Kissing Cousins

We all like to see people we feel have been unfairly reviled get their day. It's part of our innate bent toward justice as human beings -- even if, being human beings, what we frequently see as justice is actually injustice, and we're way too stubborn to admit it.

Anyway ... this leads the Blob to its essential point this morning: Hooray for Kirk Cousins.

Who has to be the most maligned quarterback who ever had a lifetime QBR of 96.8 with more than 24,000 career passing yards and 84 more career touchdowns than interceptions.

You'd think this would have won him a little love from the armchair brigade over the years, but, nah. The skinny on Cousins is that he's a guy who'll give you some pretty numbers when it doesn't matter, but can't deliver when it does. And that refrain just got louder after the Vikings threw that immense wad of cash at him in 2018, when he signed a three-year deal worth $84 million.

Which meant that last season and all this season the talk around Cousins was that he wasn't coming close to earning his keep. And then ...

And then, Sunday happened.

To be more specific, one throw happened.

It was a 43-yard absolute dime that Adam Thielen took over his shoulder at the 2-yard line in overtime, and it led three plays later to Cousins' 2-yard pass to Kyle Rudolph that beat the New Orleans Saints 26-20. There hasn't been a better throw by anyone this season, given the circumstances and environment. And you won't see a better one from now through the Super Bowl.

It was, come to think of it, the kind of throw you expect the Saints' Drew Brees to make in that situation, but, nah. This time it was Cousins who did it, just like it was Cousins who completed 19-of-31 passes for 242 yards, a touchdown and no interceptions in the shrieking cauldron that is Drew Brees' peerless lair. And on the winning drive?

On the winning drive, he was 4-of-5 for 63 yards.

So, good for Cousins. You can say one throw and one playoff win still isn't worth $84 million, but the win was the Vikings' first road playoff W in 15 years. So you do the math.

The Vikings sure won't. They're too busy getting ready to play again next weekend.