The Falcons only have themselves to blame for Kirk Cousins injury fiasco

Instead of the Michael Penix Jr. era beginning in Atlanta as Falcons minicamp begins, one of the biggest stories coming out of Flowery Branch is the Kirk Cousins injury debacle, and we finally heard from the veteran.

“As the season ended last year and I started to get in and work on my body, having the time to do that, I felt like I thought I was much better than I was,” Cousins said about his surgically repaired Achilles. “I think you learn that as you improve. As you make improvements you realize, ‘Oh, I wasn’t fully back and I am still making a lot of improvements here.'”

Cousins was never fully healthy, and the Falcons signed him after the training staff gave their stamp of approval. It wasn’t necessarily the strength of the Achilles, though. Cousins said it was mobility, and everyone in Atlanta could see that was the case.

Cousins’ immobility handicapped Zac Robinson’s play calling and the offensive line’s pass protection. He was a statue in the pocket, and Robinson rarely, if ever, called play-action rollouts, which is a staple of his scheme.

“From a 1-10, I thought I was at an eight but I was really at a three or four, and now I am getting back to that six, seven and eight,” he said.”… You start to realize you weren’t quite as far along as you want.”

That’s squarely on the Falcons. Why would Kirk Cousins be expected to say at contract negotiations that he’s not 100%? It is on the Falcons to sift through the crap and make a determination. They were clearly comfortable with Cousins’ rehab but just made the wrong decision. That’s not on Cousins.

Moreover, the shoulder injury he suffered during the Falcons’ Week 10 loss to the Saints was also a big talking point among fans.

“I, against the Saints, got hit pretty good in my right shoulder and elbow and from there kind of dealing with that was something I was working through,” Cousins said on Good Morning Football in February. “I just never really could get it to where I wanted it.”

When asked about it, Cousins didn’t give a straightforward answer.

“I don’t think it is a simple cut and dry answer,” Cousins said. “I think when you look at the way the season was going, and that hit and kind of where things went after that it feels like it was an inflection point. But if we were to watch the tape together, I can’t sit here and blame every mistake I made on that. It’s somewhere in the middle.”

Just as it was quite obvious that Cousins’ Achilles/ankle limited his mobility, it was evident that the hit he took in New Orleans limited his arm. The dip in velocity was clear, and it didn’t help that he was making poor decisions as well.

It’s captivated Falcons fans, with a significant facet of the fan base concocting baseless narratives that Cousins did the franchise dirty. The reality is that plenty of players try to play hurt and gut through injuries that force them to play at less than 100%. It is up to the training staff and head coach to make the determination about whether a player should play.

Kirk Cousins did what any 13-year veteran would do with his successor waiting in the wings. If you’re upset, you should be upset with the Falcons’ training staff, coaching staff, and front office for not making the decision to bench the veteran in favor of Michael Penix Jr. sooner.