Kirk Cousins has played in a lot of games in the NFL, but the Falcons quarterback has never thrown for as many yards as he did Thursday night.
After a 26-20 overtime victory over the Buccaneers, Cousins had extra time to reach 509 yards on the night, but even if he didn’t beat his personal best, the game was a quarter-final. He said it would have been a meaningful night for Buck. . There was a lot of discussion over the first four weeks of the season about Cousins’ health and comfort level in the Falcons’ offense, but there was no reason to quibble on either point Thursday.
Cousins completed at least six passes to four different players and completed 28 passes to the trio of Drake Rondon, Darnell Mooney and Kyle Pitts. After the game, Cousins attributed the outburst to his confidence in believing the receiver was going to be where he expected him to be before he hit the ball.
“I threw some passes where I expected Kyle to be, where I expected Drake to be,” Cousins said, via ESPN.com’s Michael Rothstein. “And I was a little bit ahead of the game in a good way. I threw it with abandon. I wasn’t that decisive the first few weeks. I made sure they were going there and I made it. I’ve been trying to make sure that’s what I’m looking at before I mess it up.”
It’s natural for a new quarterback to take some time to get used to an offense, but Cousins seemed to finally come into his own Thursday night. This is a positive development for the Falcons and will make life more difficult for other players around the NFC.
