Kirk Cousins Thinks He Was Too Aggressive Against the Packers. Mike Zimmer Disagrees
Kirk Cousins' newfound aggressiveness pushing the ball downfield over the past two weeks has led to a pair of massive, season-saving victories for the Minnesota Vikings.
Cousins completed 49 of 72 passes for 634 yards and five touchdowns in wins over the Chargers and Packers. That was a product of limiting the incessant checkdowns that were holding the Vikings' offense back for much of this season and instead, airing the ball out to Justin Jefferson and Adam Thielen, who make up arguably the best wide receiver duo in the NFL.
Jefferson, in particular, has benefited from this shift in approach. After recording just five combined catches for 90 yards on nine targets in the Vikings' losses to the Cowboys and Ravens, the 22-year-old superstar has racked up 17 catches for 312 yards on 21 targets over the past two games. That's the most prolific two-game stretch of Jefferson's young career, and the most yardage in a two-game stretch by any Vikings receiver since 2009. Jefferson is proving to be at least a top-five receiver in the NFL and needs to be utilized as such.
Cousins entered that Chargers game 30th among NFL quarterbacks in average depth of target at 6.8 yards and 35th in air yards relative to the line to gain for a first down. Long known as a quarterback who strictly takes what the defense is giving him, his reluctance to throw the ball into harms way and trust his star wideouts to make plays was working in the sense that he wasn't turning the ball over — Cousins still has just two interceptions on the season — but it was also handicapping the Vikings' offense in a major way. First-year coordinator Klint Kubiak and the offensive line were also responsible for the unit's struggles, but at the end of the day, Cousins was the one electing to repeatedly throw short of the sticks to Tyler Conklin and C.J. Ham.
Cousins' numbers against the Chargers weren't revolutionary; his average depth of target was barely above his season average at 7.2 yards in that victory. But what he did that was so important was trust Jefferson to go up and make spectacular catches even when he appeared to be covered. Then, against the Packers, Cousins really let it rip. He posted season-highs in average depth of target (11 yards per attempt) and air yards to the sticks, throwing an average of 3.1 yards past the line to gain. He still took the quick, easy completions when they were there, but Cousins looked to the intermediate and deep areas of the field more than he had in any previous game this year.
The concerning thing is what the Vikings' veteran quarterback said afterwards. Cousins was asked about a contested throw to Thielen on the game-winning drive and if that was an example of letting his receivers make a play. Instead of talking about how the approach worked out, Cousins mentioned that he thought he was too aggressive on that play and several others.
"I could kind of point to a half dozen throws there that were too aggressive and I could argue that that’s one of them, and I don’t think you want to live doing that," Cousins said. "I think that we got away with it a couple times. I keep saying the [phrase] razor’s edge but that’s a play where it’s an example of it. The difference between him catching that and making the play he did and it going the other way [on an interception] is very small.
"Tyler Conklin did a great job on his route winning on that play and so I’ve got to go back and look at it and say, ‘How can we give Adam a better chance to create separation?’ Maybe a different route concept for me to give to him and then even what took me there, should I work with Tyler instead? And so you’re hard on yourself working through all that because you don’t want to live in a world throwing the ball into a covered player and crossing your fingers. You don’t want to live in that world. There’s a time and a place for it but you also want to be a smart football player."
Cousins also denied that there was a concerted effort to throw the ball deep in the first place.
"More what the defense is doing," he explained. "A lot of quarter shells, lower safeties, had chances to get behind them. We’ve got some other looks where people are really keeping things in front of them and that’s a very different thought process."
It's true that there is a balance to be found when it comes to being aggressive but still being smart, and it's true that defensive coverages influence where you can go with the ball. You don't want a quarterback to be reckless, and Cousins has been a quality starter in the NFL for as long as he has because he generally can find that balance.
He was lucky to emerge from this game without any interceptions, and he knows that. There was one in the red zone on a miscommunication with Jefferson that was negated by a roughing the passer call, a deep ball to Thielen that Thielen had to break up, and a critical one on the final drive that was overturned on review because Darnell Savage didn't complete the catch through the ground. As Cousins mentions, that throw to Thielen also could've been picked off if Rasul Douglas didn't overrun the route.
But here's the thing: that's OK! It's important to learn from those plays and figure out what you could have done differently. For example, on the final overturned interception, Cousins said he should've thrown the ball higher and farther so Jefferson would've been the only one with a chance to make a play on it.
However, the response to those near-interceptions can't be to cut back on the aggressiveness altogether and go back to dinking and dunking. You never want interceptions to happen — especially not in big late-game moments — but if they're a byproduct of a continued effort to give Jefferson and Thielen opportunities at big plays, that's a trade-off no one would possibly be upset about.
That includes Vikings head coach, Mike Zimmer, who disagrees with Cousins' assessment that he was too aggressive against Green Bay.
"I thought he made some great decisions," Zimmer said on Monday. "He might be talking about the one he threw [deep] to Adam and Adam broke up it up. But I want him to keep doing it like he's doing it. He can't second-guess himself. If he throws an interception, that's life. You keep going for the jugular, it's gonna open up a lot of other areas in the running game, it's going to open up other players. We just gotta keep being that way."
Zimmer is right. Cousins unlocking a bit of his inner Case Keenum has been critical to the Vikings turning their season around over the past two weeks, and it has to remain a big part of the offense going forward. He obviously should continue doing what has worked his entire career: going through progressions, reading the defense, and making smart decisions. But if the Vikings are going to stay hot and make a run to the playoffs, Cousins also needs to keep pushing the ball downfield and trusting his elite receivers to reward him.
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