After a 3-0 start to the season, are the Raiders for real?
That’s the question everyone has been asking, and NFL Network’s Kyle Brandt went on a long rant this week (a couple of them actually) about how he is a buyer on the Raiders and their 38-year-old quarterback, Kirk Cousins.
“I’m very excited that they are 3-0,” Brandt said on ESPN’s Big Day with Peter Schrager.
“This is the first time Jim Nantz is calling a home Raiders game in three years. Last time it was Mac Jones versus Jimmy Garoppolo. That is how far we’ve come and I’m just so proud of this team. I’m so proud that they’re 3-0. I keep talking about them. 1-0 is nothing. 2-0 is cute. 3-0 is real football…”
But not everyone is sold on the Raiders and Stephen A. Smith doesn’t get paid more than $20 million per year to agree with his counterparts on television.
So instead, Stephen A. cracked jokes about the Raiders’ start to the season and said it’s only a matter of time before their veteran quarterback implodes…
These were Smith’s comments directed at Brandt on ESPN’s First Take…
“Are we really sitting here on national television talking about a Kirk Cousins led team being good and we should be so flattered with what we’re seeing? With Kirk Cousins you just wait for it. Nine touchdowns in the first three games? Three touchdowns in each game. We really think that’s going to last?
Did you see them last week before they forced four turnovers in the fourth quarter? Because that’s what it took for them to come through. And props to them for being able to do that. They were opportunistic. They made it happen. They ended up scoring the last 19 points. I got it, but are you really going to look at the Las Vegas Raiders and say because of what you’ve seen, they’re good?
Call me at the end of October. Who do they have in October? Don’t they have the Bills? Don’t they have the Chiefs? Don’t they have the Rams in October? Why don’t you call me before Thanksgiving and let’s have that discussion. You really going to sit up here, Kyle, and talk like that about Kirk Cousins? The Kirk Cousins led Las Vegas Raiders? That’s what we doing right now? Well, you go ahead and do that… I’m not doing that. I’m not getting caught up in that one bit.”
Raiders already exceeding season expectations
It’s still early in the season, but there’s no question the Raiders aren’t anything like the team they were a year ago.
Cousins wasn’t brought to Las Vegas to be the long-term answer at quarterback. He was added to the team to be mentor to Fernando Mendoza and win as many games as possible in the process.
So far, Cousins is undefeated in Silver & Black and its no small achievement that the Raiders have already matched last year’s win total before the end of September.
Regardless of what happens with the Raiders in 2026, it seems obvious in the first month of the season that the organization is on the right track and there’s a lot for Raider fans to be excited about.
And to Brandt’s point, how long has it been since the Raiders played in a game getting as much attention as their matchup with the Chiefs this weekend?
x: @raidersbeat
Smith is nothing more than a toolbox. A toolbox. that was given a soap box that it never deserved.