Kirk Cousins keeps producing, Ashton Jeanty can’t get going on the ground, and the Las Vegas Raiders‘ losing streak hits four. What’s going on?
The Los Angeles Rams left Allegiant Stadium with a 35-21 win. The Raiders left 3-4 after a fourth straight loss, undone by a 28-6 halftime deficit they never fully erased. The second half brought two touchdowns and a late push, but it did not bring a different result.
Still, several things stood out inside the loss, and they were familiar ones. Kirk Cousins kept producing, Ashton Jeanty found ways to contribute away from the handoff, and the connection with Tre Tucker kept growing. None of it changed the outcome, but all of it fits the larger picture of a team that has gone from an unexpected hot start to the expected stretch of a rebuild.
Kirk Cousins continues to shine even in a losing effort…
The run game still can’t be trusted as a foundation. Ashton Jeanty carried eight times for 15 yards, and Mike Washington added 27 yards on six carries. Defenses don’t have to respect the ground game, so they sit back and force the ball into Cousins’ hands.
Cousins answered. He finished 26 of 44 for 295 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions, finding Tucker for a 37-yard score that opened the fourth-quarter scoring and Jeanty for a 15-yard touchdown after Nakobe Dean’s interception. Brock Bowers caught six passes for 73 yards, and the ball moved to multiple targets. When the protection held, Cousins could work the middle and take the occasional shot. He was sacked twice but never turned the ball over. Even in a game the Raiders trailed by 22 at halftime, he put up the kind of numbers that keep an offense on the field.
That has been the pattern all season. Cousins leads the league with 16 touchdown passes and has thrown for more than 290 yards in three of the last four games. The offense can still score when he is on schedule, but it has become dependent on him being on schedule. When early deficits grow and the run game stays quiet, the margin for error shrinks. He is playing well, and the team is still losing.
Related: Latest AFC West Power Rankings See Raiders Slide
Ashton Jeanty is getting yards, just not on the ground…
Jeanty’s eight carries for 15 yards extended a three-game stretch in which he has not reached 30 rushing yards. The wide zone is not creating the consistent horizontal stretch that lets him press the edge and cut back without hesitation. The line is not winning first contact often enough, and when a crease does appear, the timing has been off. Washington has looked more decisive on the carries he has gotten, but the staff has not trusted him enough on third down to change the rotation in a meaningful way.
What has changed is how the offense uses Jeanty as a receiver. He caught eight passes for 61 yards and scored the 15-yard touchdown that cut the Rams’ lead to 10. That play was not a designed run but a ball thrown into space that he caught and finished. He is tied for the team lead in receptions, which shows the scheme is finding him when the handoffs are not working.
That is useful, but it is also a reminder that the original plan for the running game has not materialized. A back who is more valuable as a receiver than as a runner is still a problem for an offense built to run the ball. The production is real. The identity is not.
The Tucker-Cousins connection continues to grow…
Tre Tucker finished with five catches for 103 yards, including the 37-yard touchdown that started the fourth-quarter scoring. He has become the player Cousins looks for when the offense needs a chunk play. The score was not a perfect throw into a perfect window. It was a ball that let Tucker use his speed and his ability to change direction after the catch. That trust has been building for weeks. When the run game disappears, the offense needs someone who can stretch the field, and Tucker is becoming that player. The receiver room around him is thin, and defenses will adjust, but for now the connection is one of the few consistent explosive elements the offense has outside of Bowers.
Still, individual bright spots have not stopped the losses from piling up. What started as a season of higher-than-expected highs has reached the lows of a team that is rebuilding. The 3-0 start created noise, and the four straight losses have quieted it.
This will get better, but probably not this season…
The roster is thin at several positions, rookies and young players are on the field in multiple spots, and the scheme is still being learned. Mistakes will continue to be made, and that is OK. Rebuilds do not move in a straight line. They move in stretches of progress and stretches in which the same problems keep showing up. The Raiders are in the second stretch right now.
The run game remains the clearest example of those recurring problems. It ranks near the bottom of the league in yards per game and yards per carry. Until the line creates consistent movement and the backs hit the hole without hesitation, every defense will keep daring Las Vegas to run. That is a coaching problem as much as a player problem, and it needs to be addressed, but the full solution will likely arrive later rather than sooner.
The quarterback position is the other lingering storyline. Coach Klint Kubiak has said there is no quarterback controversy and that the job belongs to Cousins. That is the right public stance while the season is still being played, but it does not stop the question from existing. Cousins is producing, and Fernando Mendoza is on the roster and has already taken snaps. Whether it is time to turn to Mendoza is a decision Kubiak will have to make if the current version of the offense keeps producing the same results. For now, the job is still Cousins’. The results have not yet forced a different answer.
*Top Photo: Ramble Illustration/Getty Images