Kirk Cousins Preaches ‘Positive Vibes’ As Falcons Turn To Him

FLOWERY BRANCH – Positive vibes only, or PVO for short. That’s the mentality of quarterback Kirk Cousins as he approaches his second stint as the starter for the Atlanta Falcons, but there are not many of those inside team headquarters at the moment.

‘PVO.’ The term emerged during the Falcons’ transatlantic flight to Berlin, but has never been more necessary than right now.

The Falcons are in the midst of their first five-game losing streak since 2020 and teetering on missing the postseason for an eighth straight season. Their young starter and the perceived future of the franchise, Michael Penix Jr., was lost for the season to an ACL tear, and the star young receiver left Sunday’s game with a PCL injury in his knee.

While the hits seem just to keep coming, Cousins stood at the podium on Wednesday, working hard to maintain his grin. He made it clear that he is holding onto his positivity like Rocky Balboa in the late rounds of a heavyweight bout.

“I think that's important to just stay positive through whatever happens in this league,” he said. “You know when the season starts, you're going to have a challenge, you're going to have adversity, and when you face it, you’ve got to be ready to handle it well.”

Now sitting at 3-7, the challenges will be immense and the margins will be negligible, but it is another chance for Cousins to show he has not actually forgotten how to play quarterback.

His other two appearances have not inspired the same level of confidence – a combined 27-45 (60%) for 221 yards over six quarters of action. The quarterback taking those snaps felt closer to the guy who was benched in Week 16 last fall than the one who took home the NFC’s Offensive Player of the Week honors in Week 5.

Despite the uninspiring performance in a limited sample size, the coaching staff made it clear that he has their support through the final seven games of the regular season.

“We just gotta find a way to get him back to those moments [from the first half of 2024],” Morris said. “Just watching him in practice and watching him in training camp and watching him go through his process over the last couple of months, I feel like he'll be able to go out there and execute and do some things for us really well.”

Morris and offensive coordinator Zac Robinson confirmed they will be trying to tailor this offense around him, a difficult task in Week 12 of the season. They will opt to “go back to some things” that worked last season as they get him acclimated to being under center again.

The quarterback reciprocated his faith in the coaching staff after their most recent loss last Sunday, despite the struggles from the team this season.

“I think this five-game stretch he's been [showing] his true colors, which is who he is. He's resilient,” Cousins said about his head coach. “He's built for this. He is a glass-half-full person, and I think it makes it a positive place to come into work. He's a coach that you want to win for, you want to play well for, because you feel like he's in your corner, and he's giving you what you need to be successful.”

When he signed the four-year, $180 million contract in the spring of 2024, he expected to be the guy to get this franchise back to the postseason. After the first nine weeks, it looked like he had them on track to do it. They sat at 6-3, and Cousins looked like a clear-cut Comeback Player of the Year, or even an MVP.

It all fell apart after an injury he sustained in the very building he will play in this coming Sunday, an irony that is not lost on anyone.

The news that he would be taking over under center was met with some mixed emotions by the veteran. He entered the week still under the impression that Penix would be okay, but that quickly flipped as the hours went by.

A second chance. Perhaps not in the way he wanted it, but a second chance nonetheless.

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“I do think there's a lot of resilient people in our locker room and a lot of guys who just have positive attitudes,” Cousins said – but it will be put to the test in Week 12, and for the next seven weeks after that.

The Falcons will get their first look at him as their full-time starter against their bitter rivals, the New Orleans Saints. The team will limp into this game, down several starters, but not feeling sorry for itself or desperate.

“I've just never felt safe in this league. I've never felt like I've got it figured out. I've never felt like my job has been earned or deserved,” he said. “I heard a quarterback once say that there's a tension that this job in professional sports brings that you don't really wish on people because it is tough. There's a tension there, but it's also a chance to live a dream that goes with it. So, you take the good with the bad.”

There’s that ‘PVO’ mentality, again, but only time will tell how long that lasts.