In his first regular-season game since parting with the Minnesota Vikings earlier this year, Kirk Cousins didn't exactly blow anyone away with his debut performance as the new starting quarterback of the Atlanta Falcons.
The Falcons wound up losing their Week 1 game to the Pittsburgh Steelers last Sunday, and inside his new home stadium, Cousins threw for 155 yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions. It was the fewest passing yards he's finished with in a game where he attempted at least 25 passes since Week 2 of the 2020 season when he was a member of the Vikings.
Following Cousins's underwhelming performance, many have been attempting to come up with an answer for why he played so poorly. Recently, one of his former targets in Minnesota shared his theory for why the veteran quarterback's debut with Atlanta failed to live up to everyone's expectations.
Former Minnesota Vikings TE Kyle Rudolph thinks Atlanta Falcons QB Kirk Cousins "will be fine"
In a recent appearance on the "Up & Adams" show with Kay Adams, former Vikings tight end Kyle Rudolph shared why he believes Cousins didn't play well in his first regular-season game with the Falcons.
"I think Kirk will be fine. I don't think is going to be something we see all year where Kirk only operates out of the shotgun .
...Look, you're 35, 36-years old coming off Achilles, it's human nature to wonder, 'I felt completely fine, and I'm in Green Bay, and I take off running, and I blow my Achilles out.' So, I think it's more of a confidence thing. It's something that we deal with as athletes.
When you're coming back off of a major injury, the hardest part is kind of that first time going out, doing it for real, in a live game. Because in the back of your mind, it's there, and it's not going to go away until you ultimately just go out and do what you've done your whole life."
For those who have paid attention to Cousins's career during the last handful of years, Rudolph's theory makes a lot of sense.
Cousins has always had the physical talent to succeed as a quarterback in the NFL. But the mental hurdles are what have prevented him from ever establishing himself as one of the elite signal-callers in the league.
Despite being a 13-year veteran, it wouldn't be shocking if Cousins was actually nervous during his debut with Atlanta last Sunday.
Think about it: he's with a new team that paid him a ton of money to lead them to the playoffs this year, he's coming off sustaining a major injury for the first time in his career, and on top of that, his first matchup of the season is against a Steelers defense that's probably going to be one of the best in the NFL this year.
It will be interesting to see how Cousins responds in Week 2 when the Falcons head out on the road for a Monday night game against the Philadelphia Eagles.
With the game not taking place in Atlanta's home stadium, the former Vikings quarterback likely won't feel as much pressure against the Eagles, and it might actually lead to a performance from him that resembles something closer to what he did during the majority of his time in purple and gold.