There is covered. And then there is Brock Bowers covered.
Kirk Cousins is learning those are two entirely different things.
The Raiders quarterback offered an incredible window into the challenge of playing with an extraordinary talent Sunday, placing Bowers in a conversation with some of the best receivers he has thrown to during his career.
Pierre Garçon. DeSean Jackson. Justin Jefferson.
Players whose gifts force a quarterback to reconsider what his eyes are telling him.
Bowers provided two spectacular examples in the Raiders win against the Jets, making an absurd one-handed touchdown catch in traffic, and grabbing another touchdown pass while surrounded by three defenders.
For most pass catchers, those are reasons to look elsewhere.
For Bowers, who finished Sunday with seven catches for 92 yards to go along with the two scores, they are invitations.
The challenge for Cousins, a quarterback whose game is built around accuracy, reading defenses and working through progressions, is accepting the invitation. Everything about his training tells him to find the open receiver.
Bowers requires a different definition of open.
Cousins recalled encountering the same dilemma with Jefferson in Minnesota, where coach Kevin O’Connell sometimes had to remind him that defensive attention did not necessarily eliminate his best option.
“There are times when they would get doubled, and I would progress off of them,” Cousins said.
O’Connell’s message was straightforward: Throw it to Jefferson anyway.
Cousins’ response was equally revealing.
“I don’t like throwing to covered guys,” he remembered replying. “I like throwing to open guys.”
That is a sensible philosophy. It also requires an exception when the target possesses the ability to make a sound defensive play irrelevant.
Bowers is earning that exception.
“The coaching point with Brock has been like it was with Justin,” Cousins said. “When he’s covered, you still need to throw it.”
Simple enough to say. Harder to execute when it means overriding the instincts that have carried Cousins through his career.
“That kind of breaks my instincts,” he said. “My instincts are progressing and throw to open guys.”
Sunday illustrated the reward for making that adjustment. Bowers did not need an unobstructed path to the football. He needed an opportunity to do something remarkable with it.
“There’s moments this year where I can be better,” Cousins said, “and there’s moments where I’m starting to figure that out.”
Bowers keeps giving him reasons to trust it.
Sometimes, three defenders are a warning.
Sometimes, those same three guys are meaningless alongside Bowers.
