Interview with Rich Eisen, Kirk Cousins Sheds Light on ‘Disappointing’ Falcons Debut

In a recent interview with NFL Network's Rich Eisen, Kirk Cousins breaks down his performance against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Atlanta Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins was a sitting duck against the Pittsburgh Steelers. / Dale Zanine-Imagn Images

The Atlanta Falcons' new signal caller, Kirk Cousins, had a rough debut with the team despite plenty of anticipation and excitement surrounding the team’s offense. He threw his first touchdown of the season to tight end Kyle Pitts on an excellent two-minute drill at the end of the first half.

KYLE PITTS TOUCHDOWN.

📺: #PITvsATL on FOX
📱: https://t.co/waVpO909ge pic.twitter.com/mEmlF3kpGP

— NFL (@NFL) September 8, 2024

However, things did not go as planned in the second half. The Pittsburgh Steelers defense suffocated Cousins and the offense, limiting them to just eight pass attempts. 

In an interview Wednesday morning on the Rich Eisen Show, the veteran entering his 13th NFL season was genuine and transparent regarding his performance and health status after last Sunday’s contest.  Rich Eisen also did a remarkable job asking the questions everyone has been yearning to learn more about. 

💻 @KirkCousins8

Talked with the #RiseUp quarterback on his return, and unfortunately, the disappointing performance and result in Week 1 against Pittsburgh:#NFL pic.twitter.com/SAEqPzeUov

— Rich Eisen Show (@RichEisenShow) September 11, 2024

Eisen: “What’s the sense of your Week 1 performance and result?”

Cousins: “Disappointing, it just wasn’t clean enough, crisp enough, and we paid for it. The results kinda show to go watch the tape.”

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Eisen: “Would you say you had rust since you hadn’t played a snap since your Achilles injury?”

Cousins: “I don’t know that it’s rust. I think it’s a level of new for all of us. We are all kinda working together for the first time. We played a strong defense, and we just didn’t execute up to our standard, which involves so many things: timing up motions, formations, and play clock. The subtleties of the operation of football, which we have to be much sharper at moving forward.”

Eisen: "How did you feel after the game?"

Cousins: “I felt good, really good. I didn’t take any big hits in Week 1 so I just have your typical soreness but nothing too excessive. I was really pleased with how my ankle felt, not just the Achilles, but my ankle felt - really felt good.”

For many reasons, Eisen’s interview with the Atlanta captain should be uplifting news for Atlanta fans. As he said in his closing part of the interview, there is still plenty of season left to turn things in the right direction after a difficult debut.