To say the Minnesota Vikings have had it rough to start the 2023 NFL season would be like saying the ending to Toy Story 3 was a little bit emotional- it’s quite the understatement.
And like Tom Hanks’ Woody had to rally his fellow toy friends when all hope seemed lost, Kirk Cousins is now faced with a similar task, while also playing at a historic pace.
This isn’t exactly new territory for Cousins, though. These first few weeks of the season feel like his career in a nutshell, actually- he plays great while everyone else around him fails to bring much to the table. Through three weeks, Cousins has thrown for 1,075 yards (leads the league), nine touchdowns (leads the league), and two interceptions with a passer rating of 108.2 (third in the league). This puts him on pace for over 6,000 yards passing with 51 touchdowns, which goes without say that this would be one of the greatest seasons in NFL history.
Cousins has equally as impressive from an advanced stats point of view. He is ninth in the NFL in EPA per play. He is also currently third in the NFL in value vs. the average starter in the NFL, per NFELO, trailing only Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen. His touchdown percentage ranks third in the league, as does his touchdown percentage to interception percentage ratio.
It would be one thing if Kirk was cooking like this with a great team around him, but frankly, he doesn’t have that. The Vikings’ offense seems to become the walking embodiment of the Vince Carter “I got one more in me” meme after each fumble, which is why they’ve lost a league-leading seven fumbles. The Vikings have also been bad on the defensive side of the ball. They rank 26th in the league in defensive EPA per play, 24th in dropback epa, and 23rd in rushing success rate.
Minnesota’s defense was notably bad in 2022, as well. They were 23rd in dropback success rate and 22nd in rushing success rate. The reason they won 13 games last season was because Cousins threw for over 4,500 yards, which ranked fourth in the league, and 29 touchdowns. Now, the defense is still bad and the Vikings have lost three games by a combined 13 points- Cousins is keeping them in games, but he needs the defense to stop the opponent.
In Week 2, he played maybe the best game of his life- 31-of-44. 364 yards, 4 touchdowns, no interceptions. It was all for not because the Eagles ran the ball for 259 yards and held the ball for nearly 40 minutes while also recovering four Vikings’ fumbles. In Week 3, Cousins was 32-of-49 for 367 yards with three touchdowns up until the final play where he threw an end zone interception. How did the Vikings defense perform? Well, Justin Herbert went 40-of-47 for 405 yards and three touchdowns, and had the best game against the blitz since such a thing began being tracked, per Kris Rhim.
The Vikings blitzed on 81.6% of Justin Herbert’s drop backs yesterday.
Herbert: 32/38, 301 yards, 3 TDs against the blitz. The most completions, attempts and pass yards any QB has had against the blitz in a game since ESPN began tracking in 2006.
— Kris Rhim (@krisrhim1) September 25, 2023
In case you need anymore numbers on Cousins that show how awesome he really is, he’s second in the NFL in touchdown passes since 2018 behind only Mahomes. He’s third in the NFL in passing yards in that span behind only Mahomes and Tom Brady. His passer rating is also the seventh best in that span. And now here he is in a contract year playing his ass off while the rest of his team metaphorically stands around nonchalantly with a nail file without a care in the world saying expecting No. 8 to do everything.
Wherever he goes in 2024, hopefully he ends up in a similar situation to Matthew Stafford with the Rams. He deserves better, he deserves a chance to win a ring, and he deserves more praise than the average fan fives him.
And odds are Kirk is fine with that. He’s not going to start the “Kirk Cousins Appreciation Society” and walk to the center of U.S. Bank Stadium every Sunday demanding that Vikings’ fans acknowledge him. But for all the jokes that can be made about how he dresses like the manager of an Office Depot, or how he doesn’t have a potty mouth and says goofy almost-swear words, the guy has been incredible for over five years and counting, and his greatness has flown under the radar for far too long.