Vikings-Redskins Preview: Thursday Night's Game Brings Reunions For Cousins, Keenum, Peterson

If you went back in time to October 2017 and told someone that Thursday night's Vikings-Redskins game would feature a matchup of quarterbacks Case Keenum and Kirk Cousins, they probably wouldn't have been too surprised. After all, back then Keenum was in the midst of leading the Vikings to a 13-3 record and Cousins was in his sixth season – the last three as the full-time starter – with the Redskins.

That the two QBs would still be leading those teams just two years later wouldn't sound like much of a stretch. It would come as a shock, then, when you delivered the news that it's Keenum's Redskins visiting Cousins' Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium in 2019.

A lot can change in the NFL in two years.

Following that 2017 season, the Vikings elected to move on from Keenum despite coming up one game short of a Super Bowl appearance. Keenum went to Denver for a year and then to Washington, but has yet to recapture his magic from that one season in Minnesota.

To replace Keenum, the Vikings signed Cousins to a deal worth the most guaranteed money in NFL history at the time. Cousins had been franchise tagged by the Redskins for two straight years, and the two sides were never able to work out a long-term extension. Cousins disappointed in 2018 and the first quarter of this season, but is playing the best football of his career this month.

On Thursday, the two quarterbacks meet in primetime to face their former teams for the first time. Adding in that the Vikings' biggest star of the past decade – a man named Adrian Peterson – may play his final game in Minnesota, the reunions set to take place during Thursday night's game are more compelling than any other on-field storyline.

Earlier this week, both quarterbacks downplayed the significance of the game, disappointing anyone hoping for a juicy quote about revenge.

Cousins has every reason to want to stick it to the team that didn't believe in him as their long-term starter. But while several former Redskins players and coaches haven't had great things to say about the franchise that has mostly operated in mediocrity and dysfunction under president Bruce Allen and owner Dan Snyder, Cousins elected not to go that route.

"When I think of my time in Washington, I just think of the word gratitude," Cousins said. "I'm so grateful that I was drafted by them. When 31 other teams hadn't picked me the Redskins picked me. That means a great deal to me and I just have tremendous memories of the games there, the teammates and the coaches and I'm so grateful of the people I got to work with. The quarterback I am, the player I am and where I am in this league now is largely the result of the coaches I got to play for there and the way they impacted me and the teammates I got to play with."

He also chose not to expand on the end of his time in Washington when asked about it. Regardless of what Cousins says and doesn't say, this won't just be any other week for him. He still knows many of the coaches and players on the opposite sideline, and human nature would suggest he'll be motivated to show everyone in the organization that a mistake was made by letting him depart.

Unlike Cousins, Keenum doesn't have a long history with the team he'll face Thursday night, having spent only one season in Minnesota. But what a season it was. Keenum led the Vikings to only the second campaign of 13 or more wins in franchise history, and threw the pass that turned into one of the greatest plays of all time. The Minneapolis Miracle will forever link Keenum and the Vikings, but he said he's not looking back.

“There’s not enough time to reminisce,” Keenum said. “It’s a special time. It’s a special play, special group of guys, something I’ll remember forever, but not necessarily this week.”

Stefon Diggs, the player on the receiving end of that historic play, has moved on as well. He said it'll be good to see Keenum, but he doesn't plan to share a moment or reflection with him.

Here's Stefon Diggs' full answer on if he'll share a moment with Case Keenum after the game on Thursday. "Nah, that's not my girlfriend or nothing."

"That's my guy still, it's all love." pic.twitter.com/fSSjFMdUn2
— Will Ragatz (@WillRagatz) October 22, 2019

Kyle Rudolph offered plenty of praise for how Keenum stepped in for injured starter Sam Bradford and nearly led the team to the NFC title game, but he too was focused on the Vikings getting their fourth straight win.

“I hope he doesn’t have any miracles on Thursday," Rudolph said.

Finally, there's the matter of the player Keenum will likely be handing the ball to on Thursday night. Adrian Peterson, still hanging around in the NFL at age 34, is in his second season with the Redskins after stops with the Saints and Cardinals in 2017.

Prior to that, of course, he spent ten seasons with the Vikings, becoming one of the best running backs in NFL history. Peterson holds virtually every franchise rushing record and was the team's best, most famous player for the better part of the decade he spent in Minnesota.

Peterson is questionable for Thursday's game, but if history is any indication, he'll be out there. The Redskins and interim coach Bill Callahan have recently re-committed to running the ball; Peterson has 43 carries for 199 yards over the past two games. In his 13th season, he's still showing flashes of the burst and power that made him the most feared running back in the league for many years.

“One thing that I learned in my time around Adrian is never to bet against him and never to count him out," Rudolph said. "I think back to when he tore his ACL (in 2011) and everybody was wondering if he would bounce back and be the same player, and less then four months later he was running half-gassers faster than all our receivers and running backs."

"Running backs don’t typically have long, long careers," Diggs said. "For him to be playing at such a high level, for such a long period of time, it’s amazing to watch. He’s definitely a Hall of Famer.”

In all likelihood, this will be Peterson's final game in Minnesota, at a stadium he feels like he helped build. He returned in the first game of 2017 as a member of the Saints, but had just six carries for 18 yards. If he's cleared to play on Thursday, he'll get a full workload in this state for perhaps the last time.

“I’d expect Adrian to get a really warm welcome back here in Minnesota," Rudolph said. "He’s done so many great things for this organization and for this community.”