4 takeaways from the play of Kirk Cousins at the Cardinals in Week 2
By Dean Jones
Cousins got more time in the pocket
Minnesota’s offensive line didn’t cover themselves in glory against the Bengals to open the season. They were criticized heavily for a lack of production and discipline to get their campaign off on the wrong foot, but the Vikings got a positive response from this unit in Week 2.
Minnesota managed to carve open some impressive running lanes for Dalvin Cook throughout, which was all quarterback Kirk Cousins needed to get some vital additional time in the pocket.
The Cardinals were coming off a phenomenal performance from Chandler Jones on opening weekend. But the former All-Pro was held relatively in check by the Vikings compared to what we saw from the defensive end in Week 1.
If Cook gets going and Cousins gets enough time to go through his reads, the numbers will follow.
This is something we’ve seen repeatedly since the signal-caller joined the Vikings in free agency. Even though they don’t have a win to show from an outstanding offensive display, there was far more good than bad in this area of the field.
If the Vikings could say the same about their secondary, they’d have won this game pretty comfortably. As it turned out, the team had to rely on the one element of NFL play that’s caused them so much pain over the decades.
And we all know what happened next.