The nearest In-N-Out Burger location to Allegiant Stadium sits just out of reach of a Kirk Cousins deep ball.
But the taste of the delectable patties and fresh hand-cut french fries takes a whole week to acquire.
Cousins, who famously revealed on Netflix’s “Quarterback” a post-victory tradition of stopping at a popular Southern fast food joint after wins, already has his spot in Las Vegas.
“I have an In-N-Out problem,” Cousins admitted. “It wasn’t a big deal when I lived in the Central or Eastern time zone, but on the West Coast time zone, when I signed with the Raiders, I knew this was going to be an issue, and that is a great cheat meal. Coming home from a win on a Sunday night, I don’t know if I can think of a better spot than that.”
The Las Vegas Raiders quarterback doesn’t limit his trips to wins, though. He shared that on a particularly hunger-fueled August visit, he put down three 3-by-3s, a feat that impressed offensive tackle Kolton Miller.
“That’s so solid,” Miller laughed. “Every day, he never disappoints.”
Cousins’ biggest issue with the beloved burger joint are the lines, which has him often going inside instead of enduring the drive-thru trying to find the optimal way to get his meal the fastest. He’s even been trying different times of the day.
“I’m not a very patient person,” he said. “So waiting in the lines can be tough.”
It’s a bit ironic coming from a quarterback who exhibited a great deal of calmness in manufacturing very efficient drives in Sunday’s season-opening victory over the Miami Dolphins.
Cousins didn’t rush anything and had his most success on throws close to the line of scrimmage, even leading a 16-play drive that covered 93 yards while completing all nine of his throws to six different receivers.
He finished 20-for-23 on passes within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage, but just 1-for-7 beyond that mark with two interceptions.
It was enough for the Raiders to win, but they will have to mix in some deep shots and even find some success on them to make sure defenses can’t clog the box going forward after seeing their tendencies.
That doesn’t mean simply throwing the ball up for grabs. Cousins wants to air it out as much as anyone, but the decisions have to be based on the look from the defense.
“(Deep) shots will get called,” he said. “You’ve got to try to get them. If they’re not there, then you’ve got to check it down, and you’ve got to play for the next play, and vice versa. When we have a chance down the field, and they give us one, we’ve got to take advantage of it.”
The Raiders also had matchups they felt they could exploit in the run game.
“I feel like defenses around the league have really tried their best to prevent explosive plays and if it means the run game is a little more effective then so be it,” he said. “Defenses are willing to give up some runs in order to make sure they’re getting deeper than the deepest (receiver) and putting more players back there. So, it’s that dance all game, all season of how aggressive do defenses want to be, and then how do we counter that?”
It will help the Raiders with deep shots when tight end Brock Bowers returns following knee surgery — he did not practice Wednesday — as he draws attention as the team’s top receiving option.
Rookie Malik Benson was a major deep threat in college and knows he can help bring that to the lineup when he gets a chance.
“That’s a big part of our offense,” he said of deep passes. “We have vertical speed guys, and we can’t wait to be able to show that deep ball. But it’s a long season, so we just know that even though we weren’t able to execute on a lot of them this past week, it will be one of those things we’re emphasizing moving forward.”
Coach Klint Kubiak acknowledged earlier in the week the vertical passing game is something that needs to be a part of this offense in order for it to be successful.
But it also can’t be a reckless endeavor.
“A shot called is not a shot taken,” he said “If it’s not there, you’ve got to check the ball down. So, I think that’s part of our philosophy.”
The ability to add that dimension to the offense could make it much more potent and effective. That could definitely translate to more wins.
Which means more In-N-Out for Cousins.
Fries, but no onions or milkshake.
“I was actually teaching my boys about (the secret menu),” Cousins said. “I was teaching my boys about the Bible verses under the cups and the burger wrappers and different things. So, there’s a lot of fun things that make In-N-Out what it is, and it’s hard for me to fully articulate why I like it so much.
“But yeah, I’m a sucker for it.”
Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on X.
