Leber: 'Cousins can win a Superbowl'

Yes, of course he can. He can even win MVP. The two biggest factors will be learning the full playbook and getting something close to league average protection. One of these days, the line that Rick built (1st, 2nd, 1st, 2nd, 2nd) should start returning on the investment. 

If Dilfer can, Cousins can. But he needs something that he hasn't had before. A team with solid, so called, no name and lunch box players along with decent depth to step in for injured players. Rick had some great starters with a few holes and poor depth for the most part. Championship teams have solid support players in most cases. 

Hope you're right about the OL Maroon and the depth point is definitely a concern. Personally I think the biggest issue is the secondary, Cousins ain't gonna win shit if the defense isn't vastly improved.

I like Leber, but he is getting annoying with the Zimmer hate.  He is the one who has the issue, man up and go directly Zimmer instead of doing this passive aggressive stuff in the press.  Zimmer is no longer the coach, we have all moved on, time for Leber to do also.  

Oh I think KC can too....But we all know what needs to happen in terms of improvements on both sides of the ball, coaches playing to his strength's, staying healthy and getting hot at the right time. 

Lots of stars got to align and what I just described is hardly a Viking only formula for winning one. 

I like Ben,  but he has been equally critical of Cousins in the past and it wasnt about coaching.  Mechanical issues, processing issues,  leadership issues,  he has spoken ill of Kirk as much as he has been supportive.  with that said, he has nothing to gain by trashing Zim, no known past broken bridges,  no big career moves to be made,  Ben is just a small market guy that voices his opinion,  not unlike all of us,  except he has locker room insight and most of us just read between the lines.

@"JimmyinSD" said: I like Ben,  but he has been equally critical of Cousins in the past and it wasnt about coaching.  Mechanical issues, processing issues,  leadership issues,  he has spoken ill of Kirk as much as he has been supportive.  with that said, he has nothing to gain by trashing Zim, no known past broken bridges,  no big career moves to be made,  Ben is just a small market guy that voices his opinion,  not unlike all of us,  except he has locker room insight and most of us just read between the lines.

To be fair, he never said much about Zim until recently. He kept it to himself for quite awhile. Hopefully he will move forward like the rest of us.

@"JimmyinSD" said: I like Ben,  but he has been equally critical of Cousins in the past and it wasnt about coaching.  Mechanical issues, processing issues,  leadership issues,  he has spoken ill of Kirk as much as he has been supportive.  with that said, he has nothing to gain by trashing Zim, no known past broken bridges,  no big career moves to be made,  Ben is just a small market guy that voices his opinion,  not unlike all of us,  except he has locker room insight and most of us just read between the lines.

Haven't we all? There's no contradiction here, just honesty. Not everything is black and white.

I think Cousins is a damn good QB, one we can a Super Bowl with. I was happy we extended him (and also happy it was only one year). I've also said that he's a flawed QB, he's risk averse and his leadership lacks fire and credibility.

All of these can be true. 

If they are winning they are the greatest. If they are losing they suck!

Well if Ben State Run Media Mouthpiece Leber said it, how could it not be true?  Kirk's our Dog homey!

People confuse and conflate the concepts of "possible" and "probable."    With Kirk, all things are possible--Championship Kirk!... but unfortunately those things are mostly not probable.

Anyone can win a SB. 
It’s just you need a better supporting cast around some guys than others.

Cousins just needs 2 #1 WRs, a solid #3 WR, a probowl RB, a line full of first and second round picks, an offense first head coach and
a good defense.  Other than that, he’s
got you covered.

@"medaille" said: Anyone can win a SB.  It’s just you need a better supporting cast around some guys than others.

Cousins just needs 2 #1 WRs, a solid #3 WR, a probowl RB, a line full of first and second round picks, an offense first head coach and
a good defense.  Other than that, he’s
got you covered.

He really needs no more than anyone else. It's not like the Rams were a talentless team carried only by their QB. Neither were the Bucs.

Vikings defense gave up more points in the last two minutes of the half than any team in NFL history. NFL HISTORY. In fact, if you eliminate the points the defense gave up in the last two minutes of each half, the Vikings would have been 15-2. Now, of course, you're not going to eliminate all breakdowns. But even half translates to 11-6/12-5.  

@"medaille" said: Anyone can win a SB.  It’s just you need a better supporting cast around some guys than others.

Cousins just needs 2 #1 WRs, a solid #3 WR, a probowl RB, a line full of first and second round picks, an offense first head coach and
a good defense.  Other than that, he’s
got you covered.

Every QB needs help, not just Cousins. And that includes Tom Brady. Yeah, the Rams were so shitty before Matt Stafford got there. 

My comment isn’t addressed at what Cousins actually needs
but more at the people who always find that one more thing that if Cousins had
it he would stop being the .500 QB he’s been over the past decade and start
being the SB winning QB we all know he actually is but just can’t become
because of all the other players and coaches holding him back.  We’ve invested very heavily in surrounding Cousins
with an excellent supporting cast to maximize his potential and there are very
few QBs that have more talent or resources dedicated to supporting them.  We’ve sacrificed our defensive depth to do
this, and ended up depending on a handful of excellent, high priced veterans on
defense with no depth behind them. 
Unfortunately those key players have had lots of injuries and it has
tanked the performance of the defense.  That’s
not Cousins fault.  That’s not the Coaches
fault.  It’s just the personnel strategy
we went with combined with bad luck.  The
story of our team would look a lot different if we drafted a little more
heavily for our defense and let Cousins lift those around him on offense.

@"medaille" said: My comment isn’t addressed at what Cousins actually needs but more at the people who always find that one more thing that if Cousins had it he would stop being the .500 QB he’s been over the past decade and start being the SB winning QB we all know he actually is but just can’t become because of all the other players and coaches holding him back.  

Why is this surprising to you? We've been playing whack-a-mole for 50 years. And recent years have been no different. We finally start putting together an offense, bring in Cousins, draft Dalvin, JJ, put some high draft picks on the line, then the defense goes to shit. 

Some would say that's an excuse but it also happens to be the truth. The talent on the roster on both sides of the ball is enough to win a championship. But who knows what kind of absurdity awaits this year. 

@"jargomcfargo" said: If they are winning they are the greatest. If they are losing they suck!

Its always this. Fans 101. 

I read somewhere where Cousins was 10-30 against winning teams and in those games his defense gave up 29.7 points.   Rodgers record against winning teams when his defense gave up 30 points was 11-30.    Use your head folks.

@"Chuckf" said: I read somewhere where Cousins was 10-30 against winning teams and in those games his defense gave up 29.7 points.   Rodgers record against winning teams when his defense gave up 30 points was 11-30.    Use your head folks.

Really good info, Chuck......but like anything today, you won't change anyone's mind. They'll just double down.

Whenever you see a stat that says “against winning teams”,
it’s pretty much BS.  Like literally
every QB/Coach/Team has horrible stats “against winning teams” outside of the Brady-Belichek
combo who looks average when compared to “winning teams”.  Most wins are a better team beating a worse
team and if you compare a QB who has a long career on teams where the
supporting cast varies in quality to the specific teams who are doing well each
season, you are guaranteed to get a lop-sided outcome.

That said, Offensive and Defensive stats aren’t independent
of each other.  We’ve all seen games
where the offense can’t convert a 3rd down and the defense is on the
field all day and is gassed.  We’ve also
seen games where the offense is holding their own and the defense just
sucks.  We’ve also seen games where the
offense is inept, but a stud defense keeps giving them chances and they
continue to be inept.  We’ve also seen
games where the offense struggled, and a stud defense gave them extra chances
which lead to extra production.

When one side of the ball struggles it often negatively
affects the other side of the ball, but not always.  A good offense will protect the defense and
keep them from having to be on the field as much and a good defense will get
off the field quickly.  You need a more qualitative
analysis to understand what actually happened.