Cousins has always proven himself. He’s ready to do it again.
https://www.inforum.com/sports/pro/vikings-qb-kirk-cousins-has-always-proven-himself-hes-ready-to-do-it-againST. PAUL -- As an 18-year-old growing up in Michigan, Kirk Cousins
remembers preparing for college without any knowledge of what lies
ahead. He was the starting quarterback for Holland Christian High School
at the time, and despite some moderate interest from some schools, he
still hadn’t received a scholarship offer.
“I’m going into my
senior year with no scholarship offers,” he remembered. “I walked off
the field the last game of my high school career with no scholarship
offers.”
After almost every game, Cousins remembers a local
reporter from the Holland Sentinel asking different variations of the
same question: How was he handling the sea of unknowns?
“If you
win football games, and do your part, and put your work in, the rest
will take care of itself,” Cousins said. “That certainly happened in my
high school career.”
That mindset followed Cousins to his college career, where he
won the job at Michigan State during his sophomore year and never gave
it back. That mindset then followed Cousins to his professional career,
where he was a backup with the franchise now known as the Washington
Commanders before taking over as the starter.
Now it’s helping Cousins navigate his current situation with
the Vikings, where he doesn’t have a contract beyond next season. A
couple of months ago, Cousins agreed to restructure his contract, adding
more void years, which essentially allowed the Vikings to free up some
cap space without signing him to an extension.
“I’m looking
forward to this year and wanting to go out there and prove it again,”
Cousins said. “That’s really where my focus is.”
Though he has become a
polarizing player in Minnesota largely because of his huge contract,
Cousins has also put together some impressive performances that
shouldn’t be overlooked. He has thrown for 20,934 yards and 153
touchdowns across 80 games with the Vikings, most recently leading them
to an NFC North championship last season.
In the past, Cousins has
made it clear he wants to retire with the Vikings. That hasn’t changed
even if they’ve put him in a position where he once again has to prove
himself.
“I want to be in Minnesota,” he said. “That’s kind of a no-brainer, so hopefully we can earn the right to do that.”
As
someone who preaches staying in the moment, Cousins manages to do that
by going back to the lesson he learned when he had no idea where life
was going to take him. If he simply focuses on winning football games,
the rest will take care of itself.
“I’m encouraged and excited
because I do think I have a lot of good football ahead of me,” he said.
“I feel positive about the future looking forward and I go back to how
this has kind of been a part of my story.”
@"pattersaur" said:@"purplefaithful" said:@"Skodin" said:@"purplefaithful" said:@"pattersaur" said: Without circling the drain on Kirk even further since we all have our opinions, I got to thinking— how many tenured QBs have actually changed their reputation over the course of their careers?Recently, Stafford comes to mind but then he got hurt immediately after and now the Rams are a mess.
Russell Wilson and Carson Wentz kind of did, but in a bad way.
The best example I can think of is Eli Manning, and he did it by winning a couple rings.
For Kirk he’ll always be polarizing for some but I really think the only way the narrative for the majority of folks will change is if he wins a Super Bowl, whether in MIN or elsewhere.
But maybe I’m forgetting some other examples?
Lol. Cousins is no Elway. Elway was a beast, taking teams that had no business deep into the playoffs.
@"Skodin" said:
@"purplefaithful" said:
@"pattersaur" said:
Without circling the drain on Kirk even further since we all have our opinions, I got to thinking— how many tenured QBs have actually changed their reputation over the course of their careers?Recently, Stafford comes to mind but then he got hurt immediately after and now the Rams are a mess.
Russell Wilson and Carson Wentz kind of did, but in a bad way.
The best example I can think of is Eli Manning, and he did it by winning a couple rings.
For Kirk he’ll always be polarizing for some but I really think the only way the narrative for the majority of folks will change is if he wins a Super Bowl, whether in MIN or elsewhere.
But maybe I’m forgetting some other examples?
Lol. Cousins is no Elway. Elway was a beast, taking teams that had no business deep into the playoffs.
Who said Kirko was an Elway?The poster asked what other QB's changed their narrative over the course of a career
Elway is a good example— totally agree. But he did it by winning a ring which is kind of my point.Jalen Hurts or Josh Allen could maybe be cited but they were young enough to still be in that, “jury is still out” category.
I just think, it’s very very hard to get people to change their minds about anything.
I also agree that if Kirk DOES win a ring, it will 1000% shed a better light on the rest of his career and he maybe even becomes a Hall of Famer. Maybe. Wild to think about. Can’t say I expect it to happen but it would be poetic if he was the guy to bring the Vikings that title.
Sad thing to say, but I don't see it happening...not with Cousins or any other quarterback at the moment. Not until the Vikings become a complete team and they are not there yet...
@"comet52" said:@"StickyBun" said:@"comet52" said:@"1VikesFan" said:@"comet52" said:@"1VikesFan" said:@"comet52" said:@"Riphawkins" said:@"purplefaithful" said:@"StickyBun" said: The guy has an amazing attitude. Oozes leadership. Yet half the fanbase dislikes the guy. Its so weird.
Only one way to quiet haters....
Did San Diego fans hate Dan Fouts as much as Vikings fan hate Kirk? How about Warren Moon? How many fans and experts disrespected him as much Kirk gets disrespected?
Those guys are in the HOF, a place Kirk and his .500 career of checking it down on 3rd and long will never be. Maybe you should have gone balls to the wall and compared him to Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes instead. =)
Can't speak for Riphawkins but it's possible that the Fouts and Moon comparisons were due to all their Super Bowl successes.I'm sure the HOF qbs who never won a SB would have a good chuckle at being told they are comps for Kirk Cousins.
The comp for Kirk is Jay Cutler, not guys in the HOF.
Ok then
Are you saying Kirk will get in the HOF?He could actually get in...if he buys a ticket at the front door like the rest of the tourists. :p
This isn't about Kirk being a HOF QB......my original point was even a HOF QB, like Marino, didn't win a Superbowl. Because the negs in the thread put that as the bar: Superbowl trophies. So Marino was an epic failure then.I would never set the bar for Kirk at SB trophies, and shame on those who do. You can't go setting goals for guys that they will never achieve, it's just not fair!
There have been 52 Superbowl trophies awarded and 29 different QBs have won them. 29 total in history. TOTAL. So yeah, I want one......but I also know its not easy. And its really rare.
Just thinking about the best Viking teams over the last 30 years, the best teams had a deep QB bench
98 had Cunningham, Johnson, Jay Fielder (who went on to be a starter)
09 had Favre, Sage, TJ (two guys who were borderline starters and could win games)
17 had Case, Bradford, Teddy (two guys who were starters when healthy)
Ever since we got Kirk, it's been Kirk, and that's all
@"Skodin" said: Just thinking about the best Viking teams over the last 30 years, the best teams had a deep QB bench98 had Cunningham, Johnson, Jay Fielder (who went on to be a starter)
09 had Favre, Sage, TJ (two guys who were borderline starters and could win games)
17 had Case, Bradford, Teddy (two guys who were starters when healthy)Ever since we got Kirk, it's been Kirk, and that's all
Those 3 teams were more complete than anything Kirko had either. Especially 09/17
@"1VikesFan" said:@"comet52" said:@"Riphawkins" said:@"purplefaithful" said:@"StickyBun" said: The guy has an amazing attitude. Oozes leadership. Yet half the fanbase dislikes the guy. Its so weird.
Only one way to quiet haters....
Did San Diego fans hate Dan Fouts as much as Vikings fan hate Kirk? How about Warren Moon? How many fans and experts disrespected him as much Kirk gets disrespected?
Those guys are in the HOF, a place Kirk and his .500 career of checking it down on 3rd and long will never be. Maybe you should have gone balls to the wall and compared him to Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes instead. =)
Can't speak for Riphawkins but it's possible that the Fouts and Moon comparisons were due to all their Super Bowl successes.
That’s exactly the comparison I was making. Also, while Warren Moon was on the wrong end of the “Greatest Comeback in NFL history”, Kirk was on the right side. Imagine if Kirk had been in the playoffs and did what Moon did? Maybe get into the Hall of Fame?
@"MaroonBells" said:@"Riphawkins" said:@"purplefaithful" said:@"StickyBun" said: The guy has an amazing attitude. Oozes leadership. Yet half the fanbase dislikes the guy. Its so weird.
Only one way to quiet haters....
Did San Diego fans hate Dan Fouts as much as Vikings fan hate Kirk? How about Warren Moon? How many fans and experts disrespected him as much Kirk gets disrespected?
I think more than anything the difference is with social media, which didn't exist back in the days of Fouts and Moon.Whether it's football, politics or culture wars, our social media feeds on Facebook, Twitter, even Google, are designed to push into "sides" or "camps" and keep us there.
For sure, many of the narratives written about Kirk in the past were just myths: "He's a check down Charlie who doesn't go deep." False, and always has been. Statistics show he's not only a good deep passer, but one of the best. "His stats are built in garbage time." Statistics show this also was demonstrably false.
But there were also narratives that even I believed to be mostly true. "He's not a leader; he's not clutch; he doesn't win; he's too risk averse." Winning is not a QB stat in my book, but the leader and risk averse thing were always my biggest complaints about Kirk.
I don't know that a QB has ever defeated narratives more convincingly than Kirk defeated these in '22. Under KOC's guidance, he became a much more vocal leader, he was uber-clutch, he was much less risk averse, and he won. A lot.
So I think we're out of narratives now. And I can see the Haters clinging onto each other, all perched on a tiny ledge called contract and age. It's all that's left.
I agree about Social Media thing. Everyone is an expert now! The Camps and Experts have kind of taken the fun out of it. Hell, it’s difficult coming here after a close win, and damn near impossible after a loss.
BTW, I was made fun of by someone here when I said the more simple times (before 24/7 coverage, mock drafts, 100 podcasts that call everyone else idiots) were more fun for me.
They posted a meme with a bunch of old people saying something like,What are Internets?
Like the average age here isn’t ancient as far as the internets go! We were all around a long time and are long suffering fans. A ton of fans would make fun of us for hanging out on a message board.
I think some of the restrictions Zimmer put on Kirk taking risks were gone last season. I also think he doesn’t like to fail, and that causes a problem when it comes to making a play. But maybe KOC will get him to play a little more loose.
I love the play against Arizona when Kirk took off running and KOC was kind of taken by surprise. I hope Kirk continues to grow under this coaching staff and the continuity of the offensive coordinator and by not having 2 or 3 new guys on the line in front of him every year.
Maybe 2024 is the year! I’m sure there will still be haters even if it happpens.
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