Post by Purple Pain on Aug 5, 2023 9:20:42 GMT -6
Chris Schad: What Will It Take For Kirk Cousins' New Attitude To Translate To the Field?
While Year 1 showed progress, such as Cousins’s “Kirko Chainz” persona, it was ultimately a learning experience that he has taken into this year’s camp.
NFL Network’s Sam Wyche was one of the first to observe the new Cousins as he addressed his teammates at the beginning of camp. The presentation was centered around a scene in the Quarterback documentary when Cousins was having issues remembering the play calls in O’Connell’s offense.
Backup quarterback Nick Mullens later suggested that Cousins record the play calls and listen to them in an effort to study the new terminology. Cousins used that as an example of how anyone on the roster can help the team.
“He said that’s an example of leading up because [Mullens] didn’t have to share that because he’s the backup,” Wyche explained. “He could have been envious or whatever and said ‘I’m not going to help the starter.’”
Wyche also reported that his sources said the presentation was “absolutely riveting” and was able to grab his teammates’ attention. “The fact [Cousins] is one of the oldest guys on the team [and] was touching guys who just came into the league with this message…they were like ‘This is our leader. This is a righteous guy that we want to get behind.’”
Cousins continued his motivational tactics this week at practice when he hit the field wearing a No. 66 jersey. After giving reporters and fans a collective heart attack when he wasn’t spotted on the field, Vikings.com writer Lindsey Young reported that Cousins was sending another message to his teammates after punter Ryan Wright wore the number during last year’s training camp.
Wright was considered to be nothing more than a camp leg throughout the season. However, he wound up beating incumbent Jordan Berry for the starting job. While Wright’s ascension was surprising, Cousins wanted to show that anyone could make the final roster and inspired his new teammates.
When looking at this in a vacuum, it’s easy to say that Cousins is taking a hold of a leadership role. But if we go back a year ago, it’s the same thing that happened when O’Connell took over. According to an episode of the Unrestricted podcast with KFAN’s Ben Leber, Cousins had a similar meeting with his teammates in March 2022.
“There was a meeting – all of the biggest names on the team were at this meeting – and Kirk blew everybody away in how he handled the things that were said,” Leber said. “Apparently, a couple of guys walked out of the meeting and said ‘Kirk’s our dawg. Kirk’s our freaking dawg.’”
Leber went on to say that Cousins’s attention to detail was one of the biggest themes of the meeting, and it went a long way toward motivating his teammates.
“Apparently, he had been taking notes all season long and laid it all out,” he continued. ‘I guess the guys were like ‘Damn, this is a guy that we can ride with that’s going to have our backs at all times.’”
In some ways, this played out during the season. The Vikings won 13 games in large part due to Cousins’ heroics. But as Quarterback showed, it was anything but a smooth ride. His preparation included meeting with a sports therapist, getting stretched in a weekly chiropractic session, and even doing brain exercises in his legendary van. There were also times when the Minnesota’s offense had long stretches of adversity, which led to Cousins’ eight comebacks.
Such has been the story. Nobody will match the level of preparation that Cousins will put into a presentation to his teammates or a game on Sunday. But the question has been how that level translates to the field, which makes his future in Minnesota difficult to project.
NFL Network’s Sam Wyche was one of the first to observe the new Cousins as he addressed his teammates at the beginning of camp. The presentation was centered around a scene in the Quarterback documentary when Cousins was having issues remembering the play calls in O’Connell’s offense.
Backup quarterback Nick Mullens later suggested that Cousins record the play calls and listen to them in an effort to study the new terminology. Cousins used that as an example of how anyone on the roster can help the team.
“He said that’s an example of leading up because [Mullens] didn’t have to share that because he’s the backup,” Wyche explained. “He could have been envious or whatever and said ‘I’m not going to help the starter.’”
Wyche also reported that his sources said the presentation was “absolutely riveting” and was able to grab his teammates’ attention. “The fact [Cousins] is one of the oldest guys on the team [and] was touching guys who just came into the league with this message…they were like ‘This is our leader. This is a righteous guy that we want to get behind.’”
Cousins continued his motivational tactics this week at practice when he hit the field wearing a No. 66 jersey. After giving reporters and fans a collective heart attack when he wasn’t spotted on the field, Vikings.com writer Lindsey Young reported that Cousins was sending another message to his teammates after punter Ryan Wright wore the number during last year’s training camp.
Wright was considered to be nothing more than a camp leg throughout the season. However, he wound up beating incumbent Jordan Berry for the starting job. While Wright’s ascension was surprising, Cousins wanted to show that anyone could make the final roster and inspired his new teammates.
When looking at this in a vacuum, it’s easy to say that Cousins is taking a hold of a leadership role. But if we go back a year ago, it’s the same thing that happened when O’Connell took over. According to an episode of the Unrestricted podcast with KFAN’s Ben Leber, Cousins had a similar meeting with his teammates in March 2022.
“There was a meeting – all of the biggest names on the team were at this meeting – and Kirk blew everybody away in how he handled the things that were said,” Leber said. “Apparently, a couple of guys walked out of the meeting and said ‘Kirk’s our dawg. Kirk’s our freaking dawg.’”
Leber went on to say that Cousins’s attention to detail was one of the biggest themes of the meeting, and it went a long way toward motivating his teammates.
“Apparently, he had been taking notes all season long and laid it all out,” he continued. ‘I guess the guys were like ‘Damn, this is a guy that we can ride with that’s going to have our backs at all times.’”
In some ways, this played out during the season. The Vikings won 13 games in large part due to Cousins’ heroics. But as Quarterback showed, it was anything but a smooth ride. His preparation included meeting with a sports therapist, getting stretched in a weekly chiropractic session, and even doing brain exercises in his legendary van. There were also times when the Minnesota’s offense had long stretches of adversity, which led to Cousins’ eight comebacks.
Such has been the story. Nobody will match the level of preparation that Cousins will put into a presentation to his teammates or a game on Sunday. But the question has been how that level translates to the field, which makes his future in Minnesota difficult to project.
... and neither is this Chris guy.