September 19, 2021; Glendale, Arizona, USA; Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousin (8) in the second half against the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium. Compulsory Credit: Billy Hardyman – USA Today Sports
While we were busy dissecting every decision of QC Adopho-Mensah when drafting, scheduling and launching OTA, some interesting things happened.
One of these is a tweet from a parody account NFC Answer News.
The tweet included a fake quote from Aaron Rogers about Kirk’s cousin. In the quote, it claims that Rogers and cousins spend time with each other in the offseason. In addition, it says that both Aaron Rogers and Kirk Cousin would be the best quarterbacks in franchise history if they played for the Bears or the Lions.
Here are the tweets for reference:
Of course, none of this tweet is based on reality. However, even if it is real, it will not be completely untrue. Rogers will undoubtedly be the best quarterback in the history of the franchise. The Cousins are probably the best quarterback in Bears history and second only to Matthew Stafford for the Lions.
Whether or not this tweet is fake, it has created a controversy to destroy Twitter. This inevitably led to some surprisingly horrible adoption about cousins. Including:
Let’s break this brutal tweet.
Cousin is an excellent deep ball passer
First and foremost, regardless of your opinion of Cousin, you must admit that he threw a great deep ball. Each single metric proves this again and again. Heck, even Mike Zimmer, who had suspicions about his cousins, has repeatedly admitted it.
Fortunately, fellow author of the Vikings Territory, Janick Eckert, was there to direct him to the truth.
As Eckhardt tweeted, the Cousins are basically perfect when throwing 10-20 yards downfield towards the sidelines. Anything above 20 yards downfield, its passer rating is well above the league average. So much so that you can classify it as “elite”.
Cousins is one of the best deep-ball throwers in the league. This should come as no surprise to anyone. If you deny this fact, you have a tendency to dislike him.
Acknowledging the good things in a player is as important as you doing the bad things. This way you can identify the design of a crime. Let the player do more frequently than they already do at an elite level.
The Vikings’ offensive line has been brutal
Another big mistake of the tweet was that the cousins had a good offensive line. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Vikings have had an average offensive line since the Cousins took charge as quarterback.
- 2018 – 29th in the PFF rankings
- 2019 – 19th in the PFF rankings
- 2020 – 23rd in the PFF rankings
- 2021 – 23rd in the PFF Rankings
And especially pass-protection grades:
- 2018 – 26th in the PFF rankings
- 2019 – 26th in the PFF rankings
- 2020 – 29th in the PFF rankings
- 2021 – 27th in the PFF Rankings
Some would blame it on the cousins deal so big that the Vikings could not invest in the offensive line. Of course, you could argue that. I might even be interested to agree with you.
However, you can also blame Spielman for investing too much money in defense. Cousins is an excellent quarterback when he is safe. Why wouldn’t anyone invest significant capital in improving the offensive line? Or why would a good run-blocking focus so much on boys when better pass protection is needed?
I can’t answer why Spielman did that. All we know is that the Vikings certainly didn’t have a good offensive line since the Cousins came here.
Hopefully, the new government will be able to fix it. If they can, be careful. Cousins and the location of these skills can and will illuminate the group scoreboard.
Mitch Massman is a lifelong fan of the Vikings. His first heartbreak was playing in the 1998 NFC Championship. His full-time job as an economic development professional in rural Minnesota. He imagines the Vikings winning the Super Bowl one day, but until then he will write about the Vikings. Follow him on Twitter skol_vikings3
