Kirk Cousins Was Less Awful And Falcons Won So Why Would No One Be Surprised If QB Is Benched?

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Kirk Cousins and the Atlanta Falcons won, but there was precious little satisfaction in it.

Falcons coach Raheem Morris might argue that’s better than the alternative, which his team got familiar with the previous four weeks in four consecutive losses. So this skid busting result was better than that.

But it wasn’t good. Especially not for the starting quarterback.

Cousins Admits He Needs To Improve

“I need to play better,” Cousins told reporters after the unremarkable 15-9 victory over the hapless Las Vegas Raiders. “Raheem says it, but it’s stating the obvious. Every week you go through your process and plan on playing the very best you can. And this week will be no different.”

It’s been no different over the last five games. And the result for Cousins has been atrocious:

Nine interceptions.

There was some change Monday night in that he threw his first touchdown pass since Nov. 3. But that 30-yard connection with Drake London was like a mirage.

It was tangible for a little while, but then it was as if it wasn’t there anymore. The lead it brought disappeared. And the interception Cousins threw afterward, and the struggles he had throughout made the memory of the score fleeting.

Cousins Has To Play Better

“He wants to play better, he’s got to play better,” Morris said. “We got to find a way to get him to play better. We have to play better at the quarterback position.”

It sounds like a logical request or expectation. 

But it isn’t. It’s flawed thinking.

The Falcons want Cousins to play better but don’t want to do things Cousins likes to do to help him succeed. He is a play-action passer. He’s been at his best his entire 13-year career doing much of that.

But the Falcons don’t do much of that. 

To hear the ESPN broadcast and what analysts Dan Orlovsky and Louis Riddick apparently were told in production meetings, offensive coordinator Zac Robinson believes it’s not about what Cousins can do. He defers to what everyone can do.

Falcons Play Conservative

Robinson apparently isn’t sure the protection would hold up using play-action, anyway – which is kind of crazy. So the Falcons don’t generally do it very often.

And then there was this game plan. It reeked of mistrust.

The coaching staff were babying Cousins. Not asking him to do much. Not taking risks.

The Falcons were playing not to lose against a Raiders team that has proven this season it mostly doesn’t know how to win.

“We played the game we had to play tonight,” Cousins said.

The game the Falcons played is one in which they scored on a safety, blocked two punts, blocked an extra point, recovered a fumble and collected two interceptions.

Falcons Saved By Failed Hail Mary

And for all that trouble they had to sweat out a failed Hail Mary on the last play of the game to avoid losing to a 2-12 team.

That’s no way to live. 

It’s bad football and it is loser mentality football because it tries to remove the quarterback from being a factor. 

Cousins threw only 17 passes and completed 11 of them for 112 yards. It was as if after those eight interceptions in the previous four games, the coaching staff had him on a pitch count.

Cousins wasn’t asked to do anything dynamic.

Or clutch. 

It was almost as if Cousins was merely occupying the space where the Atlanta quarterback is supposed to be.

Benching Cousins May Be Answer

So what’s the end game here?

It’s obvious Morris is trying to coax his team into the postseason. Atlanta has a 7-7 record and is not really in it. But neither are the Falcons fully out of it.

So Morris, so far, has resisted the temptation to bench the underperforming Cousins in favor of rookie first-round pick Michael Penix Jr. 

Morris knows Cousins isn’t playing well, but he might. He saw it earlier in the year when Cousins threw 7 TDs against Dallas and Tampa Bay in back-to-back weeks.

Morris has no clue what Penix Jr. might do. Well, obviously he thinks he has a clue. He sees Penix Jr. in practice every day. But he doesn’t know what the youngster might do in a real game.

So the coach has so far picked the uncertainty Cousins might recover over the uncertainty of what the rookie may do. This is obviously not sustainable. 

It’s a hope. 

And that is not a plan.