Klint Kubiak isn’t backing away from Kirk Cousins after Sunday’s rough outing against the 49ers.
The Raiders quarterback threw three interceptions in the loss, easily his worst performance of the season, but Kubiak made it clear Monday that one bad game doesn’t erase the bigger picture. Cousins has been the starter all year after Las Vegas signed him in April with the expectation that No. 1 overall pick Fernando Mendoza would develop behind him.
Through nine games, that setup has delivered steady production. Cousins has completed 64.1 percent of his passes for 2,340 yards, with 20 touchdowns and eight interceptions.
Still, the turnovers against San Francisco stood out. Kubiak said Cousins had a few throws he’d like back, but he also defended the veteran’s overall approach.
“Kirk has been an extremely solid decision maker all season,” Kubiak said, via transcript from the team. “There’s ones he wants back.
He wants back the first play of [the] second half. [He] wants back the one in the red zone where we did not give him protection to make a good decision.
In the last play of the game, we’re trying to make a play, so he wants those back.
“But we’re not in the position that we are without the amazing decisions he’s made all year. So, we’ve got to coach up those ones and help him learn from them.
But again, I’m very pleased with - the quarterback has to be the best decision-maker on the team, any organization. He wasn’t on those two plays, and that last one I’m calling a heave-ho.”
With the trade deadline closing in and the Raiders sitting at 4-5, Cousins has naturally become part of the rumor mill. Kubiak was asked how veterans such as Cousins and Maxx Crosby are dealing with that noise, especially since Crosby has already said he has no interest in being moved.
“Well, that’s the business that we’re in,” Kubiak said. “That’s the business of football, and those guys are veterans.
They’ve been around that, so you just keep working. There’s a lot of things that are out of your control.”
If Las Vegas were to move Cousins, it would almost certainly mean Mendoza is ready to step in as the starter. But with the Raiders still in the mix in the AFC as the current No. 9 seed, there’s no guarantee they’d be eager to make that kind of change at quarterback right now.
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