Easy scapegoat. He has no offensive line. Roll the guy out, he seems to be good on roll outs.
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- Thread starter SoapyCy
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Easy scapegoat. He has no offensive line. Roll the guy out, he seems to be good on roll outs.
Keenum lived and died by scrambling and making s*** up on the fly. They brought in Cousins to be an accurate, legitimate pocket passer. Problem is, as ISU has also experienced recently, pocket passers aren't a good option when your OL is absolutely horrendous. We're trying to run an offense that we simply don't have the tools to run -- we don't have a team that can throw out of the pocket 3 out of every 4 plays, but we're trying to be one anyway. What we do have is a team built for short, quick passes and some outside running that is not being utilized.
According to Pro Football Focus, the Vikings have the 30th ranked offensive line thru week 12. I can only assume it's worse after the last two weeks.
https://www.profootballfocus.com/ne...ine-rankings-all-32-teams-units-after-week-12
"I’ll be honest, it was difficult to find a game this season where the Vikings offensive line excelled. In their highest-graded performance against the 49ers way back in Week 1, they still weren’t exceptional. Kirk Cousins was still under pressure on 14 of his 43 dropbacks."
https://www.profootballfocus.com/ne...ine-rankings-all-32-teams-units-after-week-12
"I’ll be honest, it was difficult to find a game this season where the Vikings offensive line excelled. In their highest-graded performance against the 49ers way back in Week 1, they still weren’t exceptional. Kirk Cousins was still under pressure on 14 of his 43 dropbacks."
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Football Outsiders has the offensive line ranked 31st thru week 13.
https://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/ol
https://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/ol
What else is frustrating is that Cousins statistically is one of the best in the business under pressure. He's still pressured too often to be relied upon.
No doubt the line is an issue but it is not a coincidence the guy is 4-24 against teams with a winning record. That's almost hard to fathom...especially for a guy making $25 mil per.
Your point is valid, but I think there is a lot wrapped up in that W/L record. The Redskins haven't exactly been competitive recently. For example, Matthew Stafford is 5-46 against teams with a record over 0.500 in his career. That has a lot to do with playing for the Lions.
QB stats are a lot like pitchers. W/L is a tough gauge to use because there are so many other factors. I'd be curious what Cousins QBR is against winning teams, for example. I'm not a huge stats guy, so I don't know where to even find that stat.
No doubt the Vikes need starters on the OL and I hope they address this with both of their first two picks. It will be interesting to see who they target. OTs Little (MS), Risner (KSU), Ford (OK) and Taylor (FL) should be on their list.
I thought there was no possible way they would draft anything but OL with their first pick and instead drafted yet another DB. Zimmer is starting to look like another one of those defensive guys who can't think outside his position.
Cousins's stats are pretty good, he's statistically very good under pressure (which is always), and the Vikings have a top-10 passing offense in nearly all pass stats. They also have a near-dead-last run game, and some of Cousins's game stats are inflated by garbage time (not all of them, he's had a few great games -- but some). He's averaging a ~98 passer rating and ~61 QBR this season, and his stats don't vary much between wins and losses (his passer rating in losses is still ~90).
That's why I don't think Cousins sucks, himself. I think he's an average NFL QB, maybe a little above that -- his biggest issue by far is the fumbles. He's played his entire career on s***ty teams (including this year), be that a personel problem, coaching problem, or both (I'm in the camp of 'both' for the Vikes).
Easy to say Cousins is not to blame, but his career record is under .500 so we'll have to put all the blame on his lines in Washington too. Cousins is overpaid, and it is starting to look like a crime, but yes he doesn't have the best help. Add to that Defillipo not being very seasoned, or perhaps just not good at all as on OC, and the vikings are squandering all their potential. What was once the best defensive unit in football will have what, 2 playoff wins to show for it? What a joke.
The answer is "all the above." Is Cousins 100% to blame? No. Is Cousins 100% a great QB? Also, no.
It sums up as this:
- Vikings OL is at or near the worst in the league, therefore:
- The running game is bad
- Cousins has 0 protection and can't get off many deep passes
- Cousins fumbles A LOT, so if he's being hit a lot, he's going to fumble a lot. This is some on him, some on the situation.
DeFillippo got fired. Wish the Broncos would do something like that for Vance.
This is how it goes with free agency. Good players get paid like great players. Cousins is fine. He's not good enough to elevate an average team all on his own but if you surround him with a strong supporting cast he's a top ten-ish QB in the league.
Aaron Rodgers is arguably the best in the league and I'm not sure he'd survive behind the Vikings line.
From head coaching prospect to fired. That was quick.
