Kirk Cousins has returned to the Minnesota Vikings after spending nine weeks with the Las Vegas Raiders. He has already played with the Vikings for six seasons. Yet many believe that he’s going to face a bit of a challenge entering Week 10.
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“It’s a big challenge,” Kurt Warner said on The Rich Eisen Show. “I think the one thing that’s in his favor is that he’s been playing for these first nine weeks. It’s not a guy that hasn’t been playing football, and now you’re trying to bring him in and get him up to speed and get him playing again. He’s been playing, and he’s been playing pretty darn well for the most part over this period of time.”
Cousins has started all nine games for the Raiders this season. So far, he’s completed 202-of-315 passes for 2,340 yards and scored 20 passing touchdowns. He also scored two rushing touchdowns, covering seven yards in 22 attempts.
Warner further pointed out that Kevin O’Connell has similar operations to those of Klint Kubiak’s. And that will make it easier for the quarterback to blend in with his old team. It is also going to make the learning curve faster for Cousins. However, the same can’t be said for the rest of the team.
While Cousins has already played with Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison, he can have difficulties playing beside Tai Felton and others. And that’s just the first challenge.
“I think the second challenge is, and I know you watch the Monday night game, and we saw some of the mistakes that Carson Wentz made,” Warner went on. “But I will say I didn’t think there was a lot of guys open in that game. There were some guys down the stretch that he missed on some throws. But it wasn’t like guys were running open all over the field throughout the game.
“So that’s the next challenge. It’s what’s gone wrong with this offense, and why aren’t we creating easier opportunities and some separation for our guys. I love KOC. I think sometimes their offense is designed to push the ball down the field all the time as opposed to giving their quarterback some easier opportunities.”
That made Eisen wonder what Warner expected from the Vikings’ new offense. For him, it’d be about Jefferson being rediscovered as a viable target. Warner, however, pumped the brakes on the nostalgia. Between Cousins being several years older than his first stint in purple and Minnesota battling offensive line issues, and a sluggish ground game, the Hall of Famer believed that the Vikings needed Cousins to turn their field goal-heavy offense into touchdowns.
“I’m not expecting this offense to go and put up 30 points every week,” Warner said. “But give me 24, give me 21, and we feel like we got a great chance to win with this defense. And so that’s what I’m looking for. Putting some touchdowns on the board, not always settling for field goals. And it looking better offensively.”
With Kirk Cousins back in Minnesota, the Vikings might have a chance to showcase a better offense against the Green Bay Packers in Week 10. For now, O’Connell has only expressed a preference for starting Cousins. He’s yet to make that commitment.