How Everyone Should Understand Captain Kirks Significance

This must be the hardest task you've set me in a long while

Who are you and what did you do with Reignman?    

He is of great benefit to science, though they don't know it for some reason.

Instead of spending huge dollars on the JWST to peer at black holes billions of light years distant, they could spend a lot less to study the effects of Kirk's personal gravity well on whatever team he plays for. For example it emits highly charged Hawking-style radiation particles which cause his salary to continuously inflate. Fascinating, as Spock would say!

That's as nice as I can be.

Slooty lives in your head, not mine pal.   I'm strictly a Slooter opportunist - see a Slooter reference--start making wisecracks.   The comedy mine contains many rich veins and the fun never ends! 

I don't like Cousins much as a person or as a quarterback.

I didn't want to sign him in 2018, didn't want to extend him in 2020 (though I predicted they would) and spent most of the 2021 offseason projecting they would try to trade up for Fields to replace him (which I believe Spielman did try to do).

But I am willing to admit he's a good QB, and underrated by fans and media who mostly react to wins and losses, giving too much credit/blame to the QB without understanding some of the details of why teams win and lose games. Cousins does more than put up good stats, he plays well -- reads defenses and throws the ball on time and accurately. He doesn't create outside structure but he does about as well as nearly any QB within the game plan. That's why his PFF grades are good, and it's why the Shanahan tree coaches (including McVay and now O'Connell) like him so much.

Having said that, I disagree that Cousins has "all the physical tools to be an elite QB". He's pretty small, not especially fast or strong, and his arm talent is good but not great. A more physically gifted version of Cousins would be a Justin Herbert level talent, and Kirk definitely isn't that. Beyond the physical limitations, and even within his particular game manager style of play, Cousins has some flaws and limitations -- he fumbles too often taking sacks, can be too cautious challenging coverage downfield, and makes some occasional stupid mistakes. These might not be dealbreakers, but they can cost his team games. He's definitely not an elite quarterback, even though he is IMO a good one.

I understand why the new front office has decided to keep him, and I think they can be successful in the next year or two with this plan. I think Cousins can benefit considerably from the coaching change, working in the new scheme.

O’Connell has mentioned several times in interviews that he wants his scheme to have answers for all kinds of situations, not just related to game script but to defensive schemes on particular plays. He wants to be able to limit the damage from the best players on the opposing defense while taking advantage of the worst. And he wants receivers to be able to adjust their routes in response to coverage, so every play has a chance to succeed.

This is a big difference from the Kubiaks, whose scheme was fairly static and predictable and who didn’t seem to incorporate many route adjustments, either at the line in response to presnap looks or mid-play. The result was that many plays were dead on arrival, with routes running into coverage leaving few if any good options when the defense called the right play in response.

This kind of real-time adaptability isn’t really “working off script”, as Cousins famously can't do — it’s all in the playbook and the QB and receivers have to be on the same page. But it does make it possible for the scheme to be more effectively creative in responding to different situations. It’s basically what Brady has been doing for years, or what Brees did with Payton. Neither of those guys are “creative off script QBs” but they aren’t at all easy to scheme against either, because they can always find an answer.

O’Connell is trying to give Cousins more answers. Even if he learns the more complex and varied answers by rote, rather than improvising them intuitively, they may make him a considerably more effective QB.

Beyond the next year or two, I do think the front office will eventually try to upgrade from Cousins. I think the plan is for him to be their Jimmy Garoppolo or Alex Smith, who's eventually replaced by a recently drafted QB the team traded up for a year earlier. But that might happen only after get another short- to medium-term extension for Cousins, if this year goes well.

From memory Cousins is one of the lightest starting QBs in the league, at least by BMI. He was 6'2" 5/8 214 at the combine but is now listed at 6'3" (rounding up I guess) and 205. He doesn't look tiny because he wears a bulky flak jacket but he just doesn't have an imposing frame, which I think leads to some of his limitations fighting through pressure and protecting the ball when he gets hit.




Wilson is an excellent athlete. He ran 4.55 and put up good scores on the jumps and agility drills. He has a solid RAS at multiple non-QB positions (5.93 as a free safety, 7.17 as a running back, etc). He was drafted in the 4th round of the MLB draft by the Colorado Rockies, and played class A ball as a 2nd baseman before the Seahawks drafted him.

Wilson is short but he's built better than Cousins (not a high bar to clear), so he's stronger working through contact. And he has an elite arm in terms of velocity and deep accuracy, and the ability to throw on the run.



Of course Brady's biggest advantage is between the ears. Their arms are probably comparable. Brady is taller and stronger, especially once he got in better shape (plus or minus some medical help there) as a pro.

...

It's not that only physical specimens can be elite QBs and a lack of physical gifts is the only thing holding Cousins back. But he doesn't have plus physical talent in any aspect, and he has a couple of actual minuses (lightweight, not fast or agile or strong). So for him to be anything more than good would require best-in-the-league mental performance.

The only example I can think of of a QB who's clearly better than Cousins despite not being in some important way more physically talented than him is Drew Brees. Joe Burrow might be another example, though he seems to be more athletic based on his excellent movement in and around the pocket.

Late-but-not-end-career Brees is probably the best case scenario for Cousins over the next few years, if he can elevate his performance in context of a scheme that gives him "more answers". Even that's not truly an elite level of performance but it might be enough to carry an otherwise strong team to a very good record.

Something positive? Kirk isn't Teddy.