Kirk Cousins has never been known as the most athletically-imposing quarterback in football. And yet, he has found success through his 15-year career in the NFL.
Whether it was Washington, Minnesota or Atlanta, he continued to play his style of football and keep himself. Nothing flashing, but consistently performing at a steady level. It’s the same thing he has brought to the Las Vegas Raiders as well after arriving this offseason.
And it also is what the New England Patriots will go up against this
week.
“Processing information, getting the ball out, getting the ball where it needs to go, giving it to their playmakers,” defensive tackle Milton Williams said when asked to describe Cousins’ game.
Doing all those things from the get-go in Las Vegas, Cousins has played some of the best football of his career even at age 38.
Working under first-year head coach Klint Kubiak, he has completed 93 of 144 passes for a 64.6% hit rate, 1,026 yards, a league-leading 11 touchdowns and just four interceptions. He also has taken only five sacks and ranks ninth among quarterbacks with 0.214 expected points added per play (for comparison, Drake Maye ranks 16th at 0.049).
“He’s an amazing veteran quarterback,” said linebacker Christian Elliss. “He knows how to run an offense well. Kubiak knows how to use his brains well. Obviously, he’s extremely smart and he diagnoses defenses well.”
“They have a lot of chemistry,” added defensive coordinator Zak Kuhr. “Obviously, Klint and Kirk being in Minnesota together, they definitely know each other well. You can tell that from Week 1 there wasn’t really any slow growth. They hit it. They hit the field running. They’re doing a great job with their big skill and they’re dialing up some good plays to their skill.”
Tops among that skill options is tight end Brock Bowers, who has caught 16 of Cousins’ passes for 202 yards and a pair of touchdowns. The Patriots are making him a priority this week, but they also know that they need to be able to impact the quarteback himself.
“For us it’s about trying to affect him in any way we can,” said Elliss, “and we’ll go from there.”
