Is Kirk Cousins missing reads a cause for concern?
Kirk Cousins has been somewhere between solid and really good over the Minnesota Vikings’ three-game winning streak. All three games were come-from-behind victories and Cousins did a great job performing in the clutch.
The issues that Cousins currently has stems from some of his decision making. One of those issues is directly from hi/lo reads. These reads are in zone coverage where the cornerback is put into conflict whether to take the wide receiver on a deeper concept or commit to the flat where a tight end or running back usually occupies the space.
He missed multiple throws to the corner against the New Orleans Saints and made poor choices on a couple of occasions against the Chicago Bears on Sunday.
Last week, Kirk Cousins took some heat for choosing the short option over a potential touchdown on a few high-low route combinations against the Saints.
He did it again in the first quarter yesterday, dumping this pass off to Jefferson with Irv Smith Jr. open for a bigger play. pic.twitter.com/8p3sRS7VjC
— Will Ragatz (@WillRagatz) October 10, 2022
Irv Smith Jr. is wide open and the throw can be made to lead him away from the corner in case he flips his hips and tries to undercut the route for the interception. That is something that did happen on a similar concept later in the game where Kindle Vildor baited Cousins on a flood concept and got the interception.
BUT — Cousins is obviously aware of that. And he said those decisions factored into his fourth-quarter interception, when he passed up an open C.J. Ham in the flat to look for Adam Thielen. Kindle Vildor made a great play to bait the throw and pick it off. pic.twitter.com/CdPZwDvscM
— Will Ragatz (@WillRagatz) October 10, 2022
This carrying over from the week four game against the Saints could be a cause for concern. There were multiple reads that he missed, including one where Justin Jefferson was open for a sure touchdown.
As you can see, Jefferson was wide open in the back of the end zone. The positive side is that Cousins himself admitted that he needs to look at these plays on an individual basis.
“Yeah, that was an example of allowing previous plays to influence your decision instead of just running the play in a vacuum. I had taken that flat route so many times and a couple times last week, a time earlier in this game with Irv, a guy was open elsewhere and I kind of was allowing those previous plays to start to try to hunt something up that really I should have just said, “Let’s just play this in a vacuum, in its own entity and take the guy that’s open in the flat, and settle for a shorter gain if it’s a shorter gain,” instead of trying to use previous reps to hunt something up that really wasn’t there.”
This is a really nice change of pace for Cousins as he hasn’t been this candid and up-front with the media during his time with the Vikings. The biggest question will be whether he takes his own advice to heart and start making deeper throws on these hi/lo reads. If he does, the Viking offense will become much more lethal.
