Cousins and KOC relationship
Its been pretty interesting to watch on the sidelines. Several heated exchanges between the two on the sidelines this year (mostly Kirk getting heated and KOC calmly listening/talking). I think Cousins is really sick of getting hit so much. I also think KOC wishes Cousins had less of a defeatist attitude when he makes a mistake. I also think KOC has done a few eye rolls when Cousins is forced to make a quick decision on his own situationally. I don't see it being adversarial, but I do think there's some frustration with each other. I like seeing a more animated Kirk, quite honestly. The turnovers are making everyone crazy.
I say all of this as a Kirk Cousins fan. But I also realize that his lack of movement and mobility in and out of the pocket can be problematic when you see other QBs deftly escape pressure and throw downfield for completions. He's incredibly accurate.....but the hits he's taken and a little desperation to overcome the turnovers has made for just a few bad throws on passes he normally completes. Not many, but a few situationally. And this is NOT a Kirk Cousins problem the team has. I don't believe that narrative. But I do for the first time feel that the competitive rebuild strategy needs to be moved on from. And IMO, I believe that the regime wants a different type of QB for what they want to accomplish. Whether they are successful in that remains to be seen but they are definitely going to draft TQBOTF next Spring.
This sucks. I believed in the competitive rebuild idea. But I can't ignore the writing on the wall anymore.
A reservation has been made for you at the Darkside Cafe.
I have a feeling it will be hard to get a table in a couple weeks.
Kirko held on to the ball too long yesterday.
@"JimmyinSD" said: A reservation has been made for you at the Darkside Cafe.I have a feeling it will be hard to get a table in a couple weeks.
Just looked at their IPA selection online.....nice.
Cousins doesn't need a coach to tell him to stop the clock at the end of
the game. Just when I want to like KCs, he always reminds me why he
just doesn't have "it". Oh well, nothing I can do about it except not
watch... bummer for us fans for sure.
@"HappyViking" said: Cousins doesn't need a coach to tell him to stop the clock at the end of the game. Just when I want to like KCs, he always reminds me why he just doesn't have "it". Oh well, nothing I can do about it except not watch... bummer for us fans for sure.
Yep. Kirk is fine but couldn’t help but think how many times I’ve watched Aaron Rodgers in similar situations directing traffic and making the smart football play. No one is confusing Kirk with Rodgers but for a vet that should’ve been elementary. KO shares just as much blame.
Kirk is a guy who needs permission. He needs routine, the script, safety, certainty. When the moment gets hectic and the stakes are big he's not feeling safe, and typically produces one of his patented brain-freeze wtf moments.
Yesterday's fuckup at the end was a guy waiting for permission to do what a qb has to do in that situation. The headphone is jammed? Go spike the ball. Decisive aggression is a trait the great qb's all have. Kirk doesn't do it without permission because it's not in his emotional makeup. His comments afterwards referenced doing just that in the Buffalo game last year and how it didn't work out. He's saying that he needs dad aka KOC to o.k. his actions and won't take any until then. He's also working to be let off the hook for whatever went wrong. No permission? Not my fault.
As for him and KOC squabbling on the sidelines, when Kirk fought with Theilan on the sidelines a few years back, it was about how Theilan wasn't running a route the way he was supposed to. Not following the script. Not having permission to do that. Just like Kirk needs permission, I think he feels others should stick to the same mentality. So is KOC doing stuff that's off-script, that Kirk doesn't approve of? I don't know.
@"comet52" said: Kirk is a guy who needs permission. He needs routine, the script, safety, certainty. When the moment gets hectic and the stakes are big he's not feeling safe, and typically produces one of his patented brain-freeze wtf moments.Yesterday's fuckup at the end was a guy waiting for permission to do what a qb has to do in that situation. The headphone is jammed? Go spike the ball. Decisive aggression is a trait the great qb's all have. Kirk doesn't do it without permission because it's not in his emotional makeup. His comments afterwards referenced doing just that in the Buffalo game last year and how it didn't work out. He's saying that he needs dad aka KOC to o.k. his actions and won't take any until then. He's also working to be let off the hook for whatever went wrong. No permission? Not my fault.
As for him and KOC squabbling on the sidelines, when Kirk fought with Theilan on the sidelines a few years back, it was about how Theilan wasn't running a route the way he was supposed to. Not following the script. Not having permission to do that. Just like Kirk needs permission, I think he feels others should stick to the same mentality. So is KOC doing stuff that's off-script, that Kirk doesn't approve of? I don't know.
Agree with everything you said. I think it also gives Kirk a scapegoat if things don't work out as planned. "Well I never got the play or somebody didn't run the right route". Part of it could also be that Zimmer pounded into his head don't make a mistake so Kirk is reluctant to not act unless given a specific direction. He has become somebody that can't or won't make quick decisions on his own and risk being called out. Not traits you want in a veteran that has been in the league as long as Kirk has.
I think KOC has done an incredibly poor job of building the offense around Cousins and this OL. I do not see any kind of effort to design plays around strengths and weaknesses. For example, take a look at what McDaniel has done with Tua and the Dolphins offense, Tua is also not mobile and not a great arm and they also do not have a great OL, so much of their offense is built around quick throws and short drops, they do not put Tua in a position where he is sitting in the pocket, he gets the snap and the ball is out. Cousins has a much stronger am and we could be running the same kind of offense especially with someone like Addison in the mix now. I am not sure if I have seen us run a slant all year and we rarely do short drops and quick throws, most of our plays are designed deep drops or screen passes.
It is ridiculous, we just keep putting Cousins out there as a sitting duck and I have no idea how he keeps getting up. I have so much respect for him and think he is the main reason we are competitive at all. I liked the KOC hire initially, but do not like what he has done with the team and think his play calling is the main reason we are 0-3.
Perhaps our QB isn’t reacting to playing for his next contract as anticipated, perhaps the pressure is more then just what our continuously porous OL allows…!
Time ticking down from 35 seconds as many Vikings players casually made their may back to the line of scrimmage while QB Kirk Cousins, quite the opposite, frantically held his hands over the ear holes of his helmet to glean what coach Kevin O'Connell wanted him to do.The ball wasn't snapped until there were 12 seconds left, and the resulting interception on the play was a fitting end to another frustrating day.
It also provided a bookend to a second half in which the Vikings thrived on big plays but died in the details — the biggest one being communication between the head coach and the quarterback, as Patrick Reusse and I talked about on Monday's Daily Delivery podcast.
A less consequential but equally interesting moment came on the first drive of the third quarter. The Vikings quickly reached midfield on a pair of strong Alexander Mattison runs before an incompletion set up third and 2.
Cousins was lined up in the shotgun with several short and intermediate receiving options. While under duress, a constant theme this season and really during most of Cousins' Vikings tenure, he threw deep and incomplete to Justin Jefferson. The Vikings punted.
After the play, O'Connell was shown by the Fox broadcast looking at least frustrated by the sequence of events, and then talking to Cousins as he came off the field.
After a commercial break, the broadcast showed even more of the conversation between the two before analyst Mark Sanchez, the former NFL quarterback, diagnosed what O'Connell might have wanted out of the play.
"He's got two routes underneath, one by (Alexander) Mattison and then you're going to see the under route on the outside by (K.J.) Osborn," Sanchez said. "He's throwing the deep route, but here you see the route underneath. ... I think Kevin thought he was going to (throw) back underneath. Uncharacteristic of Cousins."
It's hard to know exactly what O'Connell wanted, but it seems like Sanchez's guess was correct: That he saw a higher-percentage short throw that might have yielded a first down.
The exchange between coach and QB was hardly heated or demonstrative — nothing like Cousins in Week 1 — but it is illustrative of the disconnect that still shows up between what O'Connell sees and what he wants Cousins to see.
https://www.startribune.com/vikings-kirk-cousins-kevin-oconnell-randball/600307380/
He's no leader. He's not the only problem but he's not the solution either.
They should have moved on this offseason, dealt him for a 2nd round pick and not push any dead cap hits into 2024.
2024 a 1st round rookie QB (Maye, Penix, McCarthy) could have a nice set of FA OL in front of him, bookend tackles, and the best WR duo in the game to step into day 1
In the last 50 years of this team Cousins is the second hardest regular starting QB for me to watch.1. C. Ponder2. K. Cousins
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