Saints vs bruised, injury plagued, marred, underdogs

[Offsides 97 defense]

Let's go boys

[Offsides 97 defense]

Refs already out to get us

[tbgh]

Ha! That sucked!

[Offsides 97 defense]

Whew...needed that answer.

[tbgh]

Awesome

[Offsides 97 defense]

So happy to have a QB with confidence that can answer.

[Offsides 97 defense]

Another rushing td! Thank Goodness man.

[Offsides 97 defense]

Thielen 56 yards. 44 to go. Can he do it?

[Offsides 97 defense]

Wouldn't be a Viking's game without something stupid. Dan fuk-ing Barely.

[tbgh]

Doesn’t matter who our kicker is.

[minnemike]

Doesn’t matter who our kicker is.

Preifer... The last variable.

[Offsides 97 defense]

Doesn’t matter who our kicker is.

Wind got it.

[AaronVikes]

Doesn’t matter who our kicker is.

Preifer... The last variable.

Why did they change it to the left side?

[tbgh]

Harrison Smith. Remember when Viking fans overrated him?

[Offsides 97 defense]

Deflater.

I'm sure Chuck will start some tracking thread on how many fumbles for Thielen.

[tbgh]

That ending sucked.

[Offsides 97 defense]

Viking's injuries are the reason they lost.

[Offsides 97 defense]

Refs were out to get us too.

[Offsides 97 defense]

trap game

[tbgh]

That was a frustrating horrible game. Hate the saints.

[laX]

That was a frustrating horrible game. Hate the saints.

they've been my #2 team forever - used to watch them at uw-l for training camp back in the day

[JPM]

This is just meant as a question. It's not meant to be acidic or nasty. Just a question...

Is Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins showing he's worth $28 million a year? That he's worth $84 million in guaranteed cash? Is that the kind of player anyone saw when they watched him Sunday night?

The statistics from Cousins' game against the Saints will look respectable in retrospect. He was 31-of-41 for 359 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. The numbers were roughly in line with what his numbers looked like his last few years in Washington.

But so was the result. In what should have been a marquee game between two of the NFC's best, the Saints, playing on the road, won fairly easily. The final score was 30-20, but that last touchdown for Cousins and the Vikings came when the game was essentially out of hand.

For most of the game, Cousins looked out of his element. And this shouldn't be the case. He was going against the Saints defense. Swiss cheese looks at the Saints defense and says, "What's up, Twin?"

Cousins is paid the kind of money he's paid for moments like these. To stare down Drew Brees. To win a big game at home. To transform the season.

Instead, the best you can say is the Vikings aren't in bad shape. They're 4-3-1 and in a division in which no one's running away. And like his team, Cousins hasn't played poorly but hasn't been great.

But you pay $84 million for great.

He's had moments of greatness. A few, at least. But just moments. Fleeting, not transformative.

In many ways, he's the same Cousins we saw in Washington—and frankly that's shocking to say, because I thought we'd see a different Cousins. With all the weapons available to him in Minnesota—Adam Thielen, Stefon Diggs—I thought we'd see him explode this season.

Hannah Foslien/Getty Images
Instead, the numbers are about the same as usual—a bit more efficient but averaging a bit less per throw. And the results are about the same as usual—right around .500. Washington, which is 5-2 this season with Alex Smith at QB, was 24-23-1 in Cousins' last three years there. The Vikings, who were 13-3 last year with Case Keenum and others, are 4-3-1 this year with Cousins.

There's always going to be more context for that type of comparison. There is for everything.

When Cousins was pick-sixed by the Saints on Sunday, maybe you could blame his receiver for stopping his route short. But that ball should have never been thrown. It was the kind of throw you don't see Aaron Rodgers make, because Aaron Rodgers is careful with the football. Cousins often isn't. He also took sacks he didn't need to take Sunday. He panicked in the pocket. He had a weird, non-slide run in which one of the Saints players almost stole the football right out of his hands (but Cousins' knee was down).

He made some good throws. As he always does. He made plenty of bad ones. As he always does.

Somehow it all ends up even, and that's what the Vikings look like they have.

An average, super-duper-expensive quarterback who wasn't worth the cash. One of the most the marvelously mediocre, stupendously average, remarkably decent quarterbacks in recent football memory. The QB who won't blow your socks off—but they will sort of fall off, maybe. Or they might need a push or two. And then you'll look at those socks and think: Why was I wearing them again?

Cousins is astonishingly meh. He's Olive Garden.

And we probably should have known that. But keep something important in mind: The Vikings thought Cousins was the final piece of their juggernaut.

This roster went to the conference title game last year. Yes, they got there on one of the greatest fluke plays of all time, but they got there.

They were stacked. And are. But they're not better. At least not so far. In fact, they don't look as good. They've gotten worse.

Brees, on the other side Sunday, threw for just 120 yards. If there was ever a game for Cousins to stand out, this was it.

Hannah Foslien/Getty Images
Look around the league, and you'll see remarkable quarterback play. Aaron Rodgers is playing well and keeping the Packers in the race on three-quarters of a leg. Jared Goff is already miles beyond Cousins in terms of leading a winner. So is Patrick Mahomes. Cam Newton is as well. Philip Rivers is carrying the Chargers, Russell Wilson the Seahawks. Andrew Luck and Deshaun Watson are re-emerging after injuries. Tom Brady is Tom Brady.

Cousins was supposed to be a part of this group this season. Instead, he is so average he sweats margarine.

So let's ask that question again.

Is Cousins showing he's worth $28 million a year? That he's worth $84 million in guaranteed cash?

The answer is obvious.

[minnemike]

Do you even watch the game, bro. Cousins is fine. He's played great overall. Even with the injuries and a crappy oline they could have actually won the game... But both Theilen and Diggs made game changing mistakes which were the difference. Shit happens and that killed them. But your Cousins narrative gives you hope I guess. Run with it. Lol.

[Qman65]

This is just meant as a question. It's not meant to be acidic or nasty. Just a question...

Is Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins showing he's worth $28 million a year? That he's worth $84 million in guaranteed cash? Is that the kind of player anyone saw when they watched him Sunday night?

The statistics from Cousins' game against the Saints will look respectable in retrospect. He was 31-of-41 for 359 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. The numbers were roughly in line with what his numbers looked like his last few years in Washington.

But so was the result. In what should have been a marquee game between two of the NFC's best, the Saints, playing on the road, won fairly easily. The final score was 30-20, but that last touchdown for Cousins and the Vikings came when the game was essentially out of hand.

For most of the game, Cousins looked out of his element. And this shouldn't be the case. He was going against the Saints defense. Swiss cheese looks at the Saints defense and says, "What's up, Twin?"

Cousins is paid the kind of money he's paid for moments like these. To stare down Drew Brees. To win a big game at home. To transform the season.

Instead, the best you can say is the Vikings aren't in bad shape. They're 4-3-1 and in a division in which no one's running away. And like his team, Cousins hasn't played poorly but hasn't been great.

But you pay $84 million for great.

He's had moments of greatness. A few, at least. But just moments. Fleeting, not transformative.

In many ways, he's the same Cousins we saw in Washington—and frankly that's shocking to say, because I thought we'd see a different Cousins. With all the weapons available to him in Minnesota—Adam Thielen, Stefon Diggs—I thought we'd see him explode this season.

Hannah Foslien/Getty Images
Instead, the numbers are about the same as usual—a bit more efficient but averaging a bit less per throw. And the results are about the same as usual—right around .500. Washington, which is 5-2 this season with Alex Smith at QB, was 24-23-1 in Cousins' last three years there. The Vikings, who were 13-3 last year with Case Keenum and others, are 4-3-1 this year with Cousins.

There's always going to be more context for that type of comparison. There is for everything.

When Cousins was pick-sixed by the Saints on Sunday, maybe you could blame his receiver for stopping his route short. But that ball should have never been thrown. It was the kind of throw you don't see Aaron Rodgers make, because Aaron Rodgers is careful with the football. Cousins often isn't. He also took sacks he didn't need to take Sunday. He panicked in the pocket. He had a weird, non-slide run in which one of the Saints players almost stole the football right out of his hands (but Cousins' knee was down).

He made some good throws. As he always does. He made plenty of bad ones. As he always does.

Somehow it all ends up even, and that's what the Vikings look like they have.

An average, super-duper-expensive quarterback who wasn't worth the cash. One of the most the marvelously mediocre, stupendously average, remarkably decent quarterbacks in recent football memory. The QB who won't blow your socks off—but they will sort of fall off, maybe. Or they might need a push or two. And then you'll look at those socks and think: Why was I wearing them again?

Cousins is astonishingly meh. He's Olive Garden.

And we probably should have known that. But keep something important in mind: The Vikings thought Cousins was the final piece of their juggernaut.

This roster went to the conference title game last year. Yes, they got there on one of the greatest fluke plays of all time, but they got there.

They were stacked. And are. But they're not better. At least not so far. In fact, they don't look as good. They've gotten worse.

Brees, on the other side Sunday, threw for just 120 yards. If there was ever a game for Cousins to stand out, this was it.

Hannah Foslien/Getty Images
Look around the league, and you'll see remarkable quarterback play. Aaron Rodgers is playing well and keeping the Packers in the race on three-quarters of a leg. Jared Goff is already miles beyond Cousins in terms of leading a winner. So is Patrick Mahomes. Cam Newton is as well. Philip Rivers is carrying the Chargers, Russell Wilson the Seahawks. Andrew Luck and Deshaun Watson are re-emerging after injuries. Tom Brady is Tom Brady.

Cousins was supposed to be a part of this group this season. Instead, he is so average he sweats margarine.

So let's ask that question again.

Is Cousins showing he's worth $28 million a year? That he's worth $84 million in guaranteed cash?

The answer is obvious.

It's to bad your head coach has wasted every year of god given talent since 2010 to get the best QB another ring. Why is that? Hate to tell you, Bart Starr is still your franchises best QB.

[gopack]

The vikings are not a very good team.

[JPM]

Yet somehow they think they've had this special little team now for years. The rest of the country thinks of them as the Titans, or Texans or Bengals..

[Simpson Get Lifted]

Yet somehow they think they've had this special little team now for years. The rest of the country thinks of them as the Titans, or Texans or Bengals..

2015-2017:
Vikings = 32-16
Packers = 27-21
Bengals = 25-22
Texans = 22-26
Titans = 21-27

(Your) perceptions can be deceiving.

[tbgh]

Who cares about Clark’s anything?

Guy is a joke.

[RubeTube]

Yet somehow they think they've had this special little team now for years. The rest of the country thinks of them as the Titans, or Texans or Bengals..

[JPM]

Yet somehow they think they've had this special little team now for years. The rest of the country thinks of them as the Titans, or Texans or Bengals..

2015-2017:
Vikings = 32-16
Packers = 27-21
Bengals = 25-22
Texans = 22-26
Titans = 21-27

(Your) perceptions can be deceiving.

exactly