Quote: @Wetlander said:
@ Zanary said:
Oh, and our "underperforming" QB is currently rated 4th in the NFL, even with dumbass conservative play calling.
I didn't see any conservative play calling against the Cardinals. I was actually quite impressed with Kubiak's game script. I was equally impressed with Kirk this week, he was in attack mode from the start and it sure helped that Dalvin was ripping off 10 yard runs every other time he touched the ball. That is the Kirk we need to see... not the take the "safe" throw short of the sticks Cousins, but the guy who isn't hesitating to go deep in 1-1 coverage to Jefferson, Thielen, and Osborn. We hit some big plays in the passing game in the first half and missed a few in the 2nd half. I liked that he kept going after the Cardinals though. This wasn't a game to criticize Kirk and that's coming from a guy who isn't a Kirk believer anymore. One game isn't going to change my mind, but he played well yesterday.
Thank you. Thought I was hallucinating. People need to understand that QBs go through segments in games where they're just not effective. A lot of that has to do with changes the defense makes. Sometimes that takes a few series to work out and adjust. He did.
But to criticize him for those segments--when they happen to every QB in the NFL--is to expect perfection.
After the Cousins 30 yard scramble and the nice running TD throw to JJ, it had me wondering "Who is this guy?". I think it was a very solid game by the offense and KC. It's not like he threw a pick to end the game. We lost because we have crappy kicker. AZ has a better kicker, and that ending up deciding who the winner was.
Quote: @Wetlander said:
@ Zanary said:
Oh, and our "underperforming" QB is currently rated 4th in the NFL, even with dumbass conservative play calling.
I didn't see any conservative play calling against the Cardinals. I was actually quite impressed with Kubiak's game script. I was equally impressed with Kirk this week, he was in attack mode from the start and it sure helped that Dalvin was ripping off 10 yard runs every other time he touched the ball. That is the Kirk we need to see... not the take the "safe" throw short of the sticks Cousins, but the guy who isn't hesitating to go deep in 1-1 coverage to Jefferson, Thielen, and Osborn. We hit some big plays in the passing game in the first half and missed a few in the 2nd half. I liked that he kept going after the Cardinals though. This wasn't a game to criticize Kirk and that's coming from a guy who isn't a Kirk believer anymore. One game isn't going to change my mind, but he played well yesterday.
In the 2nd half, the play calling went to short passes pretty thoroughly... where'd the play action go?
Quote: @HappyViking said:
After the Cousins 30 yard scramble and the nice running TD throw to JJ, it had me wondering "Who is this guy?". I think it was a very solid game by the offense and KC. It's not like he threw a pick to end the game. We lost because we have crappy kicker. AZ has a better kicker, and that ending up deciding who the winner was.
Right? That's the fastest I've ever seen that doughy body move.
Agreed with @ Wetlander. I'm ready to move on from Kirk but he played great yesterday. For the most part the entire team did. We just faced a better team, in their house, and Zimmer got outcoached by a guy with less than half his experience. I'd love to put that loss on Kirk, believe me, but it wasn't on him at all. He played well.
I thought Cousins played well. He benefited from Cook's first half. The ball to JJ was a gem. However, I do agree KC does not have that mojo that elevates the entire team (JMHO) but he has put the team in the position to win the first two games. Put it another way, KC is not the emotional leader of the team; he is not the heart and soul. He is very business-like out there which is fine. It is just sometimes you need that fire in your QB; the QB needs to be loved by his teammate (again, personal opinion) and KC is simply not (from what I can tell).
That said, when the Cardinals tightened up their run defense, Kubiaks should have had a counter move. But the offense didn't lose the game. Special teams and the defensive secondary let the Vikes down yesterday.
Here is an interesting observation from Slate:
Quote:There are a lot of empty calories in Cousins’ achievements, though. Among QBs that have played 100 or more downs since 2018, Cousins is 20th in expected points added per play, a metric that weighs field position, down, distance, and the clock to assess how much a player’s contributions contribute to the offense. (For instance, a 1-yard completion on third-and-1 might produce a higher EPA than a 5-yard completion on third-and-12—a dynamic that raw yardage totals don’t capture.) In the same span, Cousins is seventh in completion percentage over expectation, a measurement of how good a QB is at making difficult throws. All told, Cousins is maybe somewhere between the 10th and 15th best QB in the NFL. There’s no shame in being a good volume shooter who isn’t all that efficient at helping a team win games.
https://slate.com/culture/2021/09/mike-z...rself.html
When the opposing team passes for 400 yards and scores 34 points, it isn't the time to try and nitpick a great day by Cousins. But some fans will. That won't change because they feel his contract was supposed to guarantee a Superbowl. The Jets interest drove up the cost. Nothing is guaranteed in the NFL. Minnesota took a swing and although they connected, the ball seems to be drifting into foul territory. What can you do? Sit with the bat on your shoulder and watch a called 3rd strike? I've always applauded the effort to take a chance like they have on Cousins.
Quote: @StickyBun said:
When the opposing team passes for 400 yards and scores 34 points, it isn't the time to try and nitpick a great day by Cousins. But some fans will. That won't change because they feel his contract was supposed to guarantee a Superbowl. The Jets interest drove up the cost. Nothing is guaranteed in the NFL. Minnesota took a swing and although they connected, the ball seems to be drifting into foul territory. What can you do? Sit with the bat on your shoulder and watch a called 3rd strike? I've always applauded the effort to take a chance like they have on Cousins.
The problem is they doubled down on the mistake with the extension that we will still be dealing with for another season.
We always hear about his contract being about right in the final season, but in the first year when he is the highest paid, or the biggest avg, thats where I have an issue, average or slightly above average players shouldn't be resetting the market, at any position. That leaves little room to retain your real top talent without sacrificing at other positions which is where the team has been since Kirk got here, and he doesn't seem to care.
He played good to great at times on Sunday, but also wilted/reverted to the kc we know as well at times. The team needed him to be his best and he wasn't able to do that at key times, or they simply opted to take the ball out of his hands, and that to me is a sign of coaches being unsure. He wasn't the reason for this loss, but it sure would be nice someday to say he iS the reason for a win.
I thought Cousins had a pretty good game. I didn't go back and rewatch it though. That said, I think there's something to be said about "Being a winner" that maybe is missing that applies to him and Zimmer where there's some expectations of winning that causes everyone else to raise their gameplay. We need to start winning more of these close games.
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