Kirk Cousins (Photo via @SharpFootball Twitter)
A new in-depth video of Kirk Cousins’ debut with the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday suggests he is still not close to 100 percent.
Kirk Cousins began his four-year, $180 million contract with Atlanta against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday. But the four-time Pro Bowler displayed a lot of rust and looked nothing like his usual self, completing only 16 passes for 155 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions in a sloppy 18-10 loss.
Sunday was Cousins’ first NFL game since Oct. 29 of last year, when he suffered a season-ending Achilles tear in a Week 8 game against the Green Bay Packers. The 36-year-old underwent successful surgery and received medical clearance to practice in late July.
NFL analyst Warren Sharp pieced together a six-and-a-half-minute video of every Kirk Cousins drop back in his Atlanta debut. You’l notice that Cousins appears to be in pain and nowhere close to 100 percent:
every Kirk Cousins dropback end zone view
what do you notice pic.twitter.com/RllUesBU7F
— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) September 9, 2024
Per Terrin Waack of the Falcons’ team website, Atlanta head coach Raheem Morris poured cold water over the notion that Cousins is experiencing physical limitations from his recovery on the torn Achilles:
“I feel like Kirk is healthy. He’s been healthy since he’s been here, since he’s been back. … We had the restrictions we obviously put on him when he first got here, being smart with the OTA days. Obviously when we came into training camp, he was full-go and able to move other than the scrambles and some of those things that we limited. Towards the end of training camp, we allowed those things to happen, got him ready to go. We got into a game yesterday, and we gotta get better.”
Kirk Cousins with a pretty conspicuous zero deep shots pic.twitter.com/5bExNK5keo
— John Laghezza MLB / NFL Moving Averages (@JohnLaghezza) September 9, 2024
The Falcons would not have given Cousins $100 million in guaranteed money if they weren’t confident about his recovery from the Achilles tear. And Cousins certainly wasn’t the only notable NFL star who looked rusty during Week 1.
Falcons Need Kirk Cousins At His Best To Compete For Playoffs
The Falcons went 7-10 in each of the last three seasons, and it was largely due to lackluster quarterback play. That’s why GM Terry Fontenot handed Cousins $180 million, believing the Falcons were just one good quarterback away from competing.
But as we saw in Week 1 against Pittsburgh, the Falcons aren’t going to win if Cousins isn’t playing up to his usual standards. He has an elite offensive line and a great set of weapons led by Drake London, Kyle Pitts and Bijan Robinson.
If Cousins can play up to the form we saw before his season-ending injury a year ago, the NFC South will be the Falcons’ to lose.
