NFC Week 9 overreactions: Bucs, Brady save season with vintage comeback
Mackenzie Salmon ‘overreacts’ to the biggest storylines in the NFC after all Week 9 action in the NFL.
USA TODAY
LANDOVER, Md. — The first three words that came to Kirk Cousins’ mind were the ones that have followed him throughout his 11-year NFL career.
“You like that!”
The phrase was used as a taunt against him and a rallying cry of support Sunday at FedExField, where the Minnesota Vikings escaped with a 20-17 win Sunday for their sixth straight win. They have a death grip on the NFC North at 7-1 and lead the division by 4.5 games, with victories over the second-place Packers and Bears. Meanwhile, Washington lost for the first time in four games and dropped to 4-5.
Vikings fans – who filled about half of the stadium – who stuck around chanted “You like that!” as Cousins ran off the field following the victory. That was after Commanders fans started shouting it when their team went up 17-7 early in the fourth quarter. After the game in the visitor’s locker room, Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell asked his quarterback to break the team down.
“You like that!”
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Cousins (22-for-40, 265 yards, two touchdowns, one interecption) said his teammates inside the celebration were clamoring for what has become a catchphrase.
“Guess those three words will follow my career,” Cousins said, “and maybe my life.”
Indeed, the words have stuck to Cousins from Washington – where he began his career in 2012 – to Minnesota.
“I can tell you that his teammates were very, very excited when he received the final game ball,” O’Connell said. “You can just feel what this guy means to his teammates, this organization. And as a first-year coach, to have him as our quarterback, I feel very confident and feel lucky to have Kirk as our guy because he’s playing at a really high level.”
Cousins has suited up for dozens of games at FedExField, but Sunday was the first time he arrived at the stadium on the visitor’s bus. Seeing the home players’ parking lot brought back fond memories of meeting family there after wins and losses, he said.
“It kind of made me emotional pulling in on the bus just thinking about that, and kind of where things have gone,” Cousins said.
Cousins can add another positive memory to the list. Greg Joseph kicked the game-winning field goal with 12 seconds left to cap the Vikings’ comeback in which they scored 13 unanswered points in the fourth quarter. Minnesota hasn’t won a game by more than one score since Week 1 against Green Bay.
“It felt, in a lot of ways, like our other wins this season,” Cousins said. You can’t point to a perfectly played offensive game where everything clicked.”
The Washington defense swarmed Cousins and held Minnesota to a season-low 56 rushing yards. That left Cousins and the passing offense to shoulder most of the load.
The Washington faithful started chanting their own quarterback’s name after Taylor Heinicke found Dax Milne for the receiver’s first career touchdown with 14:14 remaining in the game.
Cousins and wide receiver Justin Jefferson (seven catches, 115 yards) connected for the Vikings’ longest play of the game on a 47-yard pass down the left sideline. As Cousins stood in the pocket and delivered the ball, he had the wind knocked out of him by Commanders defensive tackle Daron Payne. Thinking Jefferson had scored, he stayed on the ground to catch his breath. The trainers told Cousins that the ball was instead at the 10-yard line and he began jogging down the field but had to sit out one play in accordance with NFL player injury rules. Fourplays later, Joseph made it 17-10 with a 25-yard field goal.
On the ensuing Commanders possession, Vikings safety Harrison Smith intercepted Heinicke over the middle. Two plays later, Cousins found Dalvin Cook (17 rushes, 47 yards) for a 12-yard touchdown to tie the game at 17. It was the first touchdown since Minnesota’s first drive of the game. Cousins started 5-for-5 and found Jefferson in the back of the end zone to make it 7-0.
But the Minnesota offense went seven straight possessions without points – six punts and an interception by Cousins in the end zone just before halftime – until Cousins and Jefferson hooked up again for the deep pass that sparked the comeback.
“I feel like it’s just the way we are as a team,” Jefferson said. “Everybody has been rooting for each other, having each other’s back, and the chemistry on this team is very strong. Whenever we go down in those tight positions, we count on the next person to help us out and get us downfield to where we need to be.”
After the game, Cousins recalled something his first coach, Mike Shanahan, told him – a version of “tough times don’t last, but tough people do.” Cousins understands it’s a cliché, but found a deeper meaning in the message.
“I was taking it as, ‘You better choose to be a tough person. And you better battle back.’ Physically, emotionally, mentally, this game kicks you down,” Cousins said. “Being in Year 11 now, I see the truth of Mike’s words over a decade later. This game’s going to keep testing you. You got to find a way to be a tough person.”
The Vikings held the Commanders scoreless for almost the entire first half, save for a Joey Slye field goal with 37 seconds left. In the third quarter, Heinicke threw the Commanders’ first touchdown by avoiding the rush and firing a ball half of the length of the field toward the goal line. Curtis Samuel battled triple coverage — back judge Steve Patrick interfered with safety Camryn Bynum — and made a diving catch before popping up and over the goal line without anyone touching him for the score.
Another Heinicke highlight came later on a rushing attempt in which a spin move ignited the first “Heinicke” chants of the game.
But Cousins had the last laugh.
And he likes that.
Follow Chris Bumbaca on Twitter @BOOMbaca.
