It's been a hell of a start to the season for Raiders QB Kirk Cousins. He currently leads the NFL in touchdown passes (11). He had three passing touchdowns in each of the team's first three games and then had two more Week 4 against the Chiefs, giving him 11 touchdowns for the season. Should he keep pace with that this week in New England, he would make history.
With two passing touchdowns, Cousins would tie Jeff George (13) for the most touchdown passes in his first five games with the Raiders. He would also tie Brett Favre and Joe Flacco for the most touchdown passes for a QB aged 38 or older in his first five games with a franchise.
Those may be very specific stats, but that's just if he has two touchdown passes. If he repeats his touchdown passing
performances from the first three weeks, things get real.
Not only would he move into sole possession of first place in those previous statistics -- instead of a tie -- he would join Kurt Warner as the only QBs since the merger to pass for three touchdowns four times in his first five games with a franchise. He would also pass Tom Brady for the third most career games with at least three touchdown passes (46) since becoming a full time starter in 2015.
The early success of Cousins has a lot to do with he and Klint Kubiak's familiarity with each other from their time together in Minnesota, where Kubiak was his QB coach for two seasons (2019-20) and his OC for one season (2021). Not coincidentally, Cousins set career highs in touchdown passes and passer rating in those three seasons.
This article originally appeared on Raiders Wire: Quick Raiders success has QB Kirk Cousins on brink of history Week 5
