Are Falcons considering benching Kirk Cousins after Raiders game?
Sep 29, 2024; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Atlanta Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins (18) walks off the field after a game against the New Orleans Saints at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images
Kirk Cousins may be losing his grip on the Atlanta Falcons’ starting quarterback job after his poor performance Monday against the Las Vegas Raiders.
Cousins looked like a shell of himself in a 15-9 win over the Raiders at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nev. While the Falcons still picked up the victory, Cousins did little to silence his critics.
The 36-year-old QB had season lows in completions (11), passing attempts (17), and passing yards (112). The bar for cousins has gotten so low that his lone touchdown of the night was viewed as a silver lining. The TD snapped a four-game span wherein Cousins had failed to record a TD.
On Tuesday, Falcons head coach Raheem Morris was asked about the idea of benching Cousins for rookie backup Michael Penix Jr. When asked the same question in the previous weeks, Morris had held firm that Cousins would remain the starting QB.
But this time around, Morris had a different answer.
“I think we’ve got to go through the (evaluation) process,” Morris said, via Michael Cunningham of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“(Media members) are catching me at a different moment in time than we’ve normally (talked). We’ve (usually) had more time to think about all the things that have happened. We’re at the process right now where we’re still looking into those things.”
The Falcons signed Cousins to a massive contract despite the QB coming off a serious Achilles injury. Replacing him as the starter could seem like an admission that Atlanta may have erred in signing the veteran QB in the offseason.
But the Falcons already hedged its bet on Cousins when the team drafted Penix with the 8th overall pick in this year’s NFL draft. The team may be considering cutting its losses after consecutive weeks of poor QB play from Cousins.
