IIsweet wrote: ↑Tue Dec 29, 2020 10:28 am
So.... would Kirk be a better QB with an offensive minded HC ? I am sure that Zim has him managing games and has had many conversations like Bud Kilmer did with Johnny Moxon.
I just wonder that with Cousins throwing ability, which he does throw a great ball, and an offensive minded HC who says "just cut it loose Kirk", how would he respond?
Can Kirk be similar to a Kurt Warner ? JJ and Thielen similar to Holt and Bruce. Need a 3rd guy with stop and start ability. Cook similar to a Faulk. Irv and Conklin are showing really good TE skills.
Is this a possibility? Cook with 2000 scrimmage yards and JJ and AT both pushing 1200+ yards.
That would be a lot of fun to watch.
Dang ... a Varsity Blues reference. Nice!
It's a great question about Cousins. Almost impossible to know the answer, but a great question. All we can do is speculate. So here's my speculation.
Going back to Cousins' time in Washington, I remember him as a gunslinger. A guy who took chances, perhaps too many chances. A guy who liked to push the ball down the field.
Now go to 2018 in Minnesota. Through his first eight games with John DeFilippo as OC, Cousins is on pace for, get this, nearly 700 attempts(!), 5,000+ yards, 32 TDs and only 8 INTs. But the Vikings are 4-3-1, and Mike Zimmer blames the offense. HATES all the throwing. So after Week 14, he fires DeFilippo and institutes his version of the 1963 Bears offense, turning his $28 million quarterback into a game manager. Sure, the Vikings win 2 of their last 3 (against the awful Dolphins and Lions) running the ball 3 out of every 4 plays, but when they need the offense to generate something in Week 17, they fall flat in the season finale against the Bears, costing themselves a playoff spot.
That, in a nutshell, is the Zimmer effect. Neuter the offense in favor of playing conservative, defensive football.
Since then, that's been Zimmer's offensive vision, and his OCs have run it exactly as he wants it. Run, run, pass, lather, rinse, repeat. Cousins goes from 606 attempts in 2018 to fewer than 450 the next year, and might finish with fewer than 500 attempts this year. Stefon Diggs' targets go from 149 in 2018 to 94 last year, eventually getting fed up with all the running and forcing his way out. Adam Thielen goes from 9.6 targets per game in 2018 to 4.8 in 2019. Meanwhile, Dalvin Cook has averaged 30 touches per game this year since the bye. This is Zimmer Ball, and the results have truly been mediocre.
Not absolving Cousins of anything here. Clearly he's a bit of a head case when it comes to how tightly he's wound and his lack of production in the clutch. But it's impossible to overlook the impact Mike Zimmer has had on the careers of Cousins, Thielen, and Diggs (negative), as well as Dalvin Cook (positive, if you think 30 touches a game is positive). Mike Zimmer doesn't need a $30 million quarterback. He needs a game manager, somebody who can hand the ball off, get the team in the correct protections, etc.
Organizations take on the personality of their leader. The Vikings have taken on the personality of Mike Zimmer, which is don't screw up, don't take chances, and play not to lose. Is it any wonder that Kirk Cousins, who is naturally wound tighter than a drum, has lost any gunslinger tendencies he had as a young quarterback?
That's my take. Again, great question.