ESPN Personality Goes Berserk on Falcons Management: 'What Are You Doing?'

Atlanta Falcons fans waited weeks for head coach Raheem Morris and general manager Terry Fontenot to respond to quarterback Kirk Cousins' claim that shoulder and elbow injuries greatly contributed to his decline and eventual December benching. But responses from Morris and Fontenot were more than underwhelming.

While speaking to reporters at the NFL combine, Morris and Fontenot both expressed surprise over Cousins revealing in February the shoulder and elbow injuries he dealt with during the second half of the 2024 campaign.

Not knowing Cousins was injured may get Falcons management out of any potential punishment for failing to disclose the quarterback's ailment on the official NFL injury report. But it's not going to help them escape the wrath of NFL pundits and personalities such as ESPN's Chris Russo.

The long-time sportscaster crushed Morris and Fontenot for failing to recognize something was wrong with Cousins late in 2024.

"What do you mean you had no idea! He’s your star quarterback, who told us he was hurt and by his performance on the field, indicated there was something wrong with him," Russo said on ESPN. "And you didn’t go to [Michael] Penix until it was almost too late. He did nothing in Denver. Then, [Morris] had a bye week. He had two weeks to figure it out. Then [Cousins] threw five interceptions against the Chargers. He went to Minnesota and lost and went to the Raiders on the Apple/ESPN+ game and he did nothing. Nine interceptions, one touchdown.

"Where’s your trainer for crying out loud? No wonder Cousins fell off the face of the earth. He was very good early in the year.

Russo continued:

"Remember that Tampa game on Thursday night when he was phenomenal? He had a good start to the year. They were 6-3. Then he fell off the face of the planet, and you got no idea that he was banged up? And Cousins has got to tell us this in the last couple days? And you’re sitting here as the head coach and the GM, well ‘We didn’t know!’ What do you mean you didn’t know? What are you doing?"

Russo still didn't stop there. He concluded by calling the end of the season, even with rookie Michael Penix Jr. behind center, "horrendous" and ripped into the Falcons front office for choosing to hire Morris over Bill Belichick.

"They lose to Carolina, and now ... the front office and the coaching staff doesn’t even know that the QB was banged up," Russo added. "If you’re a Falcons fan, you got confidence in this crew?"

The rant left fellow ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith mostly speechless, which is a difficult thing to do. But it's easy to understand why Smith didn't have anything to add.

There's little counterargument to be made. Falcons fans are likely to defender Morris and Fontenot because, unlike Cousins, they are part of the organization's future.

But it's excuseable that they were unaware of the shoulder and elbow injuries Cousins said he suffered on Nov. 10.

Don't believe Cousins is being 100% truthful? Could he be implying he played poor due to injury to help him land another starting NFL job? Yes, but the statistics suggest he wasn't healthy.

Before Week 10, Cousins posted a 69.2% completion percentage, 7.9 yards per pass average and 17 touchdowns with seven interceptions. After Week 10, he completed 63.3% of his throws and averaged 7.3 yards per pass with one touchdown and eight interceptions.

"Falling off the face of the earth" like that doesn't happen without some sort of ailment. Morris and Fontenot failing to see something was wrong with their $180 million investment is not a good sign.

Sure, Cousins could have revealed his injuries sooner before it benefitted him and made his bosses look bad. But his job is to prepare to play every week, and I don't blame him for not being 100% honest with an organization that drafted his replacement before he played a down in Atlanta.