Kirk Cousins Holds Firm Grip on Raiders Starting Job After Mendoza’s Encouraging Debut
Kirk Cousins is still the Las Vegas Raiders’ quarterback. Klint Kubiak made sure nobody walked out of Allegiant Stadium confused about that Thursday night, even after Fernando Mendoza gave the building plenty of reasons to dream.
The Raiders lost their preseason opener 27-14 to the Arizona Cardinals, but the result mattered less than what it revealed about the quarterback picture. Cousins played one series. It ended in the end zone. Mendoza played the next three-and-a-half quarters, and he ended it with a touchdown of his own — plus a sack, some jittery pocket feel, and a postgame answer that sounded more like a guy grading his own film than a rookie basking in a moment.
Kubiak was asked directly about where the competition stands. He didn’t dance around it.
“Kirk’s been getting the reps with the ones. I think he’s had a solid training camp, and you know it’s his job to lose,” Kubiak told reporters after the game.
Cousins Made the Most of One Drive
Cousins got a single series, and he made it count. He completed five of six passes for 50 yards, working through Jack Bech and Tre Tucker before finding tight end Michael Mayer for a 13-yard touchdown that capped a 10-play, 68-yard march, according to ESPN’s Ryan McFadden. Ten plays, one result. Clean and businesslike — exactly the kind of outing a 15-year veteran wants before he hands the offense to a rookie for the night.
Mendoza said afterward that he’s been leaning on Cousins all camp, calling him “a master of his craft” whose composure rubs off just from being on the same field, per Sportsnaut.
Mendoza’s Debut Had Real Flashes — and Real Warts
The Heisman Trophy winner and No. 1 overall pick took his first NFL snap with 3:39 left in the first quarter. His opening series stalled after two incompletions and a punt. Then the game slowed down for him.
He fit a 19-yard throw to rookie receiver Malik Benson through a tight window. Running back Mike Washington Jr. ripped off a 53-yard run to set up a short field. And on third down, Mendoza found Bech over the middle for a 6-yard touchdown — his first NFL score, delivered to the same receiver who’d catch a would-be game-sealing target later in the half. He finished 10 of 16 for 97 yards and a rushing score of his own, per ESPN.
But the tape will also show a sack — an 8-yard loss to Cardinals defensive tackle Walter Nolen after Mendoza couldn’t locate an outlet near the goal line, according to Yahoo Sports. Under pressure more broadly, he struggled: Mendoza was pressured on 38.9 percent of his dropbacks and went just 2 of 6 for 11 yards and a 42.4 passer rating in those situations, per ESPN’s tracking.
Kubiak wasn’t hiding from that part of the outing either.
“He knows he can’t take a sack, and but those are things he’s going to grow from,” Kubiak said.
Still, the coach’s overall read on his rookie was upbeat. “As far as getting and out of the huddle, commanding the group, getting the play calls down, I saw the same guy I see in practice,” he said, adding that he sees “an ascending player.”
| Quarterback | Comp/Att | Yards | TD | Sacks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kirk Cousins | 5/6 | 50 | 1 | 0 |
| Fernando Mendoza | 10/16 | 97 | 1 | 1 |
Mendoza Was Harder on Himself Than Kubiak Was
The rookie’s self-scouting report was blunt.
“Unfortunately, I let my teammates down today,” Mendoza said. “But it’s a growing experience. I feel like we’re all growing, and it showed me that I need to grow a lot.”
That’s not a quote from someone treating a preseason opener like a moral victory. It’s a quarterback who watched Arizona’s Gardner Minshew go 14 of 16 for 101 yards and two touchdowns on the other sideline and understood the gap between a promising debut and a finished product.
Cousins, for his part, wasn’t shy about crediting his understudy. He said Mendoza “did a great job” and “operated well,” according to the same postgame session.
Why Kubiak Isn’t Budging — Yet
None of this is really a mystery. Cousins signed with Las Vegas as a bridge option this offseason, arriving with a working relationship with Kubiak that dates back to their years together in Minnesota, where Kubiak coached his quarterbacks and later ran his offense. That familiarity matters in a new system, and it’s a big reason Cousins has taken every first-team rep in camp while Mendoza has worked almost exclusively with the second unit.
The bigger-picture logic is straightforward, too. Last year’s Raiders offense allowed a league-high number of sacks and never found a rushing identity. Kubiak’s scheme is built to avoid putting a young quarterback in exactly the kind of predicament that led to Mendoza’s sack Thursday — asking him to hold the ball, extend plays and bail out a shaky pocket. The plan is for Cousins to stabilize things now and let Mendoza absorb the league at his own pace, not to rush a rookie into rescue duty.
That’s the case for patience. It’s also why one preseason series — even a sharp one — was never going to change the pecking order.
What Comes Next
The Raiders are back in action Aug. 20 against the Houston Texans, and both quarterbacks figure to get another look. For Mendoza, it’s a chance to clean up the pressure numbers and show the sack was the exception, not a pattern. For Cousins, it’s simply about doing again what he did in Week 1 — take his opportunity and not give Kubiak any reason to reconsider.
Nothing about Thursday changed the trajectory. Cousins starts Sept. 13 against Miami. Mendoza keeps developing behind him, with the job — as Kubiak put it — his to lose.
