Twitter Murders Kirk Cousins

[Dr. Strangelove]

Those 9 fumbles have him sitting in a 4-way ties for 10th in the NFL among QBs, and considering how shitty his OL was - as you mentioned - several of those are probably just as much on them, so I'm not going to throw him under the bus for that.

Playing scared, I guess I just haven't seen him play as much, but that never seemed to be his thing in Washington. Getting used to a new team, new players, new coaches, etc. are going to probably lead to a guy playing a bit conservatively at first, so I'd expect those errors to start to be corrected next year with a higher level of comfort with his supporting cast.

If you're giving Cousins shit, you should be giving shit to every QB in the NFL not named Brady, Rivers, Watson, Wilson, Brees, Mahomes, or Mayfield basically. The rest all have issues -

Matt Ryan had more fumbles and took more sacks

Rodgers had fewer TDs, took way more sacks, and had a way lower comp % and a lower QB rating

Carr, Cam, Jimmy G, Stafford, Dalton, Flacco are all high dollar QBs who didn't have anywhere near as good a season as Cousins

I'm not saying the team shouldn't shoulder some blame including the coaching but I was able to see a few Vikes games up here and the guy just did not play well when it mattered. There were a few games that he played well like the Rams one and I lay that one on the defense but at times, the guy looked lost out there. Wasn't reading defenses, missing throws to open receivers, holding onto the ball when check downs were right in front of him, etc. It was a lot of the same things we saw in Washington and why they wouldn't give him a long term deal. The guy just doesn't have the "it" factor when it counts. It has more to do with passing the eye test, I suppose.

And, fwiw, I do give shit to every QB including the guy on my team when it's warranted. There are games when these guys just don't cut it and like it or not, that's what they sign the big deals for. In a league that sets the rules to give these guys advantages, they need to be called out when they under perform and Cousins did that at key times in several games. He got away with a couple of them because they were playing bad teams.

The Staffords, Carrs,Flaccos, etc are over paid trash and we all know it. Cousins isn't awful but average isn't enough. No sympathy for the guy. Just imo, mind you. I have seen nothing from the guy to make me believe he will ever be a franchise QB.

 

[Across The Field]

Yes and they rushed less so Kirk could throw. The big investment. And he didn’t pay off

But again, that's not on Cousins. He had a job to do, and he did it well, better than the prior year's QB. This is why I have a problem pinning team success on one player. Flip the 2 years around from a defensive standpoint, and we're having a very different discussion.

 

[GNG]

Kirk Cousins tried to do something nice for Vikings fans and it immediately backfired

In case you don't want to click the link, Cousins was offering to give away a signed jersey, football or mini-helmet and asked what else Vikings fans would want him to give away. Here are some replies:

Give yourself away to another team!

Some of that CAP SPACE

Roughly $84 million

You had enough giveaways during the season, we don’t need anymore

The Vikings have fair weather fans.

 

[GNG]

Sounds like another episode of "It's the QBs fault".

It was Dak's fault the Cowboys didn't make it to the SB.

 

[Across The Field]

I'm not saying the team shouldn't shoulder some blame including the coaching but I was able to see a few Vikes games up here and the guy just did not play well when it mattered. There were a few games that he played well like the Rams one and I lay that one on the defense but at times, the guy looked lost out there. Wasn't reading defenses, missing throws to open receivers, holding onto the ball when check downs were right in front of him, etc. It was a lot of the same things we saw in Washington and why they wouldn't give him a long term deal. The guy just doesn't have the "it" factor when it counts. It has more to do with passing the eye test, I suppose.

And, fwiw, I do give shit to every QB including the guy on my team when it's warranted. There are games when these guys just don't cut it and like it or not, that's what they sign the big deals for. In a league that sets the rules to give these guys advantages, they need to be called out when they under perform and Cousins did that at key times in several games. He got away with a couple of them because they were playing bad teams.

The Staffords, Carrs,Flaccos, etc are over paid trash and we all know it. Cousins isn't awful but average isn't enough. No sympathy for the guy. Just imo, mind you. I have seen nothing from the guy to make me believe he will ever be a franchise QB.

Very fair points. I'll defer to you as it's clear you've watched him more closely than I have, but again, I think the real judgement should come this year, as he's no longer the new guy in town. They don't seem to have much in terms of turnover coming it seems, though I'd hope they address that absolutely horrible offensive line (29th in the league when you're paying $26m per to a QB is just idiocy).

 

[Dolemite censored]

Kirk Cousins tried to do something nice for Vikings fans and it immediately backfired

In case you don't want to click the link, Cousins was offering to give away a signed jersey, football or mini-helmet and asked what else Vikings fans would want him to give away. Here are some replies:

Give yourself away to another team!

Some of that CAP SPACE

Roughly $84 million

You had enough giveaways during the season, we don’t need anymore

Another reason to avoid Twitter.

 

[Dolemite censored]

My opinion of this site is now lower.

Duh. Took you long enough.

 

[megalodon30]

Case Keenum and Joe Flacco are going to make you wish Cousins had gone to Denver instead of Minnesota.

All 3 QBs are garbage. I'd much rather have someone other than any of those 3 goofballs.

 

[Sharkonabicycle]

I really don't know what everyone expected. He threw for 30 TDs, 4,300 yards, and a QB rating of 100. Yet pussy Vikings fans are going to get salty at Kirk Cousins? You think Case Keenum was going to lead you to the promised land?

How about you blame their interior offensive line which is quite possibly the worst in the league and the fact they barely ran the ball at all let alone averaged poorly when doing so.

They also had a fairly difficult schedule and most of the games they lost were not games that 'should've been won.'

Minny was a Super Bowl contender and favorite so it's certainly a busted year, but I'd hardly blame Kirk Cousins as the sole reason for their record. Instead I'd look at the coaching/playcalling from DeFilippo and fire whoever was put in charge of that offensive line. Oh wait, that's right, there were CO-offensive line coaches. Well maybe that's why your offensive line seemed to have zero philosophy and sucked ass.

And sure Kirk Cousins fumbled a lot over the course of the season, but again I'll point to his shit offensive line for that reasoning as the Vikings have one of the worst OLs in the business.

All said, the NFL is a team sport, and it took everyone working together to fuck that season up.

 

[Duffman]

But again, that's not on Cousins. He had a job to do, and he did it well, better than the prior year's QB. This is why I have a problem pinning team success on one player. Flip the 2 years around from a defensive standpoint, and we're having a very different discussion.

But you're argument falls apart when you realize Keenum had a bad O-Line in Minnesota too and he did better than Cousins. If Keenum had a great O-Line and Cousins did not then you could say that but they were equally shitty for both QB's.

Also perhaps the Vikings could've improved that O-Line if they didn't spend $84 million on a QB.

 

[Duffman]

I really don't know what everyone expected. He threw for 30 TDs, 4,300 yards, and a QB rating of 100. Yet pussy Vikings fans are going to get salty at Kirk Cousins? You think Case Keenum was going to lead you to the promised land?

How about you blame their interior offensive line which is quite possibly the worst in the league and the fact they barely ran the ball at all let alone averaged poorly when doing so.

They also had a fairly difficult schedule and most of the games they lost were not games that 'should've been won.'

Minny was a Super Bowl contender and favorite so it's certainly a busted year, but I'd hardly blame Kirk Cousins as the sole reason for their record. Instead I'd look at the coaching/playcalling from DeFilippo and fire whoever was put in charge of that offensive line. Oh wait, that's right, there were CO-offensive line coaches. Well maybe that's why your offensive line seemed to have zero philosophy and sucked ass.

And sure Kirk Cousins fumbled a lot over the course of the season, but again I'll point to his shit offensive line for that reasoning as the Vikings have one of the worst OLs in the business.

Yes, he had a very good Kirk Cousins type season, puts up all the stats you'd ever want but can't turn that into wins.

And if you want to blame his O-Line you can but then you'll have to explain how Keenum the year prior performed better with the same shitty O-Line. Keenum certainly didn't have the stats Cousins had but he definitely had the wins And yes it's a team sport but the Vikings as a team certainly did better with Average Case Keenum than they did with stat master Kirk Cousins.

 

[The Derski]

Despicable behavior from Viking fans.

 

[Across The Field]

But you're argument falls apart when you realize Keenum had a bad O-Line in Minnesota too and he did better than Cousins. If Keenum had a great O-Line and Cousins did not then you could say that but they were equally shitty for both QB's.

Also perhaps the Vikings could've improved that O-Line if they didn't spend $84 million on a QB.

The Vikings OL ranked 22nd in 2017 and 29th in 2018, and no, Keenum was not better than Cousins. Lower comp%, lower QB rating, 7 fewer TDs but only 3 fewer INTs. Thankfully the Vikings' defense was much better in 2017 than 2018. Also - Don't forget they lost not only one of the top OCs in the league after 2017, but their OL coach also passed away before this last season. On top of that, their top rated offensive lineman (Joe Berger) retired after 2017, and they lost Jerick McKinnon, who was the 8th best RB in the entire NFL when it came to pass-blocking grade in 2017.

Cousins shouldn't get blamed for the contract that Minnesota's front office voluntarily offered him. That's on them.

 

[Sharkonabicycle]

Yes, he had a very good Kirk Cousins type season, puts up all the stats you'd ever want but can't turn that into wins.

And if you want to blame his O-Line you can but then you'll have to explain how Keenum the year prior performed better with the same shitty O-Line. Keenum certainly didn't have the stats Cousins had but he definitely had the wins And yes it's a team sport but the Vikings as a team certainly did better with Average Case Keenum than they did with stat master Kirk Cousins.

Minny's offensive line was better in 17' than 18', and while it wasn't great (around bottom 10) it wasn't atrocious as it's become now, and I'll blame that on having double OLINE coaches, which seems confusing and a conflict of style/management.

In addition to that, Minnesota ran the ball 150 times less in 2018 compared to 2017. That's a drop of 30%! We saw how well Wilson/Seattle did with running the ball more to take pressure off the passing game and defense.

Minnesota with 'legendary' Keenum also went from having one of the easiest schedules in 2017 to one of the hardest in 2018, with Chicago vastly improved and Rodgers not being out for half the season (BOTH games Minny played GB in 2017 featured the amazing Brett Hundley!).

Minnesota IMO had an identity crisis with their offensive gameplan all year and no shock that DeFilippo got fired and picked up with another shit organization in Jacksonville who couldn't even hold it together for 2 seasons.

 

[Duffman]

The Vikings OL ranked 22nd in 2017 and 29th in 2018, and no, Keenum was not better than Cousins. Lower comp%, lower QB rating, 7 fewer TDs but only 3 fewer INTs. Thankfully the Vikings' defense was much better in 2017 than 2018. Also - Don't forget they lost not only one of the top OCs in the league after 2017, but their OL coach also passed away before this last season. On top of that, their top rated offensive lineman (Joe Berger) retired after 2017, and they lost Jerick McKinnon, who was the 8th best RB in the entire NFL when it came to pass-blocking grade in 2017.

Cousins shouldn't get blamed for the contract that Minnesota's front office voluntarily offered him. That's on them.

And they chose to try to fix that by bringing in a high priced QB over fixing positions they desperately needed. Perhaps instead of paying 84 million for Cousins they could’ve paid 34 million for Keenum and then spent that extra money on an O-Lineman or 2.

I’m not saying Cousins deserves the majority of the blame for Minnesota regressing this year but it’s hard to argue with knowing they went after a quarterback who is mostly known for putting up big stats but not winning and got rid of a quarterback who proved to them that it doesn’t take big stats to win and they could spend money on other positions they needed more than QB.

 

[Across The Field]

Minny's offensive line was better in 17' than 18', and while it wasn't great (around bottom 10) it wasn't atrocious as it's become now, and I'll blame that on having double OLINE coaches, which seems confusing and a conflict of style/management.

In addition to that, Minnesota ran the ball 150 times less in 2018 compared to 2017. That's a drop of 30%! We saw how well Wilson/Seattle did with running the ball more to take pressure off the passing game and defense.

Minnesota with 'legendary' Keenum also went from having one of the easiest schedules in 2017 to one of the hardest in 2018, with Chicago vastly improved and Rodgers not being out for half the season (BOTH games Minny played GB in 2017 featured the amazing Brett Hundley!).

Minnesota IMO had an identity crisis with their offensive gameplan all year and no shock that DeFilippo got fired and picked up with another shit organization in Jacksonville who couldn't even hold it together for 2 seasons.

Forgot about this, excellent point as well.

 

[Iggloo]

While I think the o-line problems were very real, I still think Cousins is just a mediocre player. Yes, you can cite the o-line as a negative, but how about his receivers as a positive? Arguably the best WR duo in the NFL outside of maybe Pittsburgh, and he was just decent.

 

[Duffman]

Minny's offensive line was better in 17' than 18', and while it wasn't great (around bottom 10) it wasn't atrocious as it's become now, and I'll blame that on having double OLINE coaches, which seems confusing and a conflict of style/management.

In addition to that, Minnesota ran the ball 150 times less in 2018 compared to 2017. That's a drop of 30%! We saw how well Wilson/Seattle did with running the ball more to take pressure off the passing game and defense.

Minnesota with 'legendary' Keenum also went from having one of the easiest schedules in 2017 to one of the hardest in 2018, with Chicago vastly improved and Rodgers not being out for half the season (BOTH games Minny played GB in 2017 featured the amazing Brett Hundley!).

Minnesota IMO had an identity crisis with their offensive gameplan all year and no shock that DeFilippo got fired and picked up with another shit organization in Jacksonville who couldn't even hold it together for 2 seasons.

Yes their Offensive Line and Running game were worse, and if they didn’t pay Cousins 84 million they could’ve brought in people to help improve those positions.

Keenum turned the ball over 8 times with Minnesota while Cousins turned the ball over 17 times. I honestly don’t think having 30 touchdowns is worth doubling the turnover ratio from the guy you replaced.

And I’m not even saying Keenum is better than Cousins I know cousins is better but they paid Cousins a shit ton of money, didn’t improve positions they desperately needed because they payed Cousins a shit ton of money, and then wonder why they got worse.

 

[packerzrule]

Kirk Cousins tried to do something nice for Vikings fans and it immediately backfired

In case you don't want to click the link, Cousins was offering to give away a signed jersey, football or mini-helmet and asked what else Vikings fans would want him to give away. Here are some replies:

Give yourself away to another team!

Some of that CAP SPACE

Roughly $84 million

You had enough giveaways during the season, we don’t need anymore

Laughed so hard, almost blew snot out!

 

[Across The Field]

And they chose to try to fix that by bringing in a high priced QB over fixing positions they desperately needed. Perhaps instead of paying 84 million for Cousins they could’ve paid 34 million for Keenum and then spent that extra money on an O-Lineman or 2.

I’m not saying Cousins deserves the majority of the blame for Minnesota regressing this year but it’s hard to argue with knowing they went after a quarterback who is mostly known for putting up big stats but not winning and got rid of a quarterback who proved to them that it doesn’t take big stats to win and they could spend money on other positions they needed more than QB.

Again, the money is not on Cousins. All he did was sign on the dotted line. Let me know the next time a QB on the FA market voluntarily gives money back to the team to get more players. Besides, you don't have to spend huge money to have a good OL. I have little doubt Minnesota would've been worse this year with Keenum instead of Cousins. He was a total fluke in 2017, while Cousins has been a solid to very good QB for basically his entire career.

The Vikings have $7mil in cap space, and are set to gain more by letting go of Everson Griffen ($11.5m freed up cap space post-June 1), and have a great chance to improve the OL in the draft.