4 takeaways from the play of Kirk Cousins vs. the Browns in Week 4
By Dean Jones
Cousins struggled to get Thielen going
Kirk Cousins did everything in his power to get Adam Thielen involved early and often against the Cleveland Browns. The running game was finding life difficult, so utilizing his weapons in the passing attack was the smartest way to try and move the chains at times during the contest.
Thielen remains one of the best route runners in the business and his chemistry with Cousins is normally top-notch. But for whatever reason, things just weren’t clicking in this one.
When Cousins and Thielen did connect, it came with a couple of nice highlights. However, the wideout brought in just three of eight targets for 43 receiving yards, which wasn’t up to his usual high standards, to put it mildly.
The two-time Pro Bowler has yet to break the 100-yard receiving mark this season and has attained 50 yards or more just once over the last three games. Thielen is the wrong side of 30 years old now, but it’s a little too soon to be writing the player off just yet.
He still has a lot to offer the Vikings and if they want to turn their season around in a similar fashion to 2020, then Cousins needs his best possession receiver firing on all cylinders.