REAL FOOTBALL Thread

Having watched Cousins for six years up in Minnesota, he has been a solid--but not spectacular--QB. His biggest problem has always been being able to evade pressure. He gets rattled in the pocket and as a result can make either poor throws or bad decisions. He's always been a guy that will get you five yards on a third-and-seven.

A lot will depend on his coordinators and the talent around him. There's always going to be the question as to how much his supporting cast was responsible for his success. He never had to carry the team alone because there were always premier WRs and TEs in Minnesota (Diggs, Theilen, Jefferson, Rudolph, Hockenson) and Dalvin Cook was really good when not injured. Cousins' 2022 season was absolutely magical and by far his best season in so many ways even though his stats were not as good as in other years. I've always seen him at the bottom of the top-tier of QBs or on top of the second-tier (probably somehwere between 9 and 12). He can be more than just a game manager, but he won't be lightning in a bottle on a consistent basis.

2017 cousins was very good for the Washington Football Team where their number 1 receiver was Jamison Crowder, their number 2 was the ghost of Vernon Davis, he certainly has benefitted from systems and coaches (I picked 2017 because he had McVey as his Coord in 16 and 15)
 
2017 cousins was very good for the Washington Football Team where their number 1 receiver was Jamison Crowder, their number 2 was the ghost of Vernon Davis, he certainly has benefitted from systems and coaches (I picked 2017 because he had McVey as his Coord in 16 and 15)

He was not very good that year. He was probably around average to a tick above. That year he had 27 tds and 13 INT and held the ball causing a bunch of sacks. Granted he didn't have a ton of weapons but Gruden is very good at scheming WRs open. But, alas, when all my hope was up, he chocked the playoffs away by losing to the lowly Giants and putting up a stinker
 
He was not very good that year. He was probably around average to a tick above. That year he had 27 tds and 13 INT and held the ball causing a bunch of sacks. Granted he didn't have a ton of weapons but Gruden is very good at scheming WRs open. But, alas, when all my hope was up, he chocked the playoffs away by losing to the lowly Giants and putting up a stinker

He was like 7th or 8th in Yards, TDs, First Downs, etc.

Maybe very good is overstated, above average is probably more accurate. But with his top receiver being Jameson Crowder, having no help in the run game, etc. who can blame him for being mid.

Their top rusher was Samaje Perine, their receiver with the most starts was Josh Doctson, the skill players were a joke. You brought in Alex Smith next year and while he didn't play the whole year he went from averaging 269 yards per game the year before in KC to 218 in Washington.
 
I'm calling it now, Raheem Morris won't last more than 2 years as the Falcons head coach. This is for several reasons:

1- He already has a failure on his record. Like it or not, he came into this job having proven he can't hack it has a HC and so is already in a hole.

2- Fontenot is a dead man walking. Morris was picked because the front office was afraid of losing power and he'd be willing to give them any power they wanted to get the job. When the Cousins situation goes south, Fontenot is going to be out on his ear. The new GM will want his own guy and won't have any reason to give Morris any slack.

3- Morris isn't a good head coach. Morris can talk a good talk but he keeps making dumb move after dumb move. He's instituting new schemes but holds his starters out of the preseason. He can see Cousins isn't ready to play but plays him anyway. He then develops the most piss poor gameplan possible and refuses to make any adjustments.

Morris is a loser. Only the Falcons would be dysfunctional enough to hire him as head coach.
 
He was like 7th or 8th in Yards, TDs, First Downs, etc.

Maybe very good is overstated, above average is probably more accurate. But with his top receiver being Jameson Crowder, having no help in the run game, etc. who can blame him for being mid.

Their top rusher was Samaje Perine, their receiver with the most starts was Josh Doctson, the skill players were a joke. You brought in Alex Smith next year and while he didn't play the whole year he went from averaging 269 yards per game the year before in KC to 218 in Washington.

Yes, Im very familiar with the team. (plus this was 7 years ago before the aging curve and before a serious injury). They didn't want to pay what Cousins wanted because of his limitations. He's a QB that can keep you in some games and play really well against bad teams. Against good teams/important games, he really struggles. That Giants game they just had to beat a very poor team and Cousins was pathetic.

He will put up some passing yards for sure. When its 3rd and 10, he will get you 8 very nicely. When hes down 21 in the 4Q, you best believe hes gonna add another 90 or so passing yards to his resume.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I'm calling it now, Raheem Morris won't last more than 2 years as the Falcons head coach. This is for several reasons:

1- He already has a failure on his record. Like it or not, he came into this job having proven he can't hack it has a HC and so is already in a hole.

2- Fontenot is a dead man walking. Morris was picked because the front office was afraid of losing power and he'd be willing to give them any power they wanted to get the job. When the Cousins situation goes south, Fontenot is going to be out on his ear. The new GM will want his own guy and won't have any reason to give Morris any slack.

3- Morris isn't a good head coach. Morris can talk a good talk but he keeps making dumb move after dumb move. He's instituting new schemes but holds his starters out of the preseason. He can see Cousins isn't ready to play but plays him anyway. He then develops the most piss poor gameplan possible and refuses to make any adjustments.

Morris is a loser. Only the Falcons would be dysfunctional enough to hire him as head coach.

I like Morris...Im not sure I would hire him as a head coach though. But, Im not sure how much I put on him vs. the GM. He signed a guy coming off an achilles injury that is already 36 years old.

There first round picks are all skill players the last 4 years....Pitts, London, Robinson, Penix. 2 of them are questions so far.

Those are the big names and I don't follow the Falcons enough but looking at their picks, they don't look like they have been hitting very well on draft picks. Did they really only have 1 2024 draft pick play week 1?
 
I don't know what people are expected of Cousins at his age coming off an Achilles tear. It's not like he was an elite QB to begin with. QB is hard when your not throwing to Justin Jefferson.
 
I like Morris...Im not sure I would hire him as a head coach though. But, Im not sure how much I put on him vs. the GM. He signed a guy coming off an achilles injury that is already 36 years old.

There first round picks are all skill players the last 4 years....Pitts, London, Robinson, Penix. 2 of them are questions so far.

Those are the big names and I don't follow the Falcons enough but looking at their picks, they don't look like they have been hitting very well on draft picks. Did they really only have 1 2024 draft pick play week 1?

No, they had 0 draft picks from 2024 play in week one. The DT they traded up for in the second round was inactive.

Morris is a great guy to have on a staff but he's overmatched as a head coach. The Falcons were an absolute mess.

The problem with Morris and the GM situation is that the GM, Fontenot, campaigned for Morris hard because Morris would let Fontenot keep the reins. The other option was Belichik which likely would have meant Fontenot got fired.

We absolutely need to fire Fontenot and when we do, there's zero reason to keep Morris. Let the new GM bring in his own guy.

Morris is a proven loser and it's absolutely clear nothing has changed.
 
QB Play in the league has never been this bad across the board.

You have two choices, a retread or draft and start a rookie.

There isn't any in between.
 
QB Play in the league has never been this bad across the board.

You have two choices, a retread or draft and start a rookie.

There isn't any in between.

Good QBs don't come on the market; you absolutely have to draft one. You aren't getting a good one that is young in FA except for maybe once in a blue moon and to do so, you have to massively overpay.

The other options is signing a 35+ guy that probably does more harm than good from a long term perspective.
 
Maybe in the modern era.

Watching football back in the 70s you would see all sorts of bad QB play.

Seems to be the natural dip after the Brees, Brady, Manning era.

There aren't a half dozen good qbs playing right now. The rest are moderate and can be and up and down depending on coaching and talent around them.
 
Seems to be the natural dip after the Brees, Brady, Manning era.

There aren't a half dozen good qbs playing right now. The rest are moderate and can be and up and down depending on coaching and talent around them.

The league is fast and well schemed on both sides of the ball.

Also - Lots of overreactions to week 1 IMO.
 
Seems to be the natural dip after the Brees, Brady, Manning era.

There aren't a half dozen good qbs playing right now. The rest are moderate and can be and up and down depending on coaching and talent around them.

I actually wanted to debunk your half a dozen good ones but Im not sure I can. The young dudes are just not getting it done so far.

Hebert
Lawrence
Murray
Burrow
Jones (LOL)
Young

I won't put Hurts on that list even thought I'm still somewhat skeptical of him. I left Love off for now but I'm not sure hes going to be a great QB either. Lots of retreads

Too soon to grade Nix, Williams, Daniels.
 
I actually wanted to debunk your half a dozen good ones but Im not sure I can. The young dudes are just not getting it done so far.

Hebert
Lawrence
Murray
Burrow
Jones (LOL)
Young

I won't put Hurts on that list even thought I'm still somewhat skeptical of him. I left Love off for now but I'm not sure hes going to be a great QB either. Lots of retreads

Too soon to grade Nix, Williams, Daniels.

You wanted to list out the moderate qbs?
 
He was not very good that year. He was probably around average to a tick above. That year he had 27 tds and 13 INT and held the ball causing a bunch of sacks. Granted he didn't have a ton of weapons but Gruden is very good at scheming WRs open. But, alas, when all my hope was up, he chocked the playoffs away by losing to the lowly Giants and putting up a stinker

Good to see you gilesfan. I guess my point on Cousins is that he doesn't seem to elevate anyone around him. I get that he wasn't blessed with a ton of offensive talent around him in Washington, but he had numerous Pro Bowl and All-Pro weapons during his time in Minnesota and he couldn't get them over the hump. I see him as in that gray zone in that he's capable of being more than a game manager, but still doesn't reach the top-tier. 2022 was magic for him although (as I mentioned) he had better stats in several other seasons. He will have his moments, but his overall record shows that he is subject to brain farts and can be erratic in the pocket when pressured. He had a large part of the Vikings' fan base mesmerized during his tenure up here (and he's great in the community), but everyone remembers the Vikings loss to the Giants in the playoffs after the 2022 season when on a 4th-and-7 as the game was winding down that he opted to do a check-down and throw a 5-yard out to a guy who was tackled immediately.
 
Good to see you gilesfan. I guess my point on Cousins is that he doesn't seem to elevate anyone around him. I get that he wasn't blessed with a ton of offensive talent around him in Washington, but he had numerous Pro Bowl and All-Pro weapons during his time in Minnesota and he couldn't get them over the hump. I see him as in that gray zone in that he's capable of being more than a game manager, but still doesn't reach the top-tier. 2022 was magic for him although (as I mentioned) he had better stats in several other seasons. He will have his moments, but his overall record shows that he is subject to brain farts and can be erratic in the pocket when pressured. He had a large part of the Vikings' fan base mesmerized during his tenure up here (and he's great in the community), but everyone remembers the Vikings loss to the Giants in the playoffs after the 2022 season when on a 4th-and-7 as the game was winding down that he opted to do a check-down and throw a 5-yard out to a guy who was tackled immediately.

I remember we had a must win vs the eagles and the dude kneeled instead of spiking the ball
 
Back
Top