I want off the Cousins ride

@Skodin, I always enjoy your takes and insights...

But one qb today finished 21 of 35 for 173 yards and a touchdown, while the other was 31 of 57 for 386 yards and two interceptions.

I know which QB I want...

Cousins has had a pretty good season, not so much today. He as much as said so. It's ok to criticize him and any other player if it's warranted. Not sure why every criticism of Cousins is seen by some as an indictment of his overall skill and/or success.

@"Skodin" said: I do, he was terrible today.  This game should have been over mid 4th if we could have executed.  I get that he's tough, but damn man you make it way harder than it has to be.  White looked good today at 95% less the cost.  I would love to see what other QB's could do with the weapons this guy has had for the last 5 years.  It's who Cousins is, sometimes very good-sometimes very bad.  Like this team for the last 5 years.  Great for half a game, terrible for the other half.

The questions I have are, when will it ever change with this guy?  Does he need a perfect situation to win a Super Bowl?  And how do we get off this ride?

For whatever reason, I watched the Eagles game from 2010 the other night. You know the one where Joe Webb started. Other than borrowing Favre for that 1 great year, the Vikings have had shitty backups and nobody’s playing QB.
Cousins isn’t Tom Brady or Patrick Mahomes, but I’d take him over anyone the Vikings have put on the field in the last 20+ years. Including Cunningham who honestly just needed to chuck it downfield and let the greatest WR ever run under it.
Cousins has taken a beating for this team because the previous GM refused to really deal with a bad O line. The O line still isn’t great, better by far, and Cousins is still getting his ass kicked at times. That isn’t his fault.

Ten wins with 5 more games to play.  One game to win out of five to become conference champs.  Who ever imagined a season like this?

Cousins wasn't playing his best for sure.  There were misses that were uncharacteristic for him.  I do think the offense really hurt our D by not being able to stay on the field, but it's team sport.  The D got exposed, but hung in there and won this game in the end - SKOL!

@"1VikesFan" said: Cousins has had a pretty good season, not so much today. He as much as said so. It's ok to criticize him and any other player if it's warranted. Not sure why every criticism of Cousins is seen by some as an indictment of his overall skill and/or success.

I believe the original post is a direct indictment of his overall skill. Also, said they want off the Cousins ride. Wants to see how well someone else would play given this talent on offense.  The Jets have given up 17.8 points a game, the Vikings scored 27, that’s almost 10 points more than they usually give up. I’ll take that every single game.  The 49ers are now on their 3rd QB. Cousins has played a long time injury free. I’ll take that too.  It’s not the, “Cousins had a bad game” criticism that gets me. It’s the fact that he moved the team well at times and was 3/3 in the red zone scoring TD’s. The team is 10-2, yet people bash him and want to move on because he makes “too much” money in their eyes.  Joe Webb, Tarvaris Jackson, Christian Ponder, Donovan McNabb, Kelly Holcomb, Brooks Bollinger

I’d love to see what those clowns could do with these offensive weapons. I’m sure they were all cheaper than Cousins.

@"Greylock" said:

@"Skodin" said: I get it, it was an off game him for him.  But the larger body of work shows a guy who looks great occasionally and terrible occasionally.  I can't imagine where he would have been the last 5 years without a premier NFL offensive trio around him.  

Cousins was the problem today, that defense isn't on the field drive after drive if he was executing.  Again, I don't see this team winning anything more than a wild card game with him, yet they can't deal him or refuse to draft a replacement for him, so how does it end?  

Winning Wild Card games is not good enough for the money he is being paid.

It doesn't all fall on Cousins.  First off he took some shots today and got right back up.  The 2nd half the play calling didn't seem like they were trying to drive the ball downfield as much as the first half.  Something was off with him today because his accuracy was shit, don't know if that hit in the firsts half was worse than reported but something definitely was off.

The defense was also part of the problem today, they came up big in the red zone time after time but between the twenty yard lines they were soft as jello.

As for players not being good enough for the money they are being paid, look no further than Hunter and Z Smith.  Absolute no-shows today. 

I actually thought the defense had one of its better games today. Tomlinson back in the middle made a big difference on their ground game. Evans, until he left again with concussion systems also helped solidify the secondary. The Jets steamrolled the Bears last week and we consistently forced them into taking Field Goals instead of TD's. They deserve credit for that despite giving up all the chunk plays. The Jets are a very talented team on both sides of the ball. Kirk was off his game today, but he wasn't the only one who wasn't at their best. Despite all that, he still led that key drive in the 4th quarter that gave us a 12 point cushion and the D did exactly what they are designed to do. Force Teams to string together long drives that ultimately end up in 3 points. 

I was in the camp that believed we should trade Cousins last offseason, get off the extension wagon and cap money it tied up, and utilize the draft capital acquired to draft one of these highly rated prospects in this upcoming draft. We keep kicking the can down the road. I think Kirk is a top 10 to 15 quarterback, but he has limitations and if the supporting cast is sub par, you are going to get a sub par Kirk Cousins. 

I think the problem has been Darrisaw's injury has coincided with Ingrams continued struggles and we haven't adjusted the game plan to account for the lack of time in the pocket. I've seen the pocket breaking down around Kirk and I'm literally screaming at the screen for him to get rid of the ball. He holds it waiting for these routes to develope and if it's one of the better defensive lines, you just can't do that. That's why he is taking some of these hits. KOC needs to better understand the matchups and adjust his game plans accordingly so as not to get Kirk killed. That's a first year coach issue. 

Here is an interesting comment from Kirk.  Wonder if his tough days are against good press coverage.  At least he knows what the issue is, perhaps the coaches can help overcome this.

"That was just a miss. Gave it too much," he said. "There were a couple my feet were ahead of the play, so I'm hitching and my feet are telling me to release it, but the play hasn't really developed yet, so some of that's press coverage that slows down the route.
"They've got to negotiate the route. They're not running it on air, so the timing was something that I needed to go back and watch and make sure that I'm slowing down my drop," Cousins continued, "to make sure I'm not ahead of the read or ahead of the play."

@"Skodin" said:

@"Mike Olson" said: He gets absolutely pounded on at LEAST one play every drive. Why would his rhythm be off????? LOL!

Oh give me a break.  He also puts himself in a position to get pounded every drive.  That's another reason why I think we are fooling ourselves with Charlie Brown here.  Pounded or not, he has tendencies that will hold this team back from putting a dagger in teams, winning in January.  His career has been the same, sometimes great teasing us with greatness, and a lot of shit play.  A lot of shit play despite having either great weapons or a very good defense.

He cleans up his play the defense isn't in the position drive after drive.  We had 90 yards in the second half, 90 with 70 being one drive.  That might win today but that's not a recipe for actual success.

I have zero confidence in him to be that guy because he's not that guy. 

And by the way…. He IS the guy, because right now he is the guy. Who else are you going to plug in right now? Seriously? Who? 

It was a frustrating performance from Cousins today. He started off 0 for 5, had quite a few throws that were not even close, had his usual issues with holding onto the ball for too long, and the offense went silent during the 3rd quarter. It was definitely not his best performance, but it's also fair to note that the Jets have a top 3 defense and their corners were holding onto the receivers all day, so it was not an easy matchup. He did step up in the 4th on the drive with Jefferson's TD, but he also had chances to close out the game with either a score or a first down and the offense failed to do that. It lead to a situation where the D had to stop 2 red zone stops in the final two minutes, which they did, but they should not have been put in that position.

In general, it is issues with offense struggles, but certain things like holding onto the ball too long and sailing on throws are definitely on Cousins, which definitely killed some drives today.

The fact remains, they need to get better in the 3rd 1/4, all those 3 and outs will get them at some point. A touchdown after halftime would have put the game away. Defense was on the field way too much in the 2nd half. Luckily they held the Jets to FGs on four straight drives. Vikings not being able to run consistently isn't helping. But yay they won, that is all that matters.

Kirk's accuracy has been inconsistent for a while now.  Throwing behind receivers and high at times.  He's been bailed out on a number of poor throws over the last month.  I've been waiting for it to come out that he is nursing some sort of injury to explain the poor accuracy on more throws than we would usually see from him.  The receivers have taken some big shots as a result of him not putting the ball where it should be.

Lol, we’re 10-2. 1.5 games out of the #1 seed. We’ve got the 2nd best record in the entire nfl. Are you not entertained?

That was the worst I've seen Cousins play since the Cleveland game last year. He couldn't hit a bull in the butt with a bass fiddle. But not every bad game needs to turn into an existential debate. Every QB has bad days. Rodgers has had several. Brady, Allen, Mahomes.

I haven't seen any news since the game, but he looked hurt to me. Wouldn't surprise me if he showed up on the injury report with some sort of problem he was trying to hide. 

Cousins wasn't alone. Jefferson didn't play particularly well either. Neither did Cook, or Hunter, or Z. And yet we still win. Weirdest season in memory. 

@"MaroonBells" said: That was the worst I've seen Cousins play since the Cleveland game last year. He couldn't hit a bull in the butt with a bass fiddle. But not every bad game needs to turn into an existential debate. Every QB has bad days. Rodgers has had several. Brady, Allen, Mahomes.

I haven't seen any news since the game, but he looked hurt to me. Wouldn't surprise me if he showed up on the injury report with some sort of problem he was trying to hide. 

Cousins wasn't alone. Jefferson didn't play particularly well either. Neither did Cook, or Hunter, or Z. And yet we still win. Weirdest season in memory. 

In the beginning of the game, it looked like all the receivers from both teams had hands of stone...missed and dropped passes all over the place.

@"MaroonBells" said: That was the worst I've seen Cousins play since the Cleveland game last year. He couldn't hit a bull in the butt with a bass fiddle. But not every bad game needs to turn into an existential debate. Every QB has bad days. Rodgers has had several. Brady, Allen, Mahomes.

I haven't seen any news since the game, but he looked hurt to me. Wouldn't surprise me if he showed up on the injury report with some sort of problem he was trying to hide. 

Cousins wasn't alone. Jefferson didn't play particularly well either. Neither did Cook, or Hunter, or Z. And yet we still win. Weirdest season in memory. 

For me too...

We've had glorious seasons and maddening ones.  I dont know what the F to call this one, more chapters to be written. 

I gotta remind myself there is a lot of football left to play and while we'll probably lock-up the North, the #2 seed is far from locked down yet

Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins was uncharacteristically erratic against the Jets, but when his team faced a gut-check moment he put his toughness on display.A play-action fake gave Kirk Cousins plenty of time to sit inside a clean pocket and look downfield. His target, tight end T.J. Hockenson, got behind his defender and was open.

Cousins usually completes that pass in his sleep.
He sailed the ball over Hockenson's head this time, incomplete. Cousins bent over at the waist, hands on his knees. His disgust was not hard to decipher.
The Vikings quarterback called that pass "the most egregious miss" on a day when his pinpoint accuracy went sideways.
Cousins was uncharacteristically erratic throwing the ball. He absorbed a handful of jarring hits. The offense sputtered and turned stagnantAnd when the Vikings offense faced a gut-check moment in the fourth quarter, the quarterback put his toughness on display again by engineering a touchdown drive that was a necessary outcome in what became a 27-22 win over the New York Jets.

Cousins showed a surgeon's precision on that drive, completing five of five passes for 62 yards. On third-and-6 from the 10, Cousins threaded a needle to the No. 4 option in his progression — Justin Jefferson — along the side of the end zone to stretch the lead to 27-15.
"That's how you win football games in this league," Vikings coach Kevin O'Connell said. "We don't win this game unless we get that seven points there."
Cousins had a peculiar outing. He misfired on throws he normally completes. His timing with receivers occasionally looked hurried by the Jets pass rush. The operation just seemed off in the second half.
But the main takeaway is the toughness that Cousins continues to exhibit. Mental toughness, physical toughness.
He is making winning plays when required, and he keeps picking himself off the turf after violent hits.
Right tackle Brian O'Neill apologized for using an expletive while praising his quarterback's toughness.
"He's a beast," O'Neill said. "He hangs in there. He doesn't complain. He's the ultimate competitor, ultimate team leader. He has my respect for years and years."
Does Cousins ever look or sound shaken in the huddle after being steamrolled by a pass rusher?
"He doesn't show it," O'Neill said. "He doesn't flinch. He's keeping us calm in the huddle. He's the man – No. 8 is the man."
Cousins' durability remains an underrated part of his career. He has endured some cringe-worthy hits this season after holding the ball in the pocket to buy his receivers extra seconds to finish a route.
Pass rushers unload on him. Cousins pops back up.
He credits his "bodywork people" that he visits weekly for helping him get his body repaired and ready to play again.
"I say, 'Hey, I'm in a car accident every week and you've got to put me back together on Monday,' " Cousin said. "It's kind of like getting an oil change. You get put back together and get ready for the next car accident."
Cousins doesn't shy away from an occasional fender-bender. On third-and-9 in the second quarter, he took off running, lowered his pads to initiate contact and then got popped by a second Jets defender.
"I felt I had to get every yard I could," Cousins said.
He didn't slide and gained 11 yards. The Vikings finished the drive with a touchdown.
"That gave us a little bit of juice in that moment," O'Connell said.
Cousins said postgame that he feels fine physically. He attributed his throwing inaccuracy to the Jets pass rush and having his own internal clock sped up.
"There's going to be days like that," O'Connell said.
Cousins addressed the team in the locker room after the game and shared a mantra that he heard repeatedly from former Washington coach Mike Shanahan as a young quarterback.
His message: Tough times don't last. Tough people do.
"I believe strongly in that," Cousins said. "I felt like this game in a way was a little bit of a microcosm of that."
The quarterback has bumps and bruises to prove it. And another win.