Extend Cousins or ... ?

A throw to Osborn wasn't a difficult throw, it was not even an option.  Here is what happened. 

This is the throw from the sideline view (nice and big, so you can see the details), and a three problems to dispel any illusions of a potential throw to Osborn.



At this point you can see the options, focusing on KJ Osborn because he's considered to be the "what if".

Problem #1: KJ Osborn is not open.  There is a risk of the corner on Osborn driving on the ball for an interception or at the very least, getting his arm in there for an easy pass break up. Maybe if the other two problems didn't exist, Cousins could pull the trigger and hope, but he can't.

Problem #2: Even if Cousins puts a fastball this on a rope, #36 is CB Nick McCloud who is in a perfect position with eyes on Cousins to break this up before the ball even gets there.  Most of the "throw to Osborn" narrative is based on the assumption that maybe Osborn could beat his guy.  But it's not a good bet that the ball even gets to Osborn to make a play.

Next, look at this from the endzone view.  You can sync this up a few ways (to tell that these are the same timing).
- Giants #36 on the Vikings logo, in both snaps his right foot is about to come down on the yellow of the Vikings helmet
- The angle of TJ Hockenson's left is is up in mid stride.
- Cousins' arm angle is just behind his head.



This shows the angle of Dexter Lawrence (#97) closing on Cousins.  From the first image you can see the angle of a throw to KJ Osborn: Cousins would have to throw the ball to his left. Which brings me to:

Problem #3: There is no way this ball gets out to Cousins' left.  Even if his feet were set to throw the ball left, the throw would have led Cousins straight into Dexter Lawrence's chest.  This isn't a matter of being "tough enough to take a hit", there is literally less than a step between Lawrence and Cousins to allow him to complete even half a throwing motion.  This problem #3 also means that a check down to Dalvin Cook on the left also can't happen (hoping Cook could beat a CB for 8 yards).  A throw to the left at this time is blown up before it gets out of the backfield.

If Cousins attempted that throw to Osborn would have been broken up in the middle of his throwing motion.  If he managed to float an off balance, cross-body throw (i.e. a "never do this" type throw), there were multiple defenders in position to pick it off if it wasn't tipped by Lawrence.  

If Cousins had another 0.5 - 1 seconds, it looks like one of 3 things could have happened:
- Osborn could come open between the hashes as #36 follows Cook and opens a throwing lane
- Hockenson could have gotten a bigger step on the safety giving him a better chance to get around the corner
- Jefferson could have done... whatever his route called for him to do.
But none of those things were possible because the field as it is show above is all the time that was available.

With this play, and this execution of the other 21 players on the field, that ball was never getting to Osborn. The only reason Hockenson had a chance to break a tackle and make a play is because Cousins turned a sack into a chance.  The chance wasn't great because Hockenson didn't have a lot of space coming out of his chip block, but it was at least a ball in the air to a receiving tight end covered by a safety (not an ideal match up, but also not horrible).

It's also easy to say "Then Cleveland sux!!!", but again, it's not that simple.  Yeah, Cleveland was 1:1 against one of the best DT's in the league in Dexter Lawrence.  Bradbury gave the lightest of taps to Lawrence before moving left to help Ingram.  While doing that, this happened.  (This is something new I hadn't seen until I made this post)



Bradbury stepped on Cleveland's foot just as Cleveland is stepping left to engage Lawrence.  Cleveland stumbled back a bit and overcorrected to his left (right of this frame), allowing Lawrence to easily use strength on Cleveland's backwards momentum.  So when it looks like Cleveland is basically falling backwards... yeah, he is.  That's why there was no time to execute any of the potential play options.