's being able to string plays together where we're not going backward, not having negative plays, or mental errors, or penalties,” Cousins said after the game.
“So, to be able to string long drives together is a big part of being a mature offense with a great operation. And for the most part, we have to think there were times where we did it, and we got to be better. But that's a key part of playing winning football in this league."
That’s the part the Raiders can build on. Against a much tougher slate ahead, especially with a Week 2 road trip to the Los Angeles Chargers, those sustained drives could be the difference between hanging around and getting buried. The schedule won’t get friendlier, and Las Vegas still has plenty of roster holes to patch.
But Week 1 gave the Raiders something they badly needed: proof that the plan can work. The front office used the No. 1 overall pick on a quarterback, then still signed Cousins because it needed a veteran to hold things together. One game in, that move looks right.
No one in the building is going to treat this as a finished product. The Raiders know better than that. Still, if Cousins can give them six to eight games of steady play, that may be enough to make the whole setup worthwhile.
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Raiders Face A Costly Decision On Their Next Young Core Piece
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Tuckers rise has made him a realistic candidate for an early extension, especially with his projected market value for 2027 sitting at $13.7 million per year. For Las Vegas, the question is less about whether he fits the long-term plan and more about when to act, since waiting could make a promising, homegrown piece significantly more expensive to keep. [Read more 🡒]