It Was A Great Week To Not Have Kirk Cousins Anymore
Credit: Matt Krohn-Imagn Images
The Sam Darnold Experience has reached a crucial juncture. After an out-of-this-world start to the season, the former Jet has returned to Earth with back-to-back terrible outings. Sunday’s game against the Jacksonville Jaguars proved particularly brutal. The Minnesota Vikings offense moved well all day, only to have Darnold’s poor throws result in devastating drive-ending turnovers.
Yet, despite all of the concern over where the quarterback and offense go from here, we can still confidently say one thing this week… Man, it feels good to not have Kirk Cousins.
While Darnold was floundering his way to victory, Cousins and his giant salary found himself in a position all too familiar to Vikings fans. With just seven seconds to play, the Atlanta Falcons were looking at a 4th & 4 from the New Orleans Saints’ 43-yard line. Atlanta was out of timeouts and needed a first down conversion that went out of bounds to give themselves an opportunity at a game-tying field goal.
And then just like clockwork…
Kirk Cousins why are you throwing before the sticks on the last play of the game smh pic.twitter.com/QbDRhZfEuH
— Everything Georgia (@GAFollowers) November 10, 2024
Cousins opted to check down on a swing pass at the line of scrimmage to Ray-Ray McCloud III, who was surrounded by defenders. McCloud had no chance and the game was over.
This is what Kirk does. It’s hard-wired into his DNA.
Giants deny the Vikings!
📺: #NYGvsMIN on FOX
📱: Stream on NFL+ https://t.co/uuhRH8WYIn pic.twitter.com/CIPFPUD3Ao— NFL (@NFL) January 16, 2023
While re-living the 2023 playoffs is the best example of that, it wasn’t just that one high-profile playoff game. Throughout his entire career, Cousins has thrown short of the sticks when football sense should’ve inclined him to do something different. For years we’ve listened to announcers, analysts, and coaches say how process- and detail-oriented Cousins is, almost describing his commitment to stick to his tendencies as unflinching. It’s in these crucial moments that Cousins can’t shake that grip on his process.
Yes, seeing A+B happen might equal going for a checkdown most of the time, but you have to account for the situation and occasionally understand that the moment may require a deviation. Kirk rarely, if ever, did that, and on Sunday he once again showed he may just simply not be capable of it.
There are those in the fan base who are likely raging with anger while reading this. “Kirk was great and our QB is playing terrible!” They’ll blame the line, the skill players, and the coaching. But at the end of the day when a quarterback get the same result in different situations throughout a long career, all roads lead back to him.
So as hard as it is to watch Darnold struggle on a team that seems to be a good offense away from contending, just remember he barely makes $10 million bucks. The team’s savings bought them both an amazing defense AND a future! And while the Vikings barrel towards $75 million in cap space this off-season and a potential Super Bowl window, the Falcons fan base — like the Vikings and Commanders did before them — is already debating if Kirk is truly worth all the trouble and money.
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