Patriots Winning Formula Could Lead To More Mendoza

The Las Vegas Raiders suffered their first bad loss of the season against the New England Patriots on Sunday, which means the critics are coming for quarterback Kirk Cousins. Ben Solak of ESPN took the early lead in the charge to put rookie Fernando Mendoza, saying he thinks Cousins will get “one more start” before the rookie takes the reins. 

Solak said Cousins has been “solid” so far, which is certainly damning with faint praise. Cousins came into Sunday’s game with 11 touchdown passes, which led the league, and that’s with an offense that has no real receivers to speak of that’s totally reliant on its tight ends. 

The writer did make a valid point, though, which is that the Patriots found a winning formula against the Raiders. It wasn’t all that complicated, either -- New England blitzed Cousins and took away the hot routes the quarterback has been using to make opponenets pay. 

Cousins was able to have some success, as he went  10-for-15 with 123 yards and a score through two quarters. But the Patriots were able to get off the field when they needed to, and their offense consistently carved up the Raiders’ defense. 

Solak also discussed escapabilty and play extension, which are two things Cousins doesn’t have. He didn’t have much of them at 28, and he definitely doesn’t have them at 38. That’s not his game, and as a result Patriots defenders didn’t have to worry about Cousins making plays with his legs. 

The Raiders will see more of this against the Buffalo Bills and the Los Angeles, who are their next two opponents. Solak suggested that Mendoza might be the answer to this, but the tradeoff is the boatload of bad decisions the rookie will inevitably make. 

Solak is quick on the draw with his timeline to replace Cousins. The Raiders will probably lose these next two games, but the question going forward is more about how they lose them. 

If the Raiders lose the way they did to the Kansas City Chiefs, coach Klint Kubiak will stick with Cousins because it would be insanity to do otherwise. If the Raiders look the way they did against New England, it would be foolish not to at least consider shifting to the rookie simply because he’s the future. 

Coaches get hired to win games in the moment, and Kubiak is walking a fine line on that front. Everything he’s done has worked well until Sunday, but the Patriots may have just accelerated Mendoza’s timeline, perhaps by a lot.