Thursday night in Atlanta was definitely Kirk Cousins’ night, but Jay Gruden certainly was on his former quarterback’s coattails.
Cousins passed for 509 yards and 4 touchdowns while leading his Falcons to a 36-30 comeback win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in overtime of their game on Thursday night. Cousins was masterful down the stretch. He drove his Falcons down the field at Mercedez-Bend Stadium in Atlanta in the final minute and was able to execute a tying field goal drive to send the game to OT. Then he threw a touchdown pass in overtime to win the game.
Cousins’ impressive play led to people raving about the quarterback. One such person was Jay Gruden, who was Washington’s head coach from 2014-2019. Cousins was a 4th-round pick by Washington in 2012 and became the team’s starter in 2015, but Washington never committed to him. They instead let him sign with Minnesota in free agency after the 2017 season.
Gruden has since watched Cousins make three Pro Bowls with Minnesota, and now lead Atlanta to a huge win on Thursday. He sarcastically joked on X Thursday that at least Washington received a 3rd-round compensatory pick in return for Cousins signing elsewhere in free agency.
“At least we got a 3rd round supplemental draft pick for Kirk,” Gruden wrote on X.
At least we got a 3rd round supplemental draft pick for Kirk.
— Jay Gruden (@Coach_JayGruden) October 4, 2024
Yep, that’s a nice consolation prize for losing a franchise quarterback.
Gruden lasted another season and a half after Washington let Cousins go and turned things over to the late Dwayne Haskins. Gruden is probably still dreaming of what could have been …
