The Falcons pulled off the win Dec. 16 but it wasn’t because of their quarterback. Better said, they pulled out the win in spite of Kirk Cousins. I don’t know how much longer the Falcons plan to play this foolish game, but it is time to move on from Cousins. They need to stop wasting time and start Michael Penix Jr.
The Atlanta Falcons defeated the Las Vegas Raiders 15–9 at Allegiant Stadium on Monday night, ending their four-game losing streak and keeping their chances of winning the NFC South alive for another week. It’s crazy to think just a month ag0, the Falcons were in control of their division and playoff destiny. Then the Kirk Cousins experience happened.
Cousins went through the worst stretch of his career when the Falcons needed him most. Before his first-quarter, 30-yard pass to wide receiver Drake London, Cousins had not thrown a touchdown pass since Week 9. Along with throwing no touchdowns, Cousins added to his awful play by throwing eight interceptions and the Falcons were winless in that same span. Cousins singlehandedly cost the team a successful season, yet Coach Raheem Morris chooses to stick with him.
“He’s got to play better and obviously, you got to go back, you got to get to look at everything,” Morris said. “But he wants to play better. He’s got to play better. We’ve got to find a way to get him to play better.”
The Falcons got their first win in over a month yesterday, but the win honestly highlighted Cousins drop off even more due to the quarterback on the other sideline; former Falcon Desmond Ridder. The reason the Falcons wanted Cousins so bad was because they thought at the worst-case scenario, Cousins couldn’t be as awful as Ridder was the season before. Atlanta learned that nightmares do come true sometimes. Ridder looked awful yet he still outplayed Cousins, throwing for 208 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions. Cousins only threw for 112 yards to go along with one touchdown and one interception.
Cousins is a shot QB. It’s just sad that the Falcons are trying to give Cousins more respect than he’s earned here, and it’s at the expense of the team. In what world can a quarterback go a month straight with no touchdowns, eight interceptions, and the coach doesn’t even think about benching him? Especially when they have a more than capable replacement who they drafted number seven overall in Penix? It’s time to stop trying to spare Cousins’ feelings and bring the future in.
Cousins didn’t care about the fans or the organization’s feelings with his play, so why are we being considerate of his? Atlanta was well on its way to making its first playoff appearance since 2017 and Cousins ended all that in a month. The organization had the opportunity to save the season by benching Cousins, yet it refused to do so, letting the team continue to spiral to the point the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a team the Falcons have beaten twice by the way, are now ahead of them in the division race.
This is what Cousins does: He builds you up with a couple good games early on just to crash and burn when the team needs him to perform the most. Cousins has already cost the team one wasted season in the first year of his contract, I’m just praying the Falcons learn from their mistakes and that they don’t allow him to make it two.
