Kirk Cousins — Week 9: Three Interceptions at San Francisco

Kirk Cousins had his worst game of the season against the 49ers, a week after his best: 22 of 32 for 216 yards, a touchdown and three interceptions, never sacked, plus a 2-yard rushing touchdown in a 38-17 loss. Over 32 dropbacks he was worth -12.9 expected points added (EPA), what a play was worth given down, distance and field position, -0.40 per dropback.

The play that broke it was his first of the second half. Down 21-10, first and 10 at his own 30, he lost the ball, recovered it at the 23 and threw for Tre Tucker; Jaden Dugger intercepted at the 35 and returned it for a touchdown, -8.1 EPA and 9.1 points of win probability, the estimate of each side's chance to win. Two later completions ended in fumbles, Brock Bowers's at the San Francisco 26 and Michael Mayer's at the 1. In the fourth quarter Renardo Green intercepted him in the end zone on second and 13, and Malik Mustapha on fourth and 11.

In between, he hit Bowers for a 21-yard touchdown deep over the middle on second and 4, 28-16 before the extra point, +2.6 EPA. He scored the Raiders' first touchdown himself, 2 yards up the middle on second and 1 in the second quarter.

Through Week 8 he was at +0.16 per dropback, +47.6 EPA on 301 dropbacks, with five interceptions in eight games; his previous low was -0.18 in Week 7. His completion percentage over expected (CPOE), how often he completed passes against what their difficulty predicted, was +5.5 here against -0.4 coming in. The completions were there; the giveaways were the cost.

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_Data via nflverse._