Kirk Cousins gave the Raiders just enough in Week 6 to keep the Fernando Mendoza conversation from getting much louder.
After a rough Week 5 blowout loss to the New England Patriots, Las Vegas needed a steadier showing against the Buffalo Bills. It didn’t get a win, but it did get a mixed-to-above average outing from Cousins, which is enough to nudge the “Mendoza Meter” up from a 2 to a 3.
The scale tracks how close rookie quarterback Fernando Mendoza is to making his first career start, with 1 meaning it’s not close and 10 meaning he’s probably starting next week. The main variables are Cousins’ play, the Raiders’ record, and his health when that matters.
Through five weeks, the highest the meter had reached was a 5 after Week 1. It fell to a 1 after Week 2 and stayed there for the next two weeks, then rose to 2 after Week 5 because Cousins was not the main problem in the loss to New England.
Against Buffalo, Cousins opened by completing his first four passes as the Raiders put together a balanced first drive that ended with an Ashton Jeanty rushing touchdown. In the first half, he was solid enough, steering two decent drives that ended in field goals instead of a halftime lead.
The second half started badly. The Raiders’ first two possessions after the break took only five plays combined, beginning with a three-and-out and then an interception from Cousins. Buffalo turned that into 10 unanswered points and seized control, with Cousins playing a major part in how the game tilted.
Even after that, the Raiders never quit. Cousins followed with a fourth-quarter three-and-out that stalled with three incompletions, but he later found Tre Tucker twice for touchdown passes, both of them described as dimes from Cousins. It just wasn’t enough to catch Buffalo.
The numbers were uneven, too. Cousins finished 23 of 41 for 313 yards, with the two touchdowns to Tucker and the interception. He wasn’t especially efficient, but chunk gains - helped at times by yards after the catch - pushed the production up.
One area worth watching each week is how Cousins performs on throws 10-plus yards downfield, especially after the problems he had in Week 1. Against Buffalo, he had only one such attempt in the first half, according to Pro Football Focus, but he closed 8-for-14 for 182 yards on those throws.
Week 7 against the Los Angeles Rams had looked daunting when the schedule came out in May, but the Rams are now 2-4 after losing to the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday. Even with that, their last three defeats have come by a combined nine points, so this still doesn’t feel like the moment for Mendoza’s first start.
For now, the meter stays at 3. Without Cousins’ late touchdown throws and that fourth-quarter response after the shaky start to the second half, the number would look a lot different.
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