The Las Vegas Raiders are 3-1 after a loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, and nobody in the organization or the fan base is taking a victory lap. Nobody wants a moral victory, especially against Kansas City. However, there are still positives to take from this one, and the biggest is quarterback Kirk Cousins.

Cousins played amazingly. He is playing like one of the best quarterbacks in football right now, and that’s a wild thing to say. I’d put him in the top 10 at the position. The advanced metrics back that up, and so does the tape.

He’s precise, he’s running the offense efficiently, and he’s doing what it takes to win. That includes avoiding strip sacks, escaping the pocket, and throwing a dart on the run to tight end Brock Bowers for a touchdown that got Vegas back into the game. That play was crazy. I didn’t think we would see that from Cousins this season. He did have an interception at the end, but that was kind of a weird, fluke-like play.

Kirk Cousins is putting himself in elite company

Cousins isn’t just playing well. He’s making history for both the Raiders and the NFL. According to the Raiders PR team, Cousins has notched his 11th passing touchdown of the season, tying Tom Brady in 2020, Matthew Stafford in 2021, Sam Darnold in 2024, and Joe Flacco in 2025, for the 6th most passing touchdowns by an NFL quarterback in the first four games with a franchise since 2000.

That’s great company to be in. Cousins now shares a list with the greatest of all time, Brady, who also happens to own his team. He also broke the franchise record for most touchdown passes through the first four games of a season, with 11. Not Ken Stabler, not Rich Gannon, and not Derek Carr. None of them threw 11 touchdown passes through the first four games of a season in silver and black. When you look at the long list of quarterbacks who have come through this franchise, that says a lot.

Here’s the thing about Sunday’s performance: the Raiders have to find a way to keep Cousins from dropping back 52 times. He’s too old to carry that kind of load every week. He finished 31-of-52 passing, so the completion percentage isn’t that bad, especially when you’re throwing it that much. The game script dictated a lot of it. When you’re trying to climb back into a game, those things happen. Still, a game that ended in regulation shouldn’t require 52 pass attempts.

Here’s how his day looked:

• 31-of-52 passing – 365 passing yards – Two touchdown passes – One interception – 72.7 QBR – 85.8 passer rating

The interception counts, of course, but I’d chalk that one up to a weird play overall. I just feel differently about it than a typical pick. Cousins also took a beating. He got hit eight times, with six of those coming from Chiefs edge rusher George Karlaftis.

That’s a problem the offensive line has to clean up. The run game needs to help, too. Las Vegas ran 26 times for 72 yards, and that just won’t cut it. Not when the quarterback is playing some of the best football he’s played in a long time.

Fernando Mendoza gets the perfect veteran to learn from

The Raiders should be taking advantage of what Cousins is doing right now. To be fair, they mostly are. They’re 3-1, and they could have, and probably should have, won this game too. There’s another layer to this. Fernando Mendoza gets to sit for the year and watch a guy who genuinely knows what he’s doing.

Cousins knows the offense, he’s a leader, and he’s the right man for the job. That matters for a franchise that hasn’t gotten the quarterback decision right in about five years. Either way, Raiders fans should feel good about what’s ahead. There are no moral victories in this league, but Kirk Cousins is balling right now.