After leading the Atlanta Falcons to a 6-3 start, Kirk Cousins went from passing for 500 yards in a game
and swag-surfing with Falcons fans to throwing just one touchdown pass and nine interceptions in a
four-game stretch and being booed by those same fans at Mercedes Benz Stadium. His lackluster
performance down the stretch ultimately resulted in his Week 15 benching in favor of Michael Penix Jr.,
who the Falcons hope will be their franchise quarterback for the foreseeable future. Cousins’ drastic
decline in production led to questions about the quarterback’s health and what could have caused the
sudden decrease in production.
Well, those searching for answers now have one. Cousins made a guest appearance on the NFL
Network’s Good Morning Football show this past Tuesday and revealed that he suffered an injury to his
right shoulder and elbow during Atlanta’s Week 10 Loss to the Saints in New Orleans and did not fully
recover from it.
“That was something I was working through and just never really could get it to where I wanted it,”
Cousins said during his guest appearance while discussing his injury and its effect on his play.
This latest revelation proves that Cousins and Atlanta Falcons head coach Raheem Morris bear the brunt
of responsibility for the team’s second-half collapse primarily due to their lack of transparency and
situational awareness.
It is worth noting that Cousins appeared on the Falcons’ injury report before the team’s Week 11
matchup with the Denver Broncos, a game in which they lost 38-6. When questioned multiple times by
the media about his appearance on the list after the game, Cousins insisted that his shoulder was
healthy, citing the injury diagnosis as a “clerical error.”
Cousins’ lack of transparency about his health is ultimately disingenuous to his teammates, the franchise
that took a chance on him last offseason, and a coaching staff that continued to play him during a
four-game stretch that would have gotten just about any other quarterback benched much earlier. His
subpar performance played a direct role in two of the team’s losses during their four-game skid,
including a four-interception game against the Los Angeles Chargers, a game in which the Falcons lost
17-13.
However, when push comes to shove, no NFL player is going to take themselves out of a game if they feel
as if they are healthy enough to play. Especially when they have a top-10 draft pick lurking in the
shadows. Cousins knew what just about anyone who follows the NFL knew: once Penix took over, there
was no going back, giving him even more incentive to try and save his job. This is where head coach
Raheem Morris also bears responsibility for the situation.
Morris, like Cousins, rejected the idea that his health played a role in his lackluster performance and
eventual benching when asked about it by the media. Morris told media personnel that Cousins’
benching was “just a football decision” solely related to his performance.
Morris has coached in the NFL for over twenty years. It is also worth noting that this is not his first stint
as an NFL head coach. Therefore, he should have a better understanding of when a player is nursing an
injury that is impacting their play on the field. Even if Cousins had communicated with Morris and the
rest of Atlanta’s coaching staff and trainers that he was healthy enough to continue playing, Morris
should have enough experience to know that the shoulder injury clearly hindered his production.
Likewise, as the head coach, it is his job to put the team in the best position possible to win. Accordingly,
Morris should not have waited until the Falcons had all but squandered their 2.5-game NFC South
Division lead to insert Penix as the team’s starter.
