"I got a question for you: How did you feel after last week's victory, man?" he yelled. "Felt great, right? That's because it was earned, man. Nothing in this league is free. Nothing's a gift."
He was on a roll.
"You just can't roll your helmet out there and play," he told them in the loudest voice possible. "You've got to go out there every play and earn it. You've got to take it, man."
This pep talk happened before Sunday's 27-17 victory over the Arizona Cardinals, down near the 20-yard line with him in the middle of a giant huddle that included every teammate.
He was reminding the Vikings not to slack off, and making it absolutely clear to everyone in and out of that huddle that this is his team now.
Quarterbacks are supposed to lead, and he is doing just that.
Numbers are one way to lead, and Cousins has put up some impressive statistics over the first half-dozen games.
In Sunday's game, his stats weren't lights-out. Actually, they were among his worst of the season. He threw a 13-yard scoring pass to Adam Thielen and scored on a 7-yard run that gave the Vikings a 27-10 lead. On the flip side, he had the fewest passing yards (233) and his second-worst rating (87.0) after the Buffalo debacle, and he lost a fumble that was returned for a touchdown. He led in other ways — like that pregame speech.
The Vikings have a long and storied history of playing down to the level of an opponent. Cousins got a glimpse of that first hand in the Buffalo loss when the Vikings lost badly to a team they were favored to beat by 17 points. Before playing the Cardinals, a team the Vikings were favored to beat by 10 and a team, like the Bills, with a rookie quarterback, Cousins sent more than a subtle reminder to his teammates.
"I've been a rookie quarterback before," Cousins yelled at them. "You can suffocate him."
He screamed it once more, for emphasis, in a reference to Cardinals rookie QB Josh Rosen.
"You can suffocate him. Make him miserable all game long. Get us the ball back," Cousins exhorted his teammates. "Like (famous wrestler) Dan Gable said, 'When I shoot, I score. When you shoot, I score.' "
His teammates roared that final line along with him.
The Vikings are now 2-0 when Cousins screams out a pregame speech. He did it before they beat the Eagles and, athletes being a superstitious bunch, likely will do it before next Sunday's game against the New York Jets.
