Gives way to Mendoza late in rout

Cousins completed 19 of 28 passes for 243 yards and a touchdown in Sunday's 45-17 loss to the Patriots.

The lopsided result owed much more to the fact that the Raiders defense couldn't stop Drake Maye than it did to Cousins' performance, but it still provided coach Klint Kubiak with an opportunity to give Fernando Mendoza his first snaps in the NFL on the team's final drive. Las Vegas has lost two straight games with Cousins under center after a 3-0 start, and while the veteran QB has a more than respectable 12:4 TD:INT and 65.1 percent completion rate in his five starts, he was always going to be a placeholder until the first overall pick in the 2026 draft was deemed ready to take over. A switch at quarterback may not be imminent, but the clock is ticking on Cousins' tenure as the starter heading into a Week 6 battle with the Bills.