Graney: For the first time with Raiders, we saw a bad Kirk Cousins

It was really the first time we have seen the bad Kirk Cousins to this degree this season, the veteran quarterback for the Las Vegas Raiders who threw three interceptions on Sunday.

That’s what happens when you make bad decisions against a terrific defense. You pay.

The Raiders had no chance against the 49ers in losing by a 38-17 final, no chance with the way they played overall, with all the mistakes they committed, no chance to make a game of it when you keep giving the ball back to what is the league’s best team right now.

Guys talk about complementary football all the time and the Raiders certainly didn’t play enough of it. This isn’t a joke, but a defense that has now allowed at least 30 points in six straight games and doesn’t do much of anything well performed enough in the second half to give the team’s offense a fighting chance.

Special teams also afforded the Raiders some short fields from which to work.

They just couldn’t take advantage.

Five turnovers over the final 30 minutes. Five.

Trade talk

Fact: Cousins has been part of trade rumors with the deadline approaching this week, with teams being interested in the quarterback.

The Raiders need to at least pick up the phone and listen should it ring. Cousins has been far more good than not, far better than he showed Sunday, meaning you never know what a desperate team might offer. It would be wrong not to explore all options.

I suppose such a decision might have to do with how ready the Raiders believe No. 1 overall draft pick Fernando Mendoza is to play. Cousins has been brilliant in offering the team a more-than-capable bridge between now and when Mendoza becomes the starter.

The latter will look back on this time one day and thank Cousins for being such a consistent sounding board. Mendoza is learning daily what it takes to be an NFL quarterback and hasn’t needed to be rushed into a reality for which he might not be prepared.

That’s because of the way Cousins has played and led the Raiders. But there are few guarantees when the deadline is on deck for a rebuilding team that could use as much draft capital as it can muster.

“Feels a little bit out of my hands so I’ll just let the decision-makers make decisions and react accordingly,” Cousins said. “Love it here, love the guys here and feel good about what we have here.

“The (trade deadline) is more of an outside thing. I think we just go about our business. That’s not something on the forefront of our minds, really.”

What the Raiders have is a 4-5 team that has proved quite capable of beating those inferior than it and not so when playing better people. It held true Sunday.

Two of the three interceptions Cousins threw were awful and a third was merely him trying to make a play downfield late in a blowout. Might as well have been a punt.

But to toss a pick-6 on the first play of the third quarter and trailing by just 11 travels along the inexcusable route. Then having another pass taken away in the end zone doesn’t play very well, even though the game was all but over by then. He just tried doing too much. Forced things.

It also didn’t help that his two tight ends, Brock Bowers and Michael Mayer, each fumbled the ball back to the 49ers.

Mayer’s miscue came while he was being tackled near the goal line. Which is brutal.

“A disappointing day,” Cousins said. “Felt like there were plays to be made out there. It’s disappointing not to capitalize on opportunities and cut the lead they had. Have to be better moving forward.”

Reality hits

So now they know — yet again — how far away elite is. They were reminded Sunday, like in recent NFL weeks, what a Super Bowl contender looks like. It’s the difficult part of a rebuild to accept.

Reality. Your place in the big picture.

Raiders coach Klint Kubiak said there will be no pointing of fingers, that they’ll figure out what went wrong together. They’ll see on film few played that well, including a quarterback who had been so good to this point.

“I know some of the turnovers, guys had zero intention of that happening,” edge rusher Maxx Crosby said. “It’s how you respond. I’ll go to war with these guys every single day of the week and that’s what we’re going to keep doing.”

Ed Graney, a Sigma Delta Chi Award winner for sports column writing, can be reached at [email protected]. Follow @edgraney on X.