Kirk Cousins vows to "do everything I can" to deliver a Super Bowl win for the Falcons
A little more than seven years ago, the Falcons were on the brink of a title. And then a 25-point lead in the Super Bowl evaporated at the hands of Tom Brady.
At the time, Kirk Cousins was still a year away from joining the Vikings as a free agent. Now that he has signed with the Falcons, Cousins has vowed to finish the job.
The Falcons recently trumpeted on social media this quote from Cousins: "I’m going to be committed to doing everything I can to help us win a world championship."
On one hand, it's the typical statement of aspiration that plenty of quarterbacks, coaches, and other players make, every year. On the other hand, it raises one very specific question regarding one of the storylines from the Netflix Quarterback series that raised Cousins's profile to a new level.
Cousins made it clear that, when his team is on a Sunday-to-Sunday schedule during the regular season, he takes every Tuesday off. And his words were unambiguous. He does no football work, at all.
The episode that featured this declaration showed him at a bookstore in one scene, and answering fan mail in another. For those not connected to the game, it was viewed as admirable. A sign of perspective, balance, etc. For those connected to the game, it was an eye-opener.
Franchise quarterbacks don't take Tuesdays off during the season. Once the 17-game rollercoaster leaves the station, franchise quarterbacks are all in, all the time. Useful work can be done on Tuesday to prepare for the next opponent. That work can make a tangible difference come Sunday.
So is he saying he won't be taking Tuesdays off this year? Falcons fans who are hoping the team will get a full return on Arthur Blank's $100 million fully-guaranteed investment will be hoping that's the case.
In those moments of grinding film and studying plays and otherwise preparing for the game to come, a little thing discovered in those hours of doing football work can make a difference. There's never a bright line that traces from a moment in the next game back to the effort invested on a Tuesday. That doesn't mean the line isn't there.
The great ones, like the one who erased the 28-3 deficit against the Falcons, know that. The offseason entails months of reduced or minimal effort. Once the 32-team chase for one trophy commences, the great ones make a seven-days-per-week commitment.
Maybe Cousins will pivot to that approach, as he gets closer to the end of his career. If he does, the Falcons will be better for it. Cousins will be, too.
And then, when he retires, he'll never have to work another Tuesday again. Or any other day of the week.
