Fresh off his first fourth-quarter comeback victory against the Carolina Panthers last week, Kirk Cousins has been carrying the Minnesota Vikings since the team’s Week 7 bye. The reigning NFC Offensive Player of the Week currently holds a 12:1 touchdown-to-interception ratio and has a passer rating of 124.3, all while leading the Vikings to wins in four out of their last five.
For the sake of comparison, Cousins’ passer rating over the last five games has surpassed NFL MVP frontrunners Patrick Mahomes (122.6) and Aaron Rodgers (121.3). Not only does Cousins have a better passer rating, but his 72.41 completion percentage also tops the quarterback triplets.
To Kirk’s credit, this isn’t the first time he’s been able to string together multiple weeks of elite quarterbacking. Just last season, during a seven-week stretch from Week 5 to Week 11, Cousins had a passer rating of 126.5 while leading the Vikings to wins in six of those seven games!
Damn. As someone who’s been extremely critical of Cousins this season, his stellar play of late has given me no choice but to applaud his midseason turnaround after it appeared his season and the inevitable fate of the Vikings took an immediate nosedive to start the year.
Being that we’ve been down this road before with Kirk playing at a league-leading level, what can the Vikings do to ensure that their quarterback doesn’t revert to his early-season struggles? To start, we first need to address their running game and a recurring trend taking place. Cousins’ efficiency in 2019 slipped considerably once Minnesota’s running game struggled with Cook. From Week 9 until Week 15 last season, Cook averaged a laughable 3.34 yards per carry across six games.
Bringing it back to 2020, Cook’s struggles have reappeared over the past three games. Still handling a massive workload of 25 carries per game over the previous three weeks, Cook’s yards per carry have sunk to 3.63, with the Vikings coming a 54-yard Joey Slye field goal away from going 1-2 over that span and ultimately putting an end to Minnesota’s playoff hopes.
Considering that the Vikings were fortunate to come out of Week 12 with a much-needed victory against the Carolina Panthers, it’s high time that Mike Zimmer and Gary Kubiak let Kirky cook by allowing him more freedom at the line of scrimmage when opposing defenses load the box to stop Cook and the Minnesota running game.
As previously mentioned, Cousins is playing as well as, if not better than, any other quarterback in the NFL today. With Minnesota’s defense not doing Cousins any favors — Zimmer’s unit currently ranks 27th in points allowed — it’s imperative that the Vikings get points on as many drives as possible. In order to do that, Cousins and the offense need to be able to capitalize on Cousins’ play and utilize their star receivers, Justin Jefferson and Adam Thielen. At the end of the day, if Minnesota can keep opposing defenses honest by forcing them to honor the early-down passing threat, this will ultimately open up the box for Dalvin Cook and the running game.
I’m going to walk you through a few different spots where opposing defenses were daring Cousins to check out of a run play and test them with his arm. If he were to be given the necessary autonomy at the line given to elite-level quarterbacks, maybe these three drives don’t conclude in punts or field goals.
Let’s start with Minnesota’s most recent loss at the hands of the Dallas Cowboys back in Week 11. Facing a 1st and 10 near midfield early in the second quarter, Mike Nolan’s Dallas defense is giving Minnesota a stacked front, putting eight defenders in the box to try and stop the likely first-down rushing attempt. By putting these many defenders near the line of scrimmage, the Cowboys secondary is undoubtedly exposed with their corners outside on Jefferson and Thielen giving them both ample space with 7-yard cushions and single-high safety help over the top.
Now, I’m not asking for a chunk play here by any means. But when opposing defenses are essentially giving you positive yardage by way of your supremely talented receivers against their inferior secondary, you have to take advantage. I’m not going to pretend to know how long Kirk’s leash is in this offense. Only Zimmer and Kubiak can answer whether or not he has the ability to check out of this run call and play the aggressor by getting the ball out to one of his receivers on this more than accommodating look by the Cowboys. But the look is clearly there for Minnesota to take advantage and they failed to do so, for reasons unbeknownst to any of us.
The result of this play was a -1 yard rush by Cook, with this drive culminating in a punt a few plays later following a false start penalty on 3rd and 9.
Next, we’re going back to last week’s matchup against Carolina. The Vikings are dealing with a 1st and goal from the Carolina seven-yard line, trailing by 11 in the closing seconds of the third quarter. Throughout the course of this game, the Panthers and defensive coordinator Phil Snow did a superb job of disguising looks and making life difficult for Cousins pre-snap. For much of the afternoon, the Vikings had favorable numbers in the box for their running game but were still unable to take advantage. But on this particular play, Snow’s defensive bunch didn’t disguise anything by immediately putting eight defenders in the box and leaving their corners in press-man coverage with single-high safety help.
I took the liberty to highlight Jefferson’s one-on-one matchup on the outside, as you can’t help but feel like Minnesota has the advantage there. What’s concerning about this particular play is that Kubiak and the offense didn’t even pretend to have any sort of interest in knowing what kind of coverage the Panthers were in by failing to have any sort of motion on the play.
Ideally, you’d like to see Cousins recognize the eight-man front, as well as the one-on-one mismatch with his rookie receiver outside, and send Bisi Johnson in motion to the short side of the field. If the Panthers oblige and follow Johnson’s motion, thus confirming the man-coverage, I’m taking my shot with Jefferson, as these kinds of one-on-one opportunities were few and far between on Sunday for the former LSU wide receiver.
Instead, the Vikings rush to the line of scrimmage, quickly snap the ball and get stuffed for a 1-yard gain. Minnesota settled for a field goal three plays later. They have to recognize these looks and seize the opportunity when they’re presented to them.
Lastly, I want to show you a missed opportunity from the Vikings offense back in Week 10 on Monday night against the Chicago Bears. On a 1st and 10 near midfield to start the second quarter, the Bears are not masking anything whatsoever. They are clearly in an eight-man front to stop the Minnesota running game on this early down. Granted, Bisi Johnson is in for Justin Jefferson on this particular play, but that shouldn’t deter the Vikings offense from being the aggressor when opposing defenses stack the box like this.
Considering the single-high safety is more concerned with defending the run on this play by lining up on the hash directly over the center, this is an obvious check for Cousins to make at the line of the scrimmage with his twin receivers to the wide side of the field. An elementary high-low Smash concept would suffice here, allowing Cousins to take advantage of the 7-yard cushion on Johnson while forcing the Chicago defense to adequately cover Thielen’s flag route from the slot. At the very least, Johnson’s quick hitch could not only help the Vikings stay ahead of the chains on this drive, but it would also help serve as a set-up for them to attack the corner with a double-move later in the game.
In predictable Zimmer fashion, the Vikings instead elect to run the ball into the teeth of the Bears defense resulting in no gain, setting up a 2nd and 10 that would lead to a punt two plays later.
The time is now, Minnesota. If the Vikings have any plans of running the table and sneaking their way into the postseason, Cousins is going to have to continue to be the reason why. It’s about time the coaching staff gives Kirk the freedom to maintain his league-leading level of play by taking advantage of certain looks when they’re presented to them. His play since the bye week has earned it.
