It was a bad first game, which can happen. But what if it was more than that? What if Kirk Cousins wasn’t just rusty? What if he’s really and truly not ready? What then?
Confession: This correspondent isn’t a fan of conspiracy theories. Sometimes a cigar, as the doctor from Vienna suggested, is just a cigar. Sometimes – oftentimes, if you’re the Falcons – you stink out the joint on opening day. And then they, and we, move on.
There’s your disclaimer. Back to the “but.”
As internet sleuths have noted, Cousins wasn’t just constricted by circumstance in Week 1. He appeared to have been limited by design. From Doug Farrar of SB Nation: “Not one of Cousins’ 25 attempts had the benefit of play-action. On 24 of his 25 passing attempts, he stayed in the pocket. All 25 of those passing attempts came out of shotgun or pistol – not one passing attempt from under center.”
From ESPN’s Ben Solak: “The Falcons were in pistol or shotgun on 96 percent of their snaps.”
The pistol aligns one running back beside a QB taking a long snap. The shotgun has no RB in the backfield. That the Falcons scarcely tried to disguise what they were doing suggests there are things Cousins can’t yet do – like drop back to pass, even if the dropback entails five steps.
From Farrar, who noted Cousins didn’t try to dodge an up-the-gut rush on either interception: “It was as if there was a label on QB1 that said, ‘DO NOT SCRAMBLE.’”
Had Cousins thrown for 300 yards against Pittsburgh, we wouldn’t be having these thoughts. But he didn’t, and how can we not? The Falcons’ play-calls Sunday seemed tailored not to confuse the Steelers but to save their quarterback steps. We see how well that worked.
For the record, Falcons coach Raheem Morris said Monday: “I feel like Kirk is healthy. He’s been healthy since he’s been here.”
Amid the hubbub over the Cousins signing – $180 million over four years, and tampering to boot! – a significant point was obscured. He underwent surgery to repair a torn Achilles on Nov. 1, 2023. That’s a major injury for an athlete of any age. At the time of his procedure, Cousins was 35. He’s 36 now.
Another confession: I assumed the Falcons wouldn’t have signed him if they had any reason to believe he wouldn’t be ready for the 2024 season. That he was withheld from exhibition games seemed a function of caution. Sunday’s performance – Cousins finished with 155 yards passing, 19 in the second half – leads us to wonder if the intent was to hide him as long as possible.
From Solak: “Let me draw a hypothetical universe for you – one in which, somewhere between the mid-March signing of Cousins and late-April drafting of (Michael) Penix (Jr.), the Falcons became a lot more concerned about Cousins’ long-term health than they had been previously … (If) the Falcons were seeing then what we’re seeing now, I could start to understand the Penix pick a little better.”
Final confession: I’d never considered that scenario. But, having read Solak’s words, I can’t unsee them – and down the rabbit hole we go. If the Falcons lose to Philadelphia and Kansas City behind a still-halting Cousins, do they turn to Penix? If the rookie lifts them from 0-3 to 3-3, do they ever reinstate the guy they signed for $180M?
No, they’re not there yet. Win in Philly and Cousins will be saying – as Cousins once said – “You like THAT!” For today, we’ll exit by tipping our cap to the Falcons, who never cease to entertain. They’ve played one game, and already we’re pondering the imponderable.
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