Kirk Cousins and the Las Vegas Raiders are still perfect.
The Raiders rallied late, and took advantage of a few bad turnovers, to beat the New Orleans Saints 35-27 at the Caesars Superdome on Sunday afternoon. That moved them to 3-0 on the year, which is their best start since the 2021 campaign. The Raiders won three straight to open that season before finishing 10-7 and making a playoff berth.
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The Saints looked like they were going to grab a pretty convincing win on Sunday, thanks to a career day from quarterback Tyler Shough. He threw four touchdowns on the day, a pair to both tight ends Noah Fant and Juwan Johnson. The last touchdown, a 16-yard toss to Fant, put them up by 11 at the time.
But that’s when things went downhill for New Orleans. The Raiders got to Shough and forced a fumble on the next possession, which Maxx Crosby recovered to set up the go-ahead touchdown — a 4-yard pass from Kirk Cousins to Cody White.
Then, just three plays later, Shough made his one true mistake in the game. He threw a bad interception right to rookie Hezekiah Masses, who ran it back into scoring position. That led to a touchdown, too, this time a four-yard pass to Brock Bowers.
Shough got the Saints into scoring position one last time, thanks in part to a huge 22-yard pass to Johnson.
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But once again, Shough fumbled it away. Jeremy Chinn drilled Shough in the backfield to force the fumble.
The Saints did get the ball back one final time, but Johnson fumbled it away, too. That turnover, the fourth in the fourth quarter alone, was enough to seal the deal for the Raiders.
Shough ended up going 29-of-42 for 255 yards with four touchdowns and an interception in the loss, which dropped the Saints to 1-2 on the year.
Cousins went 22-of-33 for 248 yards with three touchdowns in the win for Las Vegas. Ashton Jeanty had 56 yards on 19 carries, and Bowers had 116 yards and a touchdown on 10 catches.
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The Raiders still have a long way to go to actually make what would be just their second postseason berth since relocating to Nevada. The franchise hasn’t won a playoff game since the 2002 campaign, either, when they fell to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the Super Bowl.
But winning three in a row to open the season is a great start for the franchise that has had now six different head coaches in the past six seasons. Klint Kubiak is well on his way, and he’s done it all without their reigning No. 1 overall draft pick, Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza, playing a single snap.
With how things are going so far this fall, it’s hard to imagine Kubiak and the Raiders will be rushing to turn to their presumed quarterback of the future, either. Cousins has things handled just fine.
