Pondering Her Percy wrote: ↑Mon Sep 30, 2019 1:58 pm
The negotiator wrote: ↑Mon Sep 30, 2019 12:57 pm
Stump, I’m talking specifically about yesterday’s game. He can throw for 4000-4500 yds a year since he became a starter, so we know he can throw. What do you think about my other points I brought up? I can easily point to the Packer game and say it was on him for that last throw. I don’t have any problem saying when he makes a bad play. But to lay it on him because of his track record Is unfair.
It’s like Kirk says “ a qb gets too much credit when the team wins, and too much blame when they lose.” This team will be an 8-8 or 9-7 team unless they come up with a better offensive scheme against teams with really good defensive front fours. Our coaches ability to adjust on the fly just isn’t there.
Exactly. Cousins didnt just forget how to throw a football or somehow become wildly inaccurate. Like I said before, this offense is now becoming the opposite of Flips. Too much run vs too little pass. I begged to run the ball last year and now it's an overwhelming amount and we look like we dont know how to pass a football.
Pass Under Flip- 13th
Pass Under Stef/Kub- 31st
Run Under Flip- 30th
Run Under Stef/Kub- 3rd
.....one-dimensional offenses
Flip and Stefanski/Kub are complete opposites of each other that have put too much time into one aspect of the offense and not enough in the other. Guys can blame Cousins, the OL, or whatever all you want. Theee single biggest change that happened to this team compared to 2017 was the loss of Pat Shurmur
And just to throw this in here.....
Run under Shurmur- 7th
Pass under Shurmur- 11th
................B.A.L.A.N.C.E.
Like, does it honestly make sense that in 2018 we were 13th in passing and now all of the sudden we're 31st?? When we have the same QB, same top 2 WRs, same TE plus a good rookie, slightly different OL (neither being good). And guys want to blame Cousins? And play dumb like Cousins isnt a good passer now when he has been his whole career. Zimmer has drastically failed at finding an offensive coordinator that can do his job and do it effectively other than Pat Shurmur. Turner wasnt it, Flip wasnt it and looks like Stefanski isnt it.
But yeah, screw Kirk Cousins. He's where the blame goes.....give me a break. There is such a bigger picture to all this that some of you are failing to see. Instead you sit in front of your TV on Sundays with a composition notebook taking notes on what Kirk doesnt do well, recognizing what else goes wrong on the team and drafts up reasons that #8 is still to blame. I'm almost at the point where I no longer want Cousins on the team because he has consumed so much of this board with argument, defending, finger pointing, etc. Obviously not his fault but for some of our own sanity that's how I sometimes feel. It's the apologists (also known as guys that look at the big picture) vs. the haters. There could be a thread on here about the 1970 Minnesota Vikings and somehow Cousins name will be brought up in that and what he did wrong since he's been here. It's baffling
Here's where I have to disagree with you, PHP ... and it goes beyond stats and into the eye test.
Kirk Cousins is afraid of the rush.
It's obvious. You can see it in his eyes. He's seeing the rush instead of feeling it, and that's hurting the Vikings. Not only that, the league has caught on, sure as I'm sitting here. Film don't lie.
Yes, the pass protection needs to improve. I mean, the strip-sack was all on Reiff. Horrible effort against Mack, a guy you just can't have a horrible effort against. But Kirk is flinching from the rush, and every team in the league knows it. Look for the rest of the NFL to now put max pressure on Cousins every passing down ... and they'll do it until he proves he can beat them. It's gonna be a feeding frenzy until he steps up.
I am not a Cousins hater. You know that. I was singing the praises of the Vikings organization when they signed him. But there's no other way to put it ... he's stinking up the field this year. That overthrow to Thielen would have changed the entire complexion of the game. And the fumbles. He just doesn't value ball security in the pocket ... or he panics and forgets. Neither works.
Hate to bring it up again, but there was one other big difference between 2017 and the next two years, and that was Case Keenum. The guy played his butt off for the Vikings. His mobility and ability to avoid sacks saved a mediocre offensive line so many times that year, it's almost impossible to count. Every single time he escaped, that's a time Cousins likely fails to make a play. Please don't start with the "Keenum is garbage" theme. I'm not talking about his overall career. I'm talking about 2017, and he wasn't garbage then. That's the only comment I'm making here, and I'm making it because you're attributing all the difference to Pat Shurmur. I disagree somewhat. If Cousins were playing as well as Keenum did in 2017, we'd likely be undefeated.
When the Vikings signed Cousins, I was convinced that the coaching staff, front office and fans in Washington just weren't willing to give him the time of day. The more I watch him play, especially against teams that can get pressure on the quarterback, the more I think they may have been right. The ugly truth is that Kirk Cousins seems to be great in shorts and helmets, but when the pads come on, there's just something missing.
The Vikings are in a real pickle here. They have a very talented roster. But they're not getting even minimum quarterback play out of Cousins right now, and he's got 28 games and about $49 million in guaranteed salary left to go. We're sorta stuck with whatever he can give us, so he needs to improve. As Thielen said, the NFL is not going to let you rush for 180 yards a game. You have to be able to throw the ball when you need to.
Again, not a hater. Just stating the obvious. I want Kirk Cousins to succeed in the worst way, but he's got to play better if we're going to have a chance.
