Kirk Cousins Is Playing Like He's 30 Again: The Surprising Reality of the 3-1 Raiders

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2026 — The most surprising team in football plays in Las Vegas, and almost nobody saw it coming — maybe not even the people who built it. The Raiders are 3-1. They took the Chiefs to the final minutes on Sunday in a 30-27 loss at Allegiant Stadium. And their 38-year-old quarterback is playing the best football of his career.

01 The Quarterback Renaissance

Kirk Cousins was named the Raiders' starter back on September 13, and the question hanging over the decision was always: for how long? Four games later, the question answers itself. Cousins opened the season 9-for-9 for 64 yards and a touchdown on a 16-play, 93-yard opening drive, and he hasn't slowed down since.

The numbers are startling. Through four games, Cousins has thrown for 1,026 yards and 11 touchdowns — tied for the league lead — with a 99.5 passer rating, per Sportradar. He tossed his 10th touchdown of the year last Sunday against Kansas City, a 27-yard strike to Ian Thomas. He has thrown at least two touchdown passes in every game, topped 20 fantasy points in three straight weeks, and sits as a top-10 fantasy quarterback — while rostered in just 16.9 percent of ESPN leagues, a number USA Today's Bears Wire called surprising "with how well the Raiders have played." USA Today's For The Win put it more colorfully, writing that Cousins is "playing like he's five years younger."

This is the part that's supposed to be a bridge year. Instead, the bridge is holding up the whole building.

02 The Kubiak Effect

The quarterback deserves the headlines, but the architect deserves the credit. First-year head coach Klint Kubiak was one of the prizes of the offseason hiring cycle — the organization was willing to wait until he finished calling plays for Seattle's Super Bowl LX title before naming him, per TSN — and the transformation has been immediate.

Las Vegas is scoring 29.3 points per game, tied for seventh in the NFL. A year ago, under Pete Carroll and Chip Kelly, the Raiders averaged 14.2 — and the underlying numbers were worse: last in total yards per game (245.2), 30th in yards per play (4.4), 31st in EPA. This is the biggest offensive jump in the league, and it's not close. Tight end Ian Thomas described the difference to ESPN: "[Kubiak's] aggressive," Thomas said, "but he knows when to pull back, and he'll take chances when he needs to. It's a combination of a little bit of everything."

The Raiders opened 3-0 for the first time since 2021 — the last time they made the postseason. Ashton Jeanty has been, in For The Win's words, "unlocked as a star running back." Maxx Crosby is, per the same outlet, "at the forefront of a defense holding its own." A year ago this team won three games total. It matched that in September.

03 Sunday Proved It Wasn't Smoke

Skeptics had a fair case through three weeks: the Raiders hadn't beaten anybody yet. Then Kansas City came to Allegiant Stadium, and Las Vegas went toe to toe with the class of the NFL for four quarters. The 30-27 final flattered the Chiefs; the Raiders had their chances to win it.

As NFL.com's Nick Shook wrote, "there are no moral victories here, but the Raiders sure have plenty to be proud of after their narrow Week 4 loss to Kansas City." The Athletic's panel agreed: "Even 38-year-old Kirk Cousins is slinging it," wrote The Athletic's Chad Graff and Josh Kendall. "There's not a lot to be worried about in Vegas given what this season could've looked like," they added. ESPN's NFL Nation went further, writing that first-time coach Kubiak is "building something special" and that, with the Chargers at 0-4 and the Broncos at 2-2, "it's not crazy to suggest Las Vegas can make a playoff run in Year 1 of the Kubiak era."

The power rankings have noticed. For The Win has the Raiders 11th (up from 15th), The Athletic 13th, NFL.com 12th, ESPN 11th, and CBS Sports' Pete Prisco 10th — all of them essentially saying the same thing: the loss to Kansas City legitimized them rather than exposed them.

04 The Road Gets Real Now

Here's the catch: the schedule is about to get cruel. The Raiders visit New England on Sunday, and the Patriots are one of the league's other early surprises — Drake Maye has "stopped forcing bad decisions," per For The Win, and found a genuine connection with Romeo Doubs. After that, the Bills, Rams, 49ers, Seahawks and Broncos are all among the next seven opponents, per Raiders Wire. That's a murderer's row by any measure.

But that was always going to be the test, and it's a test this team has earned the right to take. A month ago, the Raiders were a curiosity. Now they're a conversation. Sunday in Foxborough is the first real gut check — and if Cousins keeps slinging it like he's 30 again, the conversation is only getting louder. For more on the Raiders' week, see our full Week 5 preview, and for the human side of this locker room, Aidan O'Connell's return two weeks after losing his father.

More from the sports desk, including our full Week 5 preview and the latest stories.