Analysis
9/13/22
2 min read
Familiarity Breeds Content for Vikings, Cousins in Week 1
Kirk Cousins played very well on Sunday against the Green Bay Packers.
The main thing you notice about Cousins was his quick decision-making. His familiarity with the offense was really impressive and his relationship with head coach Kevin O'Connell was evident. O'Connell calling the plays directly to Cousins is a good thing. I believe it is a big difference as far as a quarterback and coach communicating on the same level. Good communication can help strengthen the relationship between the quarterback and the head coach.
I had an opportunity to watch the game, and you could see how good Cousins performed. He has always been an accurate thrower, but his decision-making and how quickly he worked through his progressions were really sound. You could see him going through his progressions in real-time. If the first read was not there, he was going to the second or third option instead of checking down.
What was pretty unique was how comfortable he looked in this new offense. He hadn't run O'Connell's offense before and looked to be in full command. The offense O'Connell runs has a lot of similar concepts to what he ran the last few years with Gary and Klint Kubiak, but there are still plenty of differences. They are running more out of 11 personnel and using more motion than last year.
The Vikings are in good shape with Cousins playing this well.
