The Raiders have gotten good play out of quarterback Kirk Cousins through the first eight games of the season, with the team sitting at 4-4 after Sunday’s victory over the Jets.
With Cousins keeping the team in contention, it’s unclear when No. 1 overall pick Fernando Mendoza might make his first career start.
That’s just fine with team owner Mark Davis, who talked about the young QB in a Monday interview with CNBC.
“From me, there’s absolutely no pressure whatsoever,” Davis said, via Adam Hill of the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
“Today, there’s a lot of pressure put on teams when they draft a guy No. 1 that you have to play him right away,” Davis added. “That’s why I think we were so fortunate to get Kirk Cousins as someone who could bridge the gap and let this young man learn a lot about what football is in the pros, the speed of the game, and the things that have to be done. … And he’s picking it up great, but I think we’re fortunate he doesn’t have to go out and play.”
Davis doesn’t want Mendoza to feel like he has to feel any kind of pressure to perform, because that could end up hindering his growth.
“I’ve seen quarterbacks get fast-tracked onto the field and they may do well, but they don’t learn all the intricacies of footwork and everything else it takes,” Davis said. “So they’re limited in their development, maybe throughout their career.
“I’m really happy with the way it is with Fernando right now, and we’ll see what happens.”
Much of Davis’ happiness with Mendoza has to do with how the QB has handled everything off the field.
“I tell people jokingly that if he can play football, he’s going to be amazing,” Davis said. “Because he’s got every other intangible you could want in a person. He’s a hard worker. He’s a sponge.
“[And] he’s working with Mr. [Tom] Brady on a lot of things.”
Mendoza has made one appearance so far this season, completing 6-of-8 passes for 48 yards in mop-up duty during the Week 5 loss to the Patriots.
Raiders Clips
There’s a new favorite to win the AFC West.
After beating the Chiefs on Sunday and improving to 6-2 on the season, the Broncos are now the betting favorites to win the division, for the first time this season.
The Broncos’ odds to win the division are at -130. The Chiefs are close behind at +115. The Raiders are very long shots at +2500 and the winless Chargers are extreme long shots at +15,000.
The Chiefs had spent this season as the favorites, especially after blowing out the Broncos in Week 1. But the Chiefs are now on a two-game losing streak, and at 5-2 a half game behind the Broncos in the division.
The AFC West looks like it’s going to be a two-horse race that goes deep into the season. At the moment, it’s the Broncos who have the edge.
When the Raiders drafted Ashton Jeanty with the sixth overall pick in 2025, the expectation was that he’d be their top choice in the backfield for years to come.
Jeanty has taken the most snaps of any of the team’s running backs so far this season, but he averaged just over three yards a carry in the first seven games so the Raiders changed things up in Week 8. Mike Washington got more snaps than Jeanty and carried the ball 25 times while Jeanty ran it twice. Jeanty saw most of his playing time on passing downs and came up with a key 45-yard catch and run, but the shift in playing time remained a topic of conversation at head coach Klint Kubiak’s Monday press conference.
Kubiak said it wasn’t a permanent arrangement because decisions on playing time will be based on who the team feels is the top option at a given moment.
“I think it’s always a moving target,” Kubiak said. “You see where your team is at and who’s playing the best ball at the time. It’s a 17-game regular season where things change every week. They’ve been changing at guard, they change up front defensively, they change at corner. That’s the NFL. We have a young roster and we’re going to give guys opportunities and see what fits us best. But your 11, whether you’re playing really well or not playing well at all, it’s always going to change a little bit.”
Kubiak pointed to Washington’s practice work rather than Jeanty’s sluggish production as the reason why he got bumped up in Sunday’s rotation. Washington produced 83 yards on 25 carries, so it wasn’t a major change in terms of success on the ground for the Raiders. It was a win after four straight losses, though, and that’s usually a good argument for sticking with an approach the next time out.
Raiders quarterback Kirk Cousins has played with his share of big-time pass catchers throughout his 15-year career.
He’s now connecting with Brock Bowers on a weekly basis, with Bowers catching seven passes for 92 yards and two touchdowns in Sunday’s 38-33 victory over the Jets.
But even though Bowers is technically a tight end, Cousins related throwing to him to passing to an elite wide receiver.
“I think what’s hard is when you play with Pierre Garçon, DeSean Jackson, or Justin Jefferson, you’re used to throwing to guys who are really open,” Cousins said in his postgame press conference. “There were times, even when they would get doubled and I would progress off of them, and [Vikings head coach] Kevin O’Connell would say to me, ‘Still throw it to Justin when he’s covered.’ I was like, ‘I don’t like throwing to covered guys. I like throwing to open guys.’
“The coaching point with Brock has been like it was with Justin, where it’s like, when he’s covered, you still need to throw it. That kind of breaks my instincts. My instincts are to progress and throw to open guys. I think you can see there are moments this year where I can be better, and then there are moments where I’m starting to figure that out. He’s made me right, if you will.”
That coaching point sure seemed relevant for Cousins’ first touchdown of the game, when Bowers was covered and interfered with, but still managed to catch the ball for a 12-yard score.
Through six games this season, Bowers has 41 receptions for 547 yards with five touchdowns.
The Dolphins picked up their first win of the 2026 season against the Jets at MetLife Stadium in Week 7 and the Raiders found it to be a hospitable place to play in Week 8.
Kirk Cousins threw three touchdowns and ran for another as the Raiders ended their four-game losing streak with a 38-33 win over the Jets. The victory bumps their record to 4-4 ahead of a Week 9 trip to face the 49ers at Levi’s Stadium.
Cousins’s third touchdown pass of the day went to Jalen Nailor with 11:33 left to play in the game and it put the Raiders up 35-30 after they trailed by nine points at halftime. They allowed the Jets to drive the ball to their 13, but their defense was able to come up with a stop that led to Jason Sanders’s fourth field goal of the day. Raiders running back Mike Washington ran for one first down and the Jets used all their timeouts before a Cousins sneak on third down gave them another one at the two minute warning.
The Jets were able to stop the Raiders on the next third down and Matt Gay hit a 53-yard field goal with 27 seconds left to play. The Jets got the ball back and a penalty on a Garrett Wilson catch got them into Raiders territory, but Smith chucked one into the end zone from the 35-yard-line and it was picked off by Jeremy Chinn to the end the game.
Sanders’s first two kicks also came on Jets drives that got the ball into the red zone and the failure to score touchdowns haunted the Jets a day after Halloween. They churned up 424 yards and scored on their first six possessions, but settling for field goals and a defense that lived down to Ashton Jeanty’s slam of them got them beat on Sunday.
Jeanty was little more than a third-down back for the Raiders, but he did have a 45-yard catch to set up one touchdown. Washington ran 25 times for 83 yards and the Brock Bowers/Michael Mayer tight end combo had 12 catches for 145 yards. Two of Bowers’s catches went for touchdowns and Cousins was 19-of-26 for 247 yards on the afternoon.
The Raiders scored on six of their nine full possessions and they also got a 95-yard kickoff return from Dylan Laube on their way to the win. The Jets’ defensive shortcomings crushed them on a day when Braelon Allen, Adonai Mitchell, and Garrett Wilson all had big days against an overmatched Raiders defense. There’s a lot to like about the amount of talent on the offensive side of the ball for the Jets, but Aaron Glenn’s defensive acumen is creating no reason to believe he’s the right man for the job.
The Jets fell to 2-6 with the loss and they will be in Kansas City next Sunday.
Defense has been lacking for both teams at MetLife Stadium and the Raiders have taken advantage of the Jets’ shortcomings to move back into the lead.
Kirk Cousins hit wide receiver Jalen Nailor for a two-yard score with 11:33 left to play and the Raiders now lead the Jets 35-30. It’s the first time the Raiders have been in front since early in the second quarter.
Cousins has now completed three touchdown passes on the day and he has run for another score. Cousins’s biggest passing play on the drive came on a short pass to running back Ashton Jeanty, who stumbled and got up without being touched on his way to a 45-yard gain.
The Jets scored on their first six possessions, but punted after a penalty and a sack left them with a second-and-27 on their last possession. They’ll need to get back into their offensive groove to avoid a third straight loss.
We may never know whether the NFL fined Raiders minority owner/Fox broadcaster Tom Brady for openly and repeatedly criticizing officials during last Sunday’s Packers-Lions game. There will eventually be a question as to whether the FCC will issue a fine for the things he says on Fox.
Brady is up to two “s” bombs in 2026. The first one came in Week 2, after Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels suffered the second dislocation of his left elbow in two seasons. The other happened during Sunday’s Fox NFL Sunday pregame show.
Brady and Drew Brees were doing a quiz regarding the quarterbacks who rank third as to various all-time achievements. When Brady got the last one wrong, he blurted out, “Oh shit.”
Typically, fines are on the table when profanity is uttered on broadcast, three-letter networks. In recent years, however, the enforcement has gotten lax. And any fine would be imposed not on Brady or Fox but on the various stations that were broadcasting the show.
The Jets had the ball five times in the first half of Sunday’s game against the Raiders and they picked up points on all five possessions.
The last of those came on a Jason Sanders field goal that put them up 23-14 with nine seconds to play in the first half. The Raiders took a knee after the ensuing kickoff and they’ll get the ball coming out of the locker room in the third quarter.
Sanders also had field goals on the first two Jets possessions and Geno Smith threw touchdown passes the other times that the Jets had the ball. Smith hit Isaiah Williams for 18 yards on the first score and the second came on a 12-yard strike to Adonai Mitchell.
Mitchell has five catches for 78 yards and Smith is 11-of-17 for 146 yards. Braelon Allen has 18 carries for 121 yards as everything has been clicking offensively for the Jets on Sunday.
The Raiders started fast and led 7-3 after a Brock Bowers touchdown catch in the first quarter. Their other score came on a 95-yard Dylan Laube kickoff return and the offense picked up just 37 yards over the rest of the half. Ashton Jeanty, who threw some shade at the Jets defense this week, has one carry for a yard and one catch for 15 yards while Mike Washington has played a bigger role in the offense.
The Jets moved back into the lead on a second quarter touchdown, but their edge over the Raiders did not last long.
Dylan Laube returned the ensuing kickoff for a 95-yard touchdown. It is the first kickoff return touchdown in the NFL this season and it has the Raiders up 14-13 with just over 10 minutes to play in the first half.
Geno Smith hit wide receiver Isaiah Williams for an 18-yard touchdown to cap an eight-play, 70-yard drive and give the Jets their brief 13-7 lead.
Smith completed three other passes for 45 yards on the drive and the one incompletion was a drop of a well-thrown deep ball. Wide receiver Adonai Mitchell was responsible for that drop, but redeemed himself with a pair of catches for 41 yards later in the drive.
The Jets couldn’t punch the ball into the end zone on their first drive of Sunday’s game against the Raiders, but their visitors from Las Vegas had more success.
Kirk Cousins dropped a 12-yard pass into the hands of tight end Brock Bowers for a touchdown that put the road team up 7-3 with just over seven minutes to play in the first quarter. The drive covered 60 yards in just over five minutes.
The Jets opened the game with a 31-yard pass to Garrett Wilson and then got back-to-back 15-yard runs by Braelon Allen to move inside the Raiders’ 5-yard-line, but a negative run and a pair of incompletions forced them to settle for a Jason Sanders field goal.
Bowers also had a 23-yard catch on the Raiders’ opening drive and Jalen Nailor had a pair of catches for 24 yards.
