Kirk Cousins - Quarterback, raiders Event: Postgame Press Conference | Date: 2026-09-20 | Full transcript (primary source).
Kirk Cousins, quarterback for the Raiders, addressed the media during a postgame press conference following the team's game on September 20, 2026. He discussed the impact of the fan base on the team's performance and acknowledged the challenges they faced during the game.
Transcript
Cousins: I was really impressed with our fan base traveling to this game and the environment they gave us from the moment we took the field and warm-ups all the way through the game just felt their energy and we fed off of it. I think it helped us finish the way we did so it was it was it's privileged to play for a team like the Raiders who have a fan base like that and the way they showed out. Proud of our resilience the way we kept fighting you know it was far from a perfect game and so you have to just keep kind of playing through the smoke and was proud of the way we did that you know it's good to hit a couple deep shots to Trey you know he has that ability and it was great to show it you know disappointed we missed the one in the league felt like that was an opportunity I just tried to stop him with the ball and and felt like I should have should have just let it go and let him go get it and then you know it's a good good team went on the road but they only get harder from here as we keep building so take any questions you have.
Reporter: This coaching staff all three phases tremendous job by them and there's a lot of first-time coaches coordinators but would you do you you've been around a long time this was tremendous coaching would you talk about your staff please?
Cousins: Yeah I think all the way around you know I don't pay as much attention to special teams or defense but I think you got to give a lot of credit to Joe and Rob and what they're doing you know guys seem to understand their roles and and play fast and make plays and it's been fun to watch and then on offense you know I do think our coaches are working their tails off to give us a plan that works and you know to have a great menu and you know it you want to play hard for them you want to win for them you want to to make plays but they've done a great job.
Reporter: Seven seven game a lot of times that's where you take the lead and just go to the locker room but you guys stayed aggressive got a few points and I don't know what went into that that whole kind of sequence and decision to go ahead and still be aggressive.
Cousins: Yeah I think we always want to at least try to get the drive started you know it's the incompletion first to Mike that I felt you know we could have connected there I'll have to go back and watch that one as far as the ball placement and whatnot and then you know Clint stayed aggressive with the second call and you know when you go back and watch it at least off the surface tablet pictures you know I felt like maybe it wasn't the right decision I mean Trey made me right but there is a post safety and I felt like he was leaning to the right and I felt like I could sneak it in there but it might have been too aggressive I'll have to go back and watch it you know so just because the outcome was positive this time doesn't mean that you say oh I'll throw poster outs into post safeties you know you got to learn from each rep but in the moment I felt the safety kind of settle his feet and put the ball up but I was getting hit so I couldn't put as much on it as I wanted and Trey made me right and that was that was a big play in the game and a big kick by Matt Gay to to make it worth it.
Reporter: Can you talk about two weeks with Cody playing the kickoff?
Cousins: Yeah I can't say enough about the play he made in the end zone he's in tight match coverage he's as covered as it gets and I felt the defensive backs back and so I thought you know I'll give a ball to Cody but there's a trust there that you know worst case scenario will be incomplete he's going to protect me he's going to have to become the defensive back if it comes to that so I just kind of put the ball out there for him and then he did such a good job fighting through the defender and making a play and attacking the football and it was just a huge play in the game because it's third down we're kicking a field goal if we don't catch it and instead we get we get seven out of it so big time.
Reporter: A lot of the talk in the locker room was about how things seem different this year for this team how much do you drive in that position of being the veteran guy you know you gotta hopefully change attitude whatever the game is.
Cousins: Yeah I mean time will tell we're one week at a time it's still really early but certainly the goal is to build something that you know way outlast me you know but I'd love to build something here that you know we get it going in the right direction and and and so you know we're in the beginning stages of that and great to start the way we have.
Reporter: You talked about that first touchdown to Cody how much does that we're getting to know him how much does that build a rapport build a trust so that you guys can move forward and know he's going to know where he needs to be and what you're going to do.
Cousins: Yeah I think that's a big part of pro football is the more time you can have on task with teammates the better you understand what they naturally do well where you can maybe go against the grain a little bit because you know the skill set and Cody showed me a lot today I remember watching him at Michigan State you know because I would watch the games from a distance and I felt like he always attacked the football and made great plays with his hands and played big and it was very natural for him and so you know I guess those were my banked reps if you will was just watching him play for Michigan State and then being able to when he arrived you know try to translate that to to the hearing now.
Reporter: Kirk I asked I just asked Clint about this but as players when your coach is saying we're going forward on board down that's making a statement to you guys it's making a statement your defense would you key fans in what does that statement mean to players when your coach is yeah we're going for it.
Cousins: Yeah no Clint stays aggressive in analytics you know we have a lot of different reasons that inform those decisions but we also spend a lot of time in our preparation you know trying to give ourselves a menu and you know I don't make those decisions but I got to be ready for whatever the moment calls for to be able to execute and you know we did stay aggressive today.
Cousins: You know we had a few I didn't feel like we had you know it was it was it was a mixed bag in the sense of you know we had a trick play that got us some some explosives you know the one I was getting hit as I threw it but Trey made a great play another one was going fast we were able to get it so it's a variety of things going on I thought they did do a good job much of the game putting a roof on things and we did have to check it down a lot so it was a mixed bag but explosives are a big part of winning this league.
Cousins: I love the design I thought it was a great play design I could feel some teal and yellow out of the corner of my left eye as the ball was coming to me and I was like okay this is how receivers feel when I throw to them over the middle but I felt like I got to keep my eye on the ball make the catch and then if he hits me he hits me but when I caught the ball and looked I could see Reek open over the over the field and knew I had to chuck and duck and so that's what I did but I was really pleased with that design having that play ready to go in a big moment in the game.
Reporter: How did you feel about your play 253 yards three touchdowns high completion percentage high quarterback over all how did you feel?
Cousins: When you did you know the play that I want back is the one to Malik on the right sideline I felt like I need to just launch that I was nervous about the safety baseball turning and making a play on it and so I wanted to kind of stop him in the window like I did Jack Besch early in the game and Malik didn't know I was going to do that he shouldn't know I was going to do that and so I was just kind of hoping I'd get his eyes but um no one that I probably left that one out there was tough on a third down probably would have been able to come away with points I felt like that was a critical play in the game to miss um you know outside of that one it runs together right now but I thought it was a lot of good clean football and um you're always going to have some plays that they got to be tighter yeah I'm proud of the way our coaches put together game plans in his absence and um the way our our team stepped up you know I felt like these two weeks we've won as a team special teams has given us great field position and made plays time and again um defense has made plays and um that's what it took and a lot of different skill guys stepping up so um you know getting him back he's one of the best players on our football team and excited to have him back and um pleased with the way our team competed you know in his absence.
Cousins: Maybe outside of well I think it's the NFL I just think that these games come down to the final drive so often and the difference between 0 and 2 and 2 and 0 could be two plays one in each game and I've lived that and I've been on the wrong side of that a lot I've been on the right side of that and so I've learned how hard it is I was saying to Fernando you know as the clock was kind of running out I looked at him and I said hey man this is every game in the NFL and when when we played in the big 10 you know it was like it was like five of the games a year that we're going to be like this this is every single Sunday it takes everything you got and uh um and so you never know which direction it's going to go but we got to find those inches we got to finish and that's what you know we'll be talking about tomorrow as we watch the film because we know it was close to going the other way too.
Cousins: Thank you.
