-
Marc Raimondi, ESPN writer
FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — Quarterback Kirk Cousins went to see the movie “Wicked” with his wife, Julie, and their two sons, Cooper and Turner, during the Atlanta Falcons’ bye week. Cousins sang the soundtrack in his high school choir and saw the Broadway musical when he was in college. So he couldn’t help it last week.
“What I did in theater was sing, so I waited for my wife to nudge me to stop,” Cousins said. “But when Elphaba comes into ‘The Wizard and I,’ it’s hard not to. ‘Defying Gravity,’ it’s hard not to. But I digress.”
“Wicked” was a two-hour, 40-minute respite for Cousins, who is notoriously hard on himself when it comes to football. The Falcons are 6-5, losing their last two games, most recently a 38-6 road drubbing against the Denver Broncos. Cousins did not throw a touchdown pass in either loss, the first time in his career as a full-time starting quarterback that he did not throw a touchdown in consecutive games.
“There’s a little bit of making a bonfire outside [in] “My backyard and sitting there looking at the fire and just reflecting on my third-down reads and my footwork and decision-making and that kind of stuff,” Cousins said. “So it will always be like this.”
Cousins also went to his hometown in Michigan and attended a game at his alma mater, Michigan State. He returned to Georgia this week prepared with a list of things the Falcons were doing well (that they need to do more of) and things that weren’t going so well.
“Kirk is unbelievable, man,” Falcons coach Raheem Morris said. “He’s probably one of the funniest people I’ve ever been around, coming off of goodbyes or mini-farewells or… just going into something big. He gets his thoughts together, [puts them] down on the paper.
“I’m sure he consults with Julie, his wife, and then he can absolutely come in and attack if there are problems or things that we do well, things that he wants to continue doing, get a state of the union from me… Whatever the case, it’s amazing in that sense because everyone wants to have that relationship with that quarterback and Kirk won’t let you not have that relationship with him, if you know what I mean.”
Cousins said it’s one thing to talk about how things can be fixed and “it’s another thing to show it.” The Falcons have a key game Sunday at home against the Los Angeles Chargers (1 p.m. ET, CBS), another team with a good defense. With six games remaining, Cousins said Atlanta needs to “earn the right to play a seventh.”
And the Falcons, who suffered a tough blow two weeks ago, say they enter the final stretch refreshed.
“I don’t know when the perfect time would have been to do it, probably before we lost both games, but you definitely go in saying, ‘man, we needed the break last week,'” Morris said. “We certainly needed it. There’s no doubt about it.”
The Falcons rank 22nd in the league in red zone touchdown scoring percentage, which is an issue they want to address. Penalties in the red zone have been killers.
One thing the Falcons plan to do differently on offense is add more play-action passing. Atlanta has run plays on just 14.3% of Cousins’ dropbacks this season. Since his rookie season in 2012, Cousins has the most touchdowns (79) and the second-most passing yards (9,809) offsides in the league. Morris said the Falcons have “definitely neglected” tactics so far this season.
“Not to steal our plans and things of that nature, but it’s definitely a valid thing that we haven’t executed a lot of our play action,” Morris said. “It’s really something Kirk does very well.”
On defense, it’s about continuing to find combinations that work with an anemic pass rush. The Falcons have a league-low 10 sacks, the fewest in 11 games by any team since 2018. Morris said the team needs more from running back Matthew Judon, whom the Falcons acquired from the New England Patriots in August for a third round. draft pick. Judon had 15.5 sacks in 2022 and was considered one of the NFL’s top pass rushers before missing most of last season with a torn biceps.
“I can’t sit here and tell you that we’ve gotten what we want. [of Judon]”Morris said. “That would be an absolute lie and I won’t do it, but I can’t tell you that he has what he wants from himself and I think the guy is a motivated and motivated man. “A guy that wants to go out and be productive and do the right things for his team because I know he’ll put in the effort.”
Morris said Atlanta’s goal was to play meaningful games in November. That has been achieved. The Falcons are still in first place, even though they haven’t looked like a division leader in their last two games.
“We struggled the last two games, but we’re not a bad team,” defensive lineman Grady Jarrett said. “We know.”
Morris said he spent the bye week with his family and had “basically the Olympics” with his kids, playing all kinds of sports.
“Pick a ball, whatever you have, play and find ways to dominate your kids,” Morris said with a laugh. “I needed a win.”
Morris said he got a “great lesson” from his son Jalen. When he won at pickleball, he was happy. When he didn’t, “he was pouting.” Morris said he wasn’t going to let his son do that. He won’t let the Falcons either.
“It is what it is, but sometimes we forget that this is the game, we love it and it’s really fun when it goes your way,” Morris said, “and sometimes we also forget not to pout when it doesn’t.”
