The Raiders got a solid game from Kirk Cousins in week 1 against the Miami Dolphins, but not everyone believes the veteran quarterback will hold onto the job for a lot longer.
The FOX broadcast on Sunday said the Raiders don’t have a specific timeline for Fernando Mendoza to take the starting job, and if the team is winning, the coaching staff won’t be inclined to make a change at quarterback
But could we get to a point where the coaching staff decides the offense would be more dynamic with Mendoza?
On his Monday podcast, Raider Nation Radio host Q Myers said he believes the offense is somewhat limited by Cousins’ lack of arm strength.
“The one thing I learned that was very obvious to me in that game on Sunday [is] that Kurt Cousins is not going to be stretching the field,” Myers said on the Locked on Raiders podcast on Monday.
“Whenever he really tried to push the ball down the field, that’s when he got in trouble. That’s when he made his two mistakes, when he threw two interceptions, and they were just bad, bad throws. They were just poorly thrown. He just doesn’t have that fastball anymore… Now, short, intermediate, fine, right? He’s really good at that, very accurate.”
“But… there’s a few passes that he threw that you could tell he just doesn’t quite have that arm strength to get it where he needs to get it. But again, short and intermediate, he’s good. So the two mistakes that he made resulted in interceptions, and they’re just going to have to know that that’s not something that he’s going to be able to do in this offense.”
Was Cousins held back by the game plan on Sunday?
Sports Illustrated insider Hondo Carpenter talked about Cousins after the game, and he believes the veteran quarterback has the arm strength to stretch the field but simply didn’t show it week 1.
“They didn’t stretch the field, but that wasn’t on Cousins,” Carpenter said on the Las Vegas Raiders Insider podcast.
“I’m telling you, throughout camp he has shown a monster down the field arm… You didn’t see it today because it wasn’t needed and Miami did some really good things on Tre Tucker to take that away… I’m not worried about Kirk’s ability to get the ball down the field because I’ve watched him do it all camp.”
Before the start of the regular season, Silver & Black Sports Network’s Jesse Merrick predicted the offense with Cousins would be “death by a thousand paper cuts” and that was a good description of how the game played out on Sunday.
Sooner or later, though, defenses are going to start crowding the box and give the Raiders better opportunities down field.
If Cousins isn’t able to beat defenses over the top, head coach Klint Kubiak could decide the offense has more upside with Mendoza in the lineup.
x: @raidersbeat