Kirk Cousins is a veteran quarterback and very good at what he does. Nobody can really deny that. But the Las Vegas Raiders are 4-5 and struggling to be a real contender in the NFL.
Cousins had a rough game against the San Francisco 49ers during the team’s 38-17 loss on Sunday. He completed 22 of 32 passes for 216 yards with two total touchdowns during the game, and he also had three interceptions.
Now, ESPN has released its official takeaways from Week 9 games, and in there, they question whether the Raiders will think twice about giving rookie Fernando Mendoza a chance to start.
Kirk Cousins’ 3-interception performance could reignite calls for the Las Vegas Raiders to turn to rookie Fernando Mendoza
“Kirk Cousins put together his worst performance as a Raider,” Ryan McFadden of ESPN said.
He added, “Cousins did everything he could to give Las Vegas hope but was responsible for sucking the momentum away. His performance will restart the conversations about when the Raiders should turn to rookie Fernando Mendoza after silencing those discussions last week against the Jets.”
The NFL has a short memory. Cousins has been playing solid, but one super shaky performance like the one he had against the 49ers could make the powers that be think twice about having him run out the season. Still, he’s obviously much more experienced than Mendoza, and this reporter personally says it would still be a shock to see Cousins benched for a rookie with no NFL experience who’s still learning the ropes.
