Raiders 3-0 Start: How Las Vegas Became 2026’s Biggest Surprise

Nobody had this on their preseason bingo card. The Raiders 3-0 start to the 2026 season is officially the league’s most unlikely storyline three weeks in, and Sunday’s 35-27 comeback win over the Saints made it impossible to ignore any longer.

Let’s rewind and figure out how a team that won three total games last season suddenly looks like this.

From Rock Bottom to the League’s Best Start in Years

Context matters here, and the context is brutal. Las Vegas has churned through six different head coaches over the past six seasons and hasn’t won a playoff game since 2002. Last year’s team managed just three wins all season. This year’s team already has three wins before October even arrives.

First-year head coach Klint Kubiak, who left his offensive coordinator job in Seattle to take over in Las Vegas (a move we touched on when covering the Seahawks’ Week 1 opener), has completely rewired how this offense operates. Sunday’s win over New Orleans was the first time the Raiders scored 30-plus points since a 63-21 blowout of the Chargers back in December 2023.

Kirk Cousins Is Quietly Rewriting Raiders History

The veteran quarterback signing that raised plenty of eyebrows in the offseason is paying off in a big way. Cousins went 22 of 33 for 248 yards and three touchdowns against New Orleans without a single interception, and that performance made him the first quarterback in franchise history to throw at least three touchdown passes in each of his team’s first three games.

Sunday’s game also produced a genuinely rare piece of trivia. Las Vegas tied an NFL record with six touchdown receptions by tight ends in a single game, a feat that had only happened once before, in a 1981 matchup between the Chargers and Raiders. Brock Bowers, making his 2026 season debut, caught 10 passes for 116 yards and a touchdown, while Michael Mayer added two more scores of his own.

The Ashton Jeanty Question Nobody Wants to Ask

Here’s where the Raiders 3-0 start gets a little complicated. Back in the preseason, we covered how a scary ankle injury to rookie running back Ashton Jeanty turned the backfield into a legitimate roster battle. Three weeks into the regular season, that concern hasn’t fully gone away. Jeanty managed just 56 yards on 19 carries against New Orleans, and analysts covering the team have openly wondered how healthy he actually is right now.

The silver lining is exactly the storyline we flagged months ago. Rookie Mike Washington Jr., the same player who stepped into extra reps when Jeanty went down in camp, scored a touchdown in the second half against the Saints. If Jeanty’s workload needs managing as the season goes on, Las Vegas already has a proven answer sitting on the bench.

The Wildest Part: The No. 1 Pick Hasn’t Played a Snap

Maybe the most remarkable detail in this entire turnaround is who hasn’t been on the field. Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza, the Raiders’ No. 1 overall pick in this year’s draft, has yet to take a single regular-season snap. Las Vegas is 3-0 running entirely through a 15-year veteran quarterback who plenty of analysts had written off as washed up before the season even started.

Key Takeaways

• The Raiders are 3-0 for the first time in years after a 35-27 comeback win over the Saints
• Kirk Cousins became the first QB in franchise history with 3-plus passing touchdowns in each of the team’s first three games
• Las Vegas tied an NFL record with 6 touchdown receptions by tight ends in one game, last done in 1981
• Ashton Jeanty managed only 56 yards on 19 carries, raising real questions about his health
• No. 1 overall pick Fernando Mendoza has not played a single snap during the team’s 3-0 start

Our Take

This is exactly the kind of story that makes early-season football so much fun to follow. A franchise with almost nothing going right for half a decade suddenly has its quarterback rewriting the record books and a head coach who clearly knows how to build an offense. The Jeanty situation is the one real crack in the foundation worth watching closely, since a Super Bowl-caliber roster on paper can only carry a limping lead back for so long before it becomes a real problem. If Kubiak keeps leaning on Washington Jr. as insurance and Cousins keeps playing like this, the Raiders have a real chance to turn this hot start into the franchise’s first meaningful season in over two decades.

For the full backstory on how Jeanty’s injury reshaped this backfield in the first place, check out our original breakdown of the Raiders’ preseason roster battle.

Did you have the Raiders at 3-0 through Week 3? Let us know how far you think this run can go, we’ll be tracking Las Vegas all season.