Klint Kubiak: We wouldn't be where we are without Kirk Cousins' "amazing" decision-making

Published November 10, 2026 10:04 AM The Raiders signed Kirk Cousins in April with the idea that he would start for the entire season while No. 1 overall pick Fernando Mendoza develops.That plan has had solid returns, with Cousins completing 64.1 percent of his passes for 2,340 yards with 20 touchdowns and eight interceptions.But three of those picks came in Sunday’s loss to the 49ers, which was Cousins’ worst game of the season. On Monday, head coach Klint Kubiak was asked about the QB’s decision-making on the giveaways.“Kirk has been an extremely solid decision maker all season,” Kubiak said, via transcript from the team. “There’s ones he wants back. He wants back the first play of [the] second half. [He] wants back the one in the red zone where we did not give him protection to make a good decision. In the last play of the game, we’re trying to make a play, so he wants those back.“But we’re not in the position that we are without the amazing decisions he’s made all year. So, we’ve got to coach up those ones and help him learn from them. But again, I’m very pleased with — the quarterback has to be the best decision-maker on the team, any organization. He wasn’t on those two plays, and that last one I’m calling a heave-ho.” With the trade deadline rapidly approaching and the Raiders sitting at 4-5, there have been rumors about teams being interested in Cousins. Kubiak was asked how he thinks players like Cousins and Maxx Crosby — who expressed no interest in being traded — are handling that situation.“Well, that’s the business that we’re in,” Kubiak said. “That’s the business of football, and those guys are veterans. They’ve been around that, so you just keep working. There’s a lot of things that are out of your control.”If the Raiders were to trade Cousins, it would signal that the team feels Mendoza is ready to take over as starting quarterback. But because Las Vegas is still in the thick of things in the AFC as the current No. 9 seed, they may not be inclined to shake things up at the game’s most important position.