ATLANTA – Kirk Cousins is still the starting quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons.
Yet after Cousins had a funk of performance in a 17-13 setback against the Los Angeles Chargers – his career-high-tying four interceptions included a pick-six and a feeble lob to the end zone that erased a scoring threat – questions about his status are fair game.
Especially now. The Falcons (6-6) have lost three consecutive games. The Cousins-led offense has produced one touchdown in two games. The once-commanding first-place lead in the NFC South has fizzled into what-ifs and tiebreaker scenarios.
And hey, these are the Falcons. This promising tease stuff has happened before.
So, is benching Cousins in the mix?
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Let Raheem Morris, the first-year Falcons coach, attempt to calm the waters.
“There are no issues with that,” Morris said when asked during his postgame news conference if he would consider switching from Cousins to first-round rookie Michael Penix Jr. “That guy’s carried us to the point that we’re 6-6. First place in the division. We still have everything in front of us, despite what happened today.
“It’s up to us to bounce back, to find a way to win football games. There’s no better man than (No.) 18 to do that for us.”
So there. Cousins – lured to Atlanta in March on a four-year, $180 million free agent deal – will return to Minnesota for a matchup against his former team with his starting status intact. And good luck with that. The Vikings (10-2) are one of the hottest teams in the league, carrying a five-game winning streak, while the Falcons are headed in the opposite direction with the quarterback for whom they backed up the Brinks truck last spring with the intention of him leading them to the franchise’s first playoff berth since 2018.
On Sunday, Cousins had his worst game yet for the Falcons. He completed 24 of 39 passes for 245 yards, with zero touchdowns and a 40.0 passer rating that was the fourth-worst of his 13-year career.
The first pick came on the first play of the second quarter, when Cousins double-clutched before launching a throw down the left sideline for Drake London. Rookie Tarheeb Still stepped in front of the pass, and it turned out to be the “best” interception that Cousins threw.
The pick-six came in the third quarter, on a fourth-and-5, when Cousins telegraphed and underthrew Darnell Mooney, who was running a quick out. It was Still again, who returned the interception 61 yards for the touchdown that, when combined with a 2-point conversion, put L.A. up, 17-10. The fifth-round pick from Maryland said he was tipped off by Cousins as he “read his eyes.”
Then it was a desperate throw as Cousins scrambled on a third down from the Chargers’ 13-yard line and spotted London in the middle of the end zone. No quarterback in the NFL this season has thrown more interceptions this season while under pressure, and the unfortunate snapshot for the Falcons came early in the fourth quarter with Cousins’ third pick. It was probably Cousins’ softest throw of the game, which floated like a lob that Marcus Maye easily hauled in while London was hardly in position to make a play.
The last pick was desperation, too. The Falcons had marched from their 6-yard line when they were left with a last-gasp shot on fourth-and-12 from the Chargers’ 35. But Cousins again didn’t come close to connecting with London over the middle as Derwin James stepped in front of the pass to seal the game.
“We won’t make any excuses for this,” Morris said. “That guy’s carried us all season. He’s done such a marvelous job. It’s hard to throw that guy under the bus, what he’s done for us.”
There’s something to be said for Morris sticking with his quarterback and refusing to panic amid what is clearly a crisis.
Yet the pattern that flows with Cousins’ inconsistency can’t be ignored. It’s like this: Which Kirk is going to show up?
Good Kirk or Bad Kirk?
In the Falcons’ six victories, Cousins has a touchdown-to-interception ratio of 14-to-2, with a pass efficiency rating of 114.2. In the six losses, the ratio is 3-to-11, with the efficiency mark comparison dropping more than 50 points.
The Falcons have demonstrated that they can’t win without an A-game from Cousins. Maybe that’s to be expected because he’s the quarterback.
Then again, the Falcons’ much-maligned defense had arguably its best game of the season – it held the Chargers to 187 total yards and collected a season-high five sacks on Justin Herbert – and it still wasn’t enough to survive what still turned out to be a close call.
If this pattern continues, the questions about yanking Cousins will get louder.
Morris, undoubtedly, knows this comes with the territory. It’s fair to wonder if Penix can provide a spark, especially when considering the flashes from other rookie quaterbacks, including Jayden Daniels and Bo Nix. Morris squashed any hint of a quarterback controversy during the offseason as Cousins methodically worked his way back after rehabbing from a torn Achiles tendon. And he sounded just as adamant on Sunday.
“Kirk was brought here to put us in a playoff position, to put us in a position to get a home playoff game, win the division in the (NFC) South,” Morris maintained. “Everything is still right in front of us.
“We’re sticking with our plan.”
Unless something changes in a hurry, that plan could ultimately spell doom for this Falcons season.
