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The Minnesota Vikings may have defeated the Arizona Cardinals in their third preseason game on Saturday night, but they did not exactly get a good performance out of Kirk Cousins.
Cousins completed just three of his 13 passes for 35 yards while being sacked twice, and afterward, he was not happy about his outing:
“Really disappointing performance,’’ Cousins said, according to Chris Tomasson of The St. Paul Pioneer Press. “Put it on me. It wasn’t good enough. If we play that way during the season, it’s going to be a very tough year. We have to be much better than we were (Saturday). And I really should say I have to be much better than I was. It’s about as simple as that.”
Obviously, it’s only preseason, but given that Cousins faced a ton of criticism for his disappointing first year with the Vikings in 2018, any poor showings he has are going to be magnified, even if it’s in an exhibition contest.
“We’ve got to be a lot better,’’ Cousins said. “Thankfully, I know we can be better. … I said to the centers and quarterbacks as we took the field for warmups: every time you step out there, this is your resume. You have to put your name on it, whether it’s preseason, regular season, postseason. … I’m disappointed that I’ve got to put my name on (Saturday’s game), and it’s the kind of thing that I’ll be pretty cranky with my wife (Saturday) when I go home.’’
Cousins signed a largely scrutinized three-year, $84 million deal with Minnesota last offseason, and while he did throw for 4,298 yards, 30 touchdowns and 10 interceptions during his first season with the club, the Vikings’ offense stalled as a whole, and Minnesota ended up going 8-7-1 and missing the playoffs.
The 31-year-old also seemed to have some difficulty developing camaraderie with his receivers, which his something he surely worked on this summer.