The Las Vegas Raiders have dropped their third straight game after losing 33-30 in Week 6 to the Buffalo Bills on Oct. 18. Unlike their loss in Week 5, the Silver and Black were in this game, but fell short of pulling off the upset win.
Raiders QB Kirk Cousins went 23-for-41 on his pass attempts for 313 passing yards, two touchdowns, one interception, and a passer rating of 86.7. Despite fighting until the end in two of the three losses in this losing streak, the Silver and Black still lost.
As a result, Cousins spoke with reporters postgame about what he’s saying to the team amid this three-game losing streak.
“All I know to do is go back to work, to have candid conversations on Monday that make us better as a football team, to have your process, the habits that get you ready to play well, and then to go through that process to not change anything when you’re winning, to not change too much when you’re losing,” Cousins told reporters after the loss to the Bills.
“I think the only part you change is when you go back and see where we got to be better, and you emphasize that during the week. But we just got to go back to work and put the work in and expect that if you do that, the breaks will fall your way.”
Kirk Cousins on Raiders’ Passing Game in Loss to Bills
Moreover, Cousins shared his thoughts on the team’s passing game in the loss against Buffalo. With the run game not doing much, the Raiders had to lean more on their air attack, and that part of the offense did respond well.
Tre Tucker, Michael Mayer, and Brock Bowers were go-to targets for Cousins in the passing game, as all three pass catchers had 70 or more receiving yards. Moreover, Tucker had two touchdown receptions.
“It’s about taking advantage of the opportunities you do have,” Cousins added. “I felt like I kind of hitched the tray in the red zone today. Just left it a little outside and ended up being incomplete, and that’s one where you want to put it right on him and make it easy for him.
“At times, you’re just going where your reads are taking you, and if that’s the back, if that’s the tight end, so be it. But we definitely want to find explosives in the pass game, and if we’re finding those, I don’t get too caught up in who it’s going to because you never know on the next play where it might go.”
Las Vegas Has to Learn to Close Out Close Games
Cousins also touched on the Raiders’ inability to close out games, as in two of the three losses during this losing streak, Las Vegas had the ability to tilt the contest in their favor and come away with a win but didn’t.
“There’s no doubt that that’s what it is,” Cousins said. “We have to find ways to close. You have to find the inches in the fourth quarter; you can’t go out on the second-to-last possession and throw three incompletions. You can’t throw an interception in the third quarter that gives them a short field, and they get a touchdown off of it [and] you can’t go two for five in the red zone. Third and goal, we have to come away with those four-point plays and get the touchdown, not kick the field goal.
“Those are all the plays throughout the game that you look back on and say it didn’t give us a chance to win. It’s just about making plays. We have to make plays, be smart, and manage the game well. If you do that, you’d like to think that you give yourself a chance to close it out in the fourth quarter.”
This article was originally published on HEAVY
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