Kirk Cousins’ fast start with the Raiders has him tied for the NFL lead in touchdown passes

Kirk Cousins’ first months with the Las Vegas Raiders have produced an unusually quick start for a quarterback on his fourth NFL stop. According to Yahoo Sports, Cousins has thrown 11 touchdown passes in his first four games, a pace that currently matches San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy for the NFL lead.

That kind of production is rarely a coincidence, because it depends on both decision-making and timing. The Raiders have not only had to generate enough offensive opportunities, they have also had to convert red-zone chances into touchdowns, where Cousins’ downfield and play-action reads have had immediate payoff. Early touchdown totals are also a snapshot of how efficiently a team is moving the ball, even if the broader offensive picture still needs time to stabilize.

The context deepens because the report frames Cousins’ current run as part of a narrow group. Yahoo Sports notes that if Cousins throws three more touchdown passes in Las Vegas’ next game, he would join a club that, at the time of the report, consists of only two quarterbacks. The “club” language indicates that this is not merely a weekly leaderboard moment, but a specific historical benchmark for quarterbacks over a comparable early window.

The immediate test for Cousins’ rare debut run comes with a matchup against the New England Patriots. The report’s “three more on Sunday” scenario ties the feat directly to performance in that game, making it a high-leverage passing stretch rather than a slow accumulation across an entire season.

Even with the Raiders’ early momentum, there are limits to what touchdown totals can tell us. Touchdowns are affected by game scripts, opponent styles, and the number of times a team reaches scoring territory. Still, when a quarterback is matching the league lead in touchdown passes within four games, it generally indicates that the offense is finding rhythm quickly and that the quarterback is delivering with consistency.

For Las Vegas, the practical value is straightforward: early scoring production can influence everything that follows. It reduces the margin for error on third downs, supports play-calling that keeps defenses from stacking the box, and creates pressure on opponents to defend multiple levels of the field. For the NFL picture, a Cousins-led scoring surge also changes how defenses might approach the passing game, particularly when the quarterback is already operating at a top-of-the-league touchdown pace.