It's safe to say that Kirk Cousins is off to a rough start in 2020. Much like many of his previous seasons, there have been some highlights and some lowlights, but the entirety of his performance has been summarized by inconsistency.
This year though, Kirk's inconsistency has been overshadowed by interceptions. Already this season, Cousins has tallied 10 interceptions through six games. That's already four more than he threw the entire season one year ago. In a day and age where the interception percentage rate is dropping throughout the league, seeing Cousins' number jump more than 4 percentage points in one season (1.4% in 2019, 5.7% in 2020) is not a good look.
There is an argument that will take some of the 10 interceptions off the plate of Cousins. Hail Mary's, tipped passes and the like, they're not always his fault. But there have been enough poor decisions and bad throws that make this a concern for the Vikings the rest of the way.
Thankfully, from a guy who usually avoids disparaging questions claiming that he'll have to "watch the film" to see what went wrong, Cousins nipped this thing in the bud last night with a quote that really put the onus right on himself.
"The reality is, if the pace I’m on in terms of the interceptions, if that were to continue, I won’t finish the season," Cousins said via ZOOM teleconference after Sunday's loss. "There’s a little bit of, you got to improve. Whether it’s them telling me, ‘Hey we gotta improve,’ or them pulling me; we got to get better. That’s what the rest of the season will be about for me, is trying to protect the football as best I can. Because when you turn the ball over, it really hurts your chances to win. I know that. I just need to improve as we look ahead to the rest of the season.”
On one hand, it's the kind of thing that is encouraging to hear from one of your teams leaders. He understands there is a problem, is looking himself in the mirror and addressing it.
On the other hand, the reality of the quote is scary. There's really nobody behind Kirk that can step in and hold the level of play standard where it needs to be. If this pace truly does continue, I guess it's In Sean Mannion We Trust!