10-18-2021, 01:45 PM
Don’t look now, but the Vikings are rolling and so is Kirk Cousins. While we were all forgetting about Cousins? Turns out, he was channeling John Wooden. “Sean McVay used to always say to me to just focus on continuous improvement, and that John Wooden always talked about that, continuous improvement,” Cousins told me after the Vikings’ OT win over the Panthers, referencing his time in Washington with McVay. “And that's really what I've tried to strive for more in my career as I play longer, is that am I improving? And I feel that I'm improving, I felt like I was improving during OTAs and training camp, and I think the fact that I'm improving is a good sign and Coach Wooden and Sean always saying that motivated me. So continuous improvement is something I'm always looking for, and I do think I'm improving as we go.” And Cousins, 33, quietly is putting together what looks like a career year, with Sunday’s gutty win in Carolina putting his Vikings at 3—3 after they started the season in an 0—2 hole with shootout losses to Cincinnati and Arizona. Where is better than it was? Well, it’s his comfort in the system he’s running for new coordinator Klint Kubiak, and that showed up with crucial throws, two in particular, he made to his third receiver, K.J. Osborn, on Sunday. Both came in overtime, and after the Vikings blew a 28-17 lead late, and after Cousins led a two-minute drive, with two throws to Osborn, in the final 42 seconds of regulation, only to have Greg Joseph just miss a potential game-winner from 44 yards. The subsequent throws to Osborn …
- Third-and-3. Minnesota with the ball at its own 43, and 8:29 left in overtime: “If we don't get it, we're punting. And I put the ball a little bit behind him or on his back shoulder, there was a defender chasing him. And he did a tremendous job to hold on, and he's really No. 3 in the progression there. So it's not like we're making him the primary, but they had Adam [Thielen] and Justin [Jefferson] covered, so progressed to K.J. and he showed up and made a big-time play that kept us on the field.”
- And then the winner, on second-and-13 from the Carolina 27: “It was a good call by Klint, he gave us a chance. I was just trying to balance taking a shot at the end zone with getting us a completion underneath. With the shell, the coverage, pre-snap, I thought they might be taking that deeper throw away, but as the play progressed, I felt the corner settle his feet, and then K.J. did the rest.”
