Why Falcons Believe in QB Kirk Cousins Before Vikings Return

The Atlanta Falcons expect quarterback Kirk Cousins to play well Sunday against his former team, the Minnesota Vikings. His job may depend on it.

Atlanta Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins is hoping for a sweet homecoming Sunday against the Minnesota Vikings. / Brett Davis-Imagn Images

MINNEAPOLIS -- His eyes started on Week 1, then kickoff times, then primetime slots. Finally, he looked for an opponent: the Minnesota Vikings.

Atlanta Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins doesn’t put too much stock into the NFL’s schedule release, nor events that are seven months away from the May spectacle. This one, however, was different.

Cousins spent the past six years in Minnesota, starting 88 games while passing for 23,265 yards and 171 touchdowns. He led the team to two playoff appearances and publicly proclaimed he wanted to retire as a Viking.

But his dream didn’t come to fruition. This spring, the Falcons signed Cousins to a four-year contract worth up to $180 million. He received $90 million guaranteed over the first two years of the deal — Atlanta offered two fully guaranteed seasons, which Minnesota was unwilling to match.

So, Cousins became a Falcon. He wanted money and a chance to contend. Atlanta wanted a quarterback to help it snap a six-year playoff drought. The Vikings, on paper, wanted to prepare for the future.

Cousins said on the night of the schedule reveal that he was looking forward to seeing where both teams were when they met Dec. 8. He probably didn’t expect this.

***

Not one. Nor two. Or even three. But four.

In what Falcons head coach Raheem Morris later described as perhaps the worst game of his career, Cousins matched a career-worst four interceptions in Atlanta’s 17-13 home loss to the Los Angeles Chargers on Dec. 1.

The Falcons, who were coming off a bye week, had an eight-day rest advantage over the Chargers, who lost on Monday Night Football six days prior. It proved unfruitful for Atlanta, in large part due to a nightmare Sunday afternoon from Cousins.

Now, the Falcons (6-6) enter Minneapolis with three consecutive losses. Once holding a two-game lead over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for the NFC South crown, Atlanta’s advantage now rests only in its head-to-head tiebreaker.

And the road doesn’t get easier.

Contrary to preseason expectations, the Vikings (10-2) are one of the NFL’s best teams, led by resurgent quarterback Sam Darnold and standout defensive coordinator Brian Flores. Minnesota has routinely won close games, which Morris said reflects the tough-minded nature of Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell.

The Falcons, meanwhile, have lost a pair of games by 4 points or fewer during their three-game skid. The other was a 32-point blowout to the Denver Broncos.

Cousins hasn’t thrown a touchdown pass in any of Atlanta’s last three defeats, the longest drought in his NFL career. He leads the league in interceptions with 13, and the Falcons’ offense has scored only one touchdown over the past nine quarters.

Between his own struggles coinciding with his team’s slide and the emotions behind a long-awaited homecoming, Cousins has plenty of storylines surrounding him this week. But quarterbacks coach TJ Yates said Thursday that Cousins doesn’t carry the past week with him, for better or worse.

Whether it’s setting records, as he did with a franchise-best 509 passing yards against the Buccaneers in Week 5, or navigating through his current rough stretch, Cousins approaches each week the same: as a professional.

And part of being a long-tenured professional is battling periods of frustration and dissatisfaction.

“Just like any quarterback that’s had 13 years of constant starting, you’re going to have bad games. You’re going to have some bad stretches where you’re not playing as good as you want, or you’re not connected with the guys, whatever it is,” Yates said. “But he’s had so many of the good ones, and everybody’s going to have some of the bad ones.

“His ability to bounce back from those and continue on, that’s part of being the pro he is.”

Falcons offensive coordinator Zac Robinson, a three-year starting quarterback at Oklahoma State University in the late 2000s who later spent time on a handful of NFL practice squads, said lots of quarterbacks get humbled. Some are drafted in the first round and last only two seasons.

Football, Robinson said, is a hard game, and quarterback is a hard position.

“There’s so many things that go into the quarterback position, and to say you're just going to be striving every single week with that consistent performance is really unrealistic,” Robinson said. “There's only a handful of guys in the history of the game that when you look at the entirety of a season, you're saying, ‘Oh, man, he had one bad game here, one bad game [there].’”

Yates said Cousins is as level as it gets, and Cousins noted he finds comfort in repeating the same process each week. But Cousins also acknowledged he’s human, and that entails riding the highs and lows more than one may want. It’s difficult to always remain stoic.

For Cousins, however, it may be easier than most.

“All I know to do is to keep going, get back to work, find a way to get back up and keep going,” Cousins said.

***

During the Falcons’ bye in Week 12, Cousins took his family to see the movie Wicked. He sang the musical as a high schooler and muttered the lyrics while watching the movie. He wanted to organize movie nights with the offense over the summer. He’s a movie aficionado.

Naturally, Cousins likes a good sports story, too. His qualifies.

When Cousins was a junior at Holland Christian High School in 2005, he broke his ankle and didn’t think he’d ever get the chance to play college football. He was lightly recruited out of high school and signed late to play at Michigan State University. He didn’t know if he’d get a chance to play beyond college.

The now-Washington Commanders drafted Cousins in the fourth round in 2012 — three rounds after they selected quarterback Robert Griffin III at No. 2 overall. Cousins thought Washington was a dead end.

He started 57 games in Washington, even though he was benched during his third year and was a 24-point comeback away from being benched again in his fourth year.

Cousins said his journey has been all over the map. His season has, too. But for Cousins, the fairytale story of his lengthy NFL career is one about beating the odds. Amid accusations of his skill set diminishing and calls for first-round pick and backup quarterback Michael Penix Jr. to replace him, Cousins is ready to do it again.

“My journey is, it always kicks you down and you’ve got to find a way to get back up and find myself there again” Cousins said. “I wish I could say I wasn't in that spot, but I find myself there again. I have to just believe that tough times don't last, tough people do. You just keep going and pushing.

“And at some point, they'll tell you, ‘Hey, you're not going to get another chance. Your time is up in this league.’ But until then, I'm going to keep trying to pick myself up off the mat and get back to work.”

If Cousins were to check social media, he’d probably see a handful of people telling him exactly that — or that his mechanics are off, or he should’ve made a different read on a specific play.

But the same comments and videos came after Week 1, when Cousins threw for only 155 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions in an 18-10 home loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. By Week 9, when the Falcons were 6-3 and Cousins had two NFC Offensive Player of the Weeks titles under his belt, no such content was created.

“This guy’s been doing this for a long time,” Yates said. “You’ve got all these former quarterbacks going online and just absolutely want to pick apart everything somebody’s got to do, which is hilarious to me, because I know some of those guys.

“That’s just the nature of the beast, the nature of the media. Everybody wants to hop on Twitter and make their own video, be the Monday morning quarterback.”

Yates added there are always things to work on, and Cousins is always ready to listen — but only to what matters, and from people whose opinions matter. He’s focused on implementing whatever the Falcons are working on each day, whether it be third downs, redzones or protections.

As game plans change each week, so too does footwork and the ideas the Falcons employ. Such details aren’t going to always look the same, but Yates said Cousins has been professional in his commitment to getting better and working on anything he can.

Now, Cousins is hoping his work nets a breakthrough performance in Minneapolis. He said Wednesday he wished he could play the game that day because he so desperately wanted to wash the bitter, four-interception taste out of his mouth.

Instead, he’s been forced to wait until Sunday — but his mission remains the same.

“We’ve got to get back on the right track,” Cousins said. “And the best thing we can do is get another game here.”

***

Cousins has lived through this before. The struggles, yes. But also going back to a place he called home for six years.

On Nov. 6, 2022, Cousins and the Vikings traveled to the nation’s capital for the first time since Cousins left the Commanders after the 2017 season. He had an up-and-down day, completing 22-of-40 passes for 265 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. The Vikings won 20-17 on a late field goal.

Cousins expects a hostile environment from the Minnesota faithful Sunday, but he’s not sure what else will come his way. He does, however, think he’ll encounter a few of the same challenges faced during his return to Washington — starting with finding the visitors’ locker room.

“I'd been to the Washington stadium many, many, many times, but had never been to it in that way,” Cousins said. “Kind of felt like a rookie in that sense. So, that'll have that same feeling, I assume, on Sunday where it's, ‘Okay, I've been here many times, but in this way, this is the first.’

“There's certainly some unique experiences there, but at the end of the day, you're there to go play a football game and go play your best and win. That's where your focus is.”

Cousins noted when he usually plays on the road, he doesn’t know too many people. That will differ in Minneapolis, though he’ll wait until after the game to do most of his reconnecting.

There are 50 or so members of the Vikings’ organization, from players to staff, who he’s excited to see. Then, there’s John Weber, the man who lived across the cul-de-sac from the Cousins family’s home in Minnesota. Weber represents so much of what’s great about Minnesota, Cousins said, and significantly helped Cousins and his family during their six years together.

Sometimes, relationships end in dramatic fashion. Much was made of Cousins’ exit from Minnesota, but he remains grateful for the people, success and organizational structure he found with the Vikings.

After all, he says, the Vikings took a chance on him as a free agent in the spring of 2018. His coaches, teammates and support staff lived through the highs of playoff berths and the lows of his season-ending Achilles tear in 2023 that ultimately proved to end his time in Minnesota.

So, instead of feeling strange or getting a sense of added motivation, Cousins feels gratitude — and while he recognizes he’ll have memories come back to him Sunday, he also acknowledged such a situation is merely part of the nature of the NFL.

“I think for so many players in this league, we've all kind of been on other teams. It's rare to play double-digit years with one team,” Cousins said. “So, for so many of us, it's kind of the way of life when you play in this league.”

And as a result, the week leading into Sunday’s game has been business-as-usual.

“He never really changes much,” Yates said. “You can’t tell if this was going back to Minnesota or the next game or the last game. He’s the ultimate pro.”

The Falcons, however, are doing Vikings-specific things for Cousins. Morris said Atlanta didn’t utilize the patented “ostrich technique,” where one ignores confrontation and, like an ostrich, essentially buries its head in the sand.

Instead, Morris and the Falcons addressed Cousins’ return to Minnesota head-on, dubbing it “the elephant in the room.” Atlanta wants to structure everything to be clean and straightforward for Cousins so he can have a clear mind when he hits the U.S. Bank Stadium turf Sunday afternoon.

There’s no doubt it’s a big week for the 36-year-old Cousins, Morris said, and the Falcons expect a loud environment that, when paired with the natural juices of a return to a prior home and the hopes of putting last week’s struggles in the past, could lead to a difficult afternoon.

But Atlanta expects Cousins to be at his best when his best is required.

“I've got so much confidence in the young man just bouncing through his deal, dealing with whatever he wants to do, being ready to go out there and play his old team and absolutely perform,” Morris said. “He has a couple of old teams, so he's done it before, and I look forward to him doing it again.”

***

Every superhero has a villain trying to thwart his or her storybook ending. For Cousins, it’s Flores. Cousins practiced against Flores the entire 2023 offseason through his final practice snap entering Week 8.

But in pro football, one year is an eternity — and Cousins said he doesn’t think he has as many secret advantages from his past with Flores as one may believe.

“I think the way they've changed their personnel, the way they've evolved, the way at the time those players were playing the scheme for the first time — I think now many of those players who would still be there are so much more experienced in the scheme as well,” Cousins said.

Minnesota’s defense has, by in large, been stellar. It leads the NFL in run defense (81.3 yards per game) and interceptions (18). The Vikings have 39 sacks, fourth-most in the league and most among those who’ve played 12 games, and they boast the fifth-best scoring defense, allowing only 18.3 points per contest. They’re 12th in total defense at 324.7 yards allowed per game.

However, the unit has its flaws. Minnesota ranks No. 28 in pass defense, giving up 243.3 yards per game through the air. The Vikings’ defense has committed 94 penalties, the third-most among any unit in the league.

In essence, Minnesota is both stingy yet exploitable. Cousins said the Vikings’ production and record is deserved, and figuring out Flores will be a challenge for the Falcons on Sunday.

“He’s able to mix it up,” Morris said. “It's been years of changing different things, but obviously the zero he presents and the challenge he presents with that, the bluff zeros and bluffing out of that stuff and the challenge he presents with that going to the two highs and things of that nature. A lot of people do it. He's perfected it and done it at a high level.

“And then this year he's done different things with his front. He's done different things with the guys in position to play like base, play like penny, be at interchangeable parts. He does a nice job of being able to perform those things.”

Few have been able to solve the Flores puzzle. Cousins doesn’t think his past in Minnesota will do much to help the Falcons find answers. It won’t stop them from trying.

“Kirk takes a thousand notes. He’s got his notepad. He's got everything from his time he spent there going against them in training camp and an offseason program,” Robinson said. “We'll certainly lean on Kirk's overall feel for the defense as well as what we're seeing on tape this season, knowing they've got different personnel. They've got all those different things.

“They're adjusting just like every other defense and offense they're involved in. We’ll certainly take what Kirk knows as well as what we're seeing on tape this season.” 

***

Cousins and Morris met Monday to recap — and flush — the loss to Los Angeles. The meeting is nothing new. Cousins enjoys communicating through voice memos, sending audio messages to Yates, Robinson and some of his teammates.

Morris isn’t a voice memo guy, nor does he usually send long text messages. He prefers phone calls and in-person communication. Beyond their Monday meeting, Cousins and Morris talk regularly in passing.

The frequency of their discussions hasn’t been higher than usual leading into Sunday’s game against the Vikings, Morris said. The topic of conversation, meanwhile, has changed — but that’s also an ordinary happenstance.

“The content of the conversations can't be the same,” Morris said. “There's always something that's going to be talked about. There's always things that have to be addressed, and we address those things together. Those things change from a week-to-week standpoint — what they are and how they are and how we go about our business.”

Thus, it’s been a normal week for Cousins, even in the midst of a rough patch. Rather than hitting the panic button, the Falcons are looking for ways to get better. They evaluated everything during their bye week but returned to more of the same — plenty of yards but an inability to finish drives in the redzone. Atlanta scored a touchdown on only one of its four trips inside the Chargers’ 20-yard line last Sunday.

Perhaps the most difficult aspect of improving stems from the Falcons’ belief there’s no common theme in their offensive struggles. Each play is its own entity, Robinson said, which leads to questionable moments about specific plays or play-calls, but nothing on a broader scale that suggests it needs attention.

“You're trying to find all those (solutions) — you're looking back at things, and then a lot of times you come back and say, ‘Oh, man, it was just a bad play here, a bad play there, a bad play call here,’’ Robinson said. “So, you just kind of keep it moving, and that's the way the NFL works.”

Morris has adopted a similar mindset to Cousins’ turnovers. He’s thrown six interceptions in the past three games and at least one in each contest. But Morris is unconcerned, because, simply put, he doesn’t think Cousins will continue giving the ball away.

“It would be concerning if I thought it was repeatable for him to go and do that because he just couldn't see it or didn't know what he was doing,” Morris said. “So, it's not like a concerning thing. Could it happen again? I mean, anything can happen in football.

“But I'm not concerned about it happening with Kirk just because of the knowledge base he has, the amount of attention and the detail he'll put into his work moving forward.”

Perhaps nothing better summarizes Atlanta’s current outlook on Cousins than that: a defined understanding that he needs to be better, and confidence that he will be.

But why believe in Cousins? Why expect an aging quarterback who suffered a major injury 13 ½ months ago to play like his former self?

Because to the Falcons, Cousins’ body of work this season — and the four Pro Bowl nods he’s received throughout his career — show he’s worthy of such optimism.

“He's done a great job for us,” Morris said. “And I have no real qualms about him bouncing back and him being able to play the game the way it needs to be done. He's still an elite processor. He has the ability to make all the throws. He's shown that throughout times of the year.”

Morris wouldn’t go as far as saying Cousins has been inconsistent, but Morris acknowledged the Falcons need to get Cousins feeling comfortable again so he can spread the ball around to Atlanta’s playmakers and help the offense execute at a winning level.

But the latter responsibility falls on the Falcons’ entire offense, not just Cousins, according to Morris. Robinson, who oversees the unit, agrees.

“It’s not all on Kirk. It's on us as coaches. It's on the rest of the guys executing, being in the right spot at all the right times,” Robinson said. “There's a lot that goes into 22 moving parts on a football field all at one time. Certainly, can't put everything just on the quarterback. Because everybody sees the quarterback, it doesn't mean that it's directly just on him.”

Robinson said he believes Cousins has received too much backlash in light of his recent struggles, but he and Morris both pointed out it comes with the territory of playing quarterback at the sport’s highest level.

So does riding the rollercoaster of highs and lows. Cousins, entering his homecoming at 1 p.m. Sunday inside U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, is currently on a significant downslope.

Whether the tracks turn upward or continue sliding down remains to be seen. The Falcons think they know — and they’re excited for him to prove it.

“Kirk's going to keep swinging,” Robinson said. “He's going to keep shooting, and he's just going to get back at it and get back to work, which is exactly what he's done. He's the same guy every single day, and so he'll bounce back. We know he will.”