Kirk Cousins, The $100M Man, Has Been Benched For Michael Penix Jr.

I was mid-writing when this news hit my phone. I was in the zone. But it's not often you get late season QB drama that isn't revolved around an injury, so I had no choice but to pivot. I guess I'll save my Broncos gloating for next week.

Kirk Cousins' play has been blog worthy for a few weeks now. Just atrocious. What was once a promising start to his Atlanta tenure, getting the whole city to approve of him swag surfing after each win, has headed south quicker than Zach Bryan's reputation as a good boyfriend.

Since week 9 when the dirty birds were 6-3 and coasting to a division title, Kirky's thrown 1 TD pass, the Monday night double move to Drake London, and NINE interceptions. A 0.1111 TD/ratio. It's truly amazing he's made it this long.

As hard as it is to believe those numbers, it's equally as hard as an organization to give up on your $100 million (guaranteed) QB you signed this offseason when your team is just one game out of the playoffs in favor of a rookie. So I want to give credit where it's due to the coaches/organization for making the tough but obvious decision.

They saw what we all saw; that Kirk is more likely to be the reason they miss the playoffs than the reason they make it. Sure, he has the experience (granted a total of one playoff win in his career), but he just doesn't have the game anymore. The arm looks shot. His decision making is slow. And I'll steal a line from last week's blog, he's a traffic cone in the pocket. Limited mobility in the pocket and zero mobility out of it, he's an easy target that defenses are feasting on.

It could all be from the achilles. Maybe he lost the juice in his fastball cause he can't generate the same power off his back foot (he tore his right achilles). He never had the ability to flick his wrist for power like an Aaron Rodgers, so seems like a reasonable explanation.

Like Rodgers, who's also coming off an Achilles in the twilight of his career, the mobility, which also was never his strong suit, is practically extinct. He can still on occasion move laterally in the pocket to escape pressure, but there's no extending plays with the feet. Compound that with his sudden lack of arm talent, and that 0.11 TD/INT ratio starts to make a little more sense.

What doesn't make sense is the timing errors, or decision making hesitation. For all that Kirk never was (the mobile, cannon arm QB), he made up for with his decisiveness and precision. Achilles or no achilles, that should still be in him. But it's not.

I wonder if he lacks the trust to get the ball where his mind is telling him. That after a few too many passes that've sailed through the air like paper airplanes falling ever so gently into the defender's arms, doubt has entered the mind. Maybe he knows he can't put the zip on the ball he used to/needs to, and is trying to compensate for the timing differences on the fly mid-game. To no avail. Much like golf, you can't fix your swing mid-round. If you're trying to make adjustments on the course, you're already fucked.

It's sad to see Kirk fall so fast. To think I thought the Patriots' plan A this offseason should be to pass on Drake Maye and sign Kirk Cousins is a true detriment to my football knowledge while also a testament to my honorability in even mentioning it when I didn't have to. Such a horrible take. But again, that's why I'm writing blogs and not running a franchise.

It's the situation that's sad for me. The play is too don't get me wrong, but that fact he's being benched while in playoff contention, the very reason he was brought there, to give the team a better chance of winning, is pretty shocking. In year one too. Next year or two years from now I could believe it, but never this year.

This is a huge day for the Atlanta front office. The same front office that was mocked and laughed at by media pundits all over the internet, including myself, for drafting Michael Penix Jr. 8th overall in the draft after signing Kirko Chainz to that massive contract weeks prior is looking pretty smart. Well, not the Kirk contract part....

But nonetheless, they said they didn't think they'd be back drafting in the top 10 for years, and took the guy they thought was the future. And the future came quick. We'll now see if they were right on the analysis, but for today, for now, they can tell everyone to kick rocks. They knew what they were doing.

Maybe Kirk's achilles slowly heals over time and he's the next Joe Flacco. I could see it. If not, we may have seen the last of America's dad.