The ultimate revenge game: Kirk Cousins goes to Washington
EAGAN — What a Revenge Game run, huh?
Nearly every week has been some type of grudge match for the Minnesota Vikings, whether it was opening against the top rival Packers or heading back to the scene of The NFC Championship Incident in Philly or taking on Teddy Bridgewater in Miami or Patrick Peterson/Jordan Hicks handing their ex team an L against Arizona.
But this week is the Revenge Game to get revenge on all other Revenge Games: Kirk Cousins against the Washington Commanders.
The history between Cousins and Washington is something out of a Hollywood epic. He was drafted the same year as golden boy Robert Griffen III, which drew criticism from folks who felt the [Former Offensive Team Name Redacted] wasted a pick when they already selected their next franchise QB. Cousins then emerged after RGIII suffered a severe knee injury. In 2015 he led Washington to the playoffs with a strong supporting cast but fell short against Green Bay in the first round. And then with the season on the line in the final week of 2016, Washington’s offense produced 10 points and watched the playoffs from home. So the [FOTNR] refused to buy into him long term and things devolved from there with a lot of uncomfortable moments in between.
Remember when former GM Bruce Allen called him “Kurt” on purpose? Or when Jay Gruden said that their 7-9 record in 2017 was, “reflective of the quarterback play?” Or when Cousins heckled his own team’s management by yelling, “How you like me now?” Oh, there was that time Washington’s social media team was forced to tweet out their contract offer to Cousins to publicly argue that he was being unreasonable. Remember when RGIII, of all the people in the entire universe, laughed at Cousins when they drafted Kellen Mond?
As T-Swift would say: Baby, now we got bad blood.
Since arriving in Minnesota Cousins has always avoided taking blatant jabs at Washington. And there was zero chance during his weekly press conference that he was going to make Sunday’s game into a thing that internet aggregators and pregame shows could feast on in the lead-up. Here’s what he said when he was asked on Wednesday why Washington didn’t do more to keep him:
“It’s a league that you want to win and you’ve got to win, and it’s what have you done lately? And you’re only as good as your last play,” Cousins said. “So, I think when you’re .500, it’s hard to have that staying power in really any place.”
I have no idea how to interpret that comment.
Do you ever think about how Cousins must be frustrated by the lack of belief — whether it be Washington, his former coach, media or whoever — but he has never really expressed it. It’s come out in a few ways, like the “You like that?” or shaking Mike Zimmer like a rag doll after a win over Detroit.
When he was quizzed about the report that lamest-villain-ever Daniel Snyder was looking into selling the team because of — well, it would take something that reads like the Steele Dossier to name it all — Cousins said that he hadn’t heard what was going on and it was “above his head.”
Cousins doesn’t have whatever strain of DNA made Michael Jordan wildly petty and vengeful but there had to be a part of him that wanted to let out a “HA!” loud enough it could be heard in Duluth.
As the Vikings sit at 6-1, he’s been subtly nipping at the QB Wins narrative that has followed him since Washington, pointing out that this has been his best ever W-L start to a season despite his overall performance being down from previous seasons, whether it’s by PFF grade, ESPN’s QBR, box score stats or his own assessment.
“I’ve been kind of chuckling to myself driving home ‘cause I just say, ‘We can play so much better. We have played so much better,’ Cousins said. “But, there were games where we would lose and I’d drive home and I would say, “I don’t know if I can play a lot better, like that’s about as good as I can do and then we lost.” There’s been a lot of games this year where it’s been like man, thanks to the defense, thanks to special teams, thanks to turnovers, thanks to the run game, thanks to whatever, we’re winning, but, man, I can play a lot better.”
Not that anyone has ever said the quarterback is fully responsible for winning and losing or that Cousins hasn’t had great stretches during his career. In fact, he/team went 5-1 at one point in 2020. He had a 7-2 run in 2019, a 6-1-1 roll in 2016 and 5-1 finish to the 2015 season, which Cousins called his best memory as a [FOTNR].
“Winning the division in 2015 at Philly the day after Christmas, we came back from the game, pulled into the facility at 2 a.m., 3 a.m., the bus couldn’t move because it was just packed with fans, I’ll never forget that,” Cousins said.
“That’s really what it’s all about. Being able to put the fans in a position to be that excited about your football team. Because of our start, we’re in that similar position to put people in a place where that can maybe happen. So, we want to work to try to create that.”
For an assortment of reasons, 2022 has given Cousins and the Vikings their best chance to have moments like what he described in D.C.
But they have to improve in order to get there. The Vikings’ passing attack ranks 16th in adjusted yards per pass attempt, 11th in Expected Points Added and the offense is 16th in scoring percentage. As .500-ish as it gets.
In previous years the ceiling seemed to be the floor. This year with O’Connell’s offense becoming more familiar to Cousins by the week and the QB is finally getting the support from his coach that did not always come from his old pals in Washington or the previous regime.
“I think Kirk’s playing some really, really good football,” O’Connell said. “I think he’s handling our offense at a level that’s allowing us to continue to build and continue to challenge our players around him to do things to help put us in successful positions.”
So it stands to reason that the offense can get better as it goes along — especially with the addition of tight end TJ Hockenson.
“I think I’m getting more comfortable in this system,” Cousins said. “I felt it on Sunday that I’m in a different place against Arizona than maybe Week 3. So, that was encouraging.”
In past seasons of Cousins’ career disappointment has followed his hottest streaks. This year it feels like his best play is yet to come and the chances of a downfall are significantly lessoned by the state of the NFC North. But there’s still a long way to go and it’s apropos that the game after a significant trade ramped up expectations comes against the team that never thought Cousins could get them over the hump.
So his revenge game isn’t as much Kirk vs. Dan Snyder as it is Kirk vs. What Washington Thought of Kirk. That revenge makes a stop in D.C. this weekend but it’s really about the 2022 season and making good on the promises made when Cousins left D.C. for Minnesota. Revenge is playing deep into January, not just winning this Sunday.
Related: Matthew Coller: Vikings are all in with trade for TJ Hockenson
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