Kirk Cousins Weekly Review: Week 3 vs. the Tennessee Titans

Low No. 1

Third Downs were meek

Overall, the Vikings converted 40 percent of third downs versus Tennesse, which is right in purgatory. It’s not great, but it also isn’t terrible. Of the four successful third-down conversions, three of them were obtained via rushing the football.

When Kirk Cousins was asked to pass on third down, he completed three passes on six attempts for one solitary first down. He was also sacked one time as keeping Cousins upright in the second half morphed into a nightmarish undertaking for Minnesota’s offensive line.

Generally speaking, Cousins is quite good on third downs. In 2019, Cousins threw his way to a 108.0 passer rating on third down — which was sixth-best in the NFL. He wasn’t anywhere near that prosperity against the Titans.

Cousins should turn this lukewarm outing around in Week 4 versus the Houston Texans and the contests after that. During his career, he has not shown a propensity to struggle on third down. However, in a game as close as the Vikings-Titans showdown became late, Minnesota would have taken all the passing first downs on third down that it could get.