The New York Jets will host the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 8.
It appeared there might be a quarterback change coming for the Raiders after some cryptic post-game comments from head coach Klint Kubiak.
However, Kubiak cleared up any potential misunderstanding during his media availability on Monday, October 26.
“Alright, I just want to start [by] letting you guys know that Kirk [Cousins] is our starting quarterback; there is no controversy, he is playing at a very high level, and he’s got to continue to do that for us to win. We gotta keep helping all the areas around him. So excited for him to play here against the Jets,” Kubiak said in an opening statement.
When Will It Be Time to Unleash the Rookie?
The first question Kubiak was asked after revealing his QB decision is what will go into his decision when he turns to Fernando Mendoza as his starter.
“Yeah, eventually Fernando is going to play football. We have a plan. We don’t have a timeline for that. Kirk is playing really well, and we’re in the hunt. It’s really important that we keep playing really well behind him and to continue to develop Fernando, but Fernando is going to play at some point but it’s not going to be this week,” Kubiak responded.
Mendoza, 23, has appeared in one game this season. During garbage time in a blowout loss to the New England Patriots, the rookie got his first NFL regular-season action. He finished 6-of-8 for 48 passing yards.
The former Indiana product was the No. 1 overall pick in April’s draft. The Jets and Raiders both finished with an identical 3-14 record, but Las Vegas won the tiebreaker to pick ahead of the green and white.
Who Would You Rather Face?
Cousins has started in all of the seven games so far this season. He has completed 62.6% of his passes, has thrown for 1,877 passing yards, and has a 16 touchdown to 5 interception ratio.
For context, Cousins has thrown the most TD passes this season, is third in passing yards, is seventh in completions, and is sixth in passing attempts, per NFL Insider James Palmer of NFL on Prime.
Despite those impressive stats, the Jets should prefer playing Cousins. He is 38 years of age, and he already has as many interceptions this season as he has had in every year of his career except for his rookie campaign in 2012.
Cousins is a mistake-prone quarterback. If the Jets are going to stop their interception woes, Cousins has proven he will put the ball in harm’s way.
Plus, he has the mobility of a parked car at his advanced age. That will likely keep him contained inside the pocket. That should increase the chances that a Jets pass rusher can get home.
Mendoza is extremely talented, and there isn’t any real tape on him. So the Jets would be operating blind in their preparations for him in Week 8. Now they don’t have to worry about that with Kubiak revealing his QB plans.
Raiders Make Final QB Decision Before Jets Game