In a surprise to absolutely nobody, Klint Kubiak named Kirk Cousins the Las Vegas Raiders starting quarterback for Week 1. Seeing that the New Orleans Saints play the Raiders in Week 3, that pretty much squashes them having the fortune of playing first overall pick Fernando Mendoza, outside of injury.
It's not often that one clamors to play the first overall pick, but the timing of the game would have worked to the Saints' advantage. If the options are Fernando Mendoza in his third ever regular season game or Kirk Cousins in his 15th season, Mendoza is the one the Saints want to face.
Because he's a young player, Mendoza is prone to making those young player mistakes in theory. With some experienced players and rising young stars, the Saints were in great position to take advantage of that. Instead, they have to deal with the more sure thing in Cousins.
Saints have a split history against Kirk Cousins
For all the things people may say about Cousins, he isn't a bad quarterback. He's solid and typically good enough. The problem is just good enough often isn't good enough for the expectations levied on him. As he keeps the seat warm for Mendoza, though, Cousins could allow the Raiders to sit Mendoza all year, and he definitely won't play bad enough to lose his job in two weeks.
The Saints do have bragging rights against Cousins, but not by much. Cousins has a losing record against the Saints, 4-5, but he's had the last laugh recently.
Tyler Shough notably hasn't defeated the Atlanta Falcons in his young career, and both of those losses came at the hands of Cousins. He may be 4-5 against the Saints, but three of those four victories came in the last two seasons.
The final victory in the group came in a playoff game. Cousins threw a touchdown to Kyle Rudolph to win the game, and fans questioned whether or not he pushed off to score the touchdown. Still that's the other victory Cousins has over the Saints in his pocket.
There's some highs mixed in there, like the Saints' dramatic comeback victory over Washington those years ago. However, there's no question Cousins is a better quarterback right now than Mendoza, so the degree of difficulty to win is higher as well. Luckily, this is no surprise, so it's not like the Saints were expecting to play Mendoza anyway.
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