Kirk Cousins has done everything the Las Vegas Raiders expected of him and more. It’s week 8 and he’s leading the NFL in passing touchdowns with 16. The offense has looked competent and is putting up points, but that isn’t enough for Raiders Nation. What is it that Cousins isn’t doing? By itself, those numbers suggest he’s having one helluva season, which in fact he is.
Diving
into the numbers
According to Pro-Football-Reference.com, Cousins’ 60.9% on-target percentage is 27th in the league. Yet, the 151 on-target throws are 9th best. In contrast, the 14.1% bad throw metric is 17th in the league and a razor thin .1% above the league average. However, his 35 bad throws are 7th worst.
Plagued by 11 total drops (tied for 4th most) on 4.4% of his throws, 15th most. Once again, Cousins is hanging above the league average (4.2) by a thread. Keeping him yo-yo-ing between good throws more than half the time and an above-average amount of drops. The offensive line is providing 2.0 seconds of pocket time, good enough for 20th in the league. Falling a mere .1 seconds below the league average (2.1).
Cousins has put up numbers since returning to head coach Klint Kubiak’s offense. Completing 161 of 257 passes. Out of the 161 completions, 99 have gone to Brock Bowers (who missed the first two games), Ashton Jeanty and Michael Mayer.
Wide receivers?
Tre Tucker and his 16.3 yards per reception are sixth-best in the league; he has four touchdowns (tied for 4th most), yet only 29 catches on 47 targets. Meanwhile, the rest of the receiving corps are either decoys or just guys getting cardio on the field. Both Jalen Nailor and Cody White have eight receptions each; Jack Bech has five, Malik Benson and Dareke Young each have two.
While half of Cousins’ passing touchdowns (7) have gone to Tucker (4), Bech (1) and Cody White (3) it really seems as though wide receivers are not being used enough. The real question on the table is Cousin’s arm strength enough to feed his wideouts successfully? The consensus is no.
For four straight weeks, defenses have blitzed him in obvious passing downs, forcing him to make off-platform throws and restricting his ability to scan the entire field. Here’s the catch-22: Cousins has been missing open receivers; in fact, due to a declining amount of pocket time, he is foregoing his progressions and locking in on his receivers between the hashes. Staring down receivers has caused them to take big hits, leading to some of those drops and as weeks progress, defenders are getting closer and closer to the football.
Help Kirk help the Raiders
Playing without a running game is incredibly hard to do. Possessing the escape speed of a three-legged turtle practically makes you a sitting duck. Furthermore, not having enough pocket time for receivers to beat press coverage and get open is a damning trifecta, but Cousins overcame it for as long as he could.
Cousins has only 5 interceptions this season and one of them was because his receiver slipped and fell on the route. But there have been many close calls; defensive coordinators have studied his tendencies, finding ways to neutralize him while the game is still competitive. Has he missed throws? Yes. Has he missed reads? Yes.
Is Fernando Mendoza going to be able to come in and play at the level Cousins has been playing at or better? Probably not. He is more physically talented; he may even be versed in the terminology and know how to get in and out of plays. Can Mendoza play and process information faster than Cousins? My money is on no, despite having otherworldly success in a play action and run-pass-option type system in Indiana under Curt Cignetti, 15+ years of experience is only gained one way.
As Raiders head coach Klint Kubiak said in his press conference on Monday,
“Fernando is going to play football. We have a plan. We don’t have a timeline for that. Kirk is playing well, and we’re in the hunt.” So until the Raiders are out of it, Cousins can’t go, or come high water Cap’n Kirk is here to stay.
