Cousins put on a masterclass on how to play the position in his press conference
The jump from college to the NFL is a quantum leap. Players are faster, schemes are complicated, and the overall game is faster. Some players have no issue with the jump in competition from day one, while others take a few years to adjust. Former Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins went into detail about the jump from college and how progressions and coverages have changed.
“I live the transfer. I live the jump, right? So I came into the league even at Michigan State, it was you see coverage, and you pick a side, and you basically take five eligibles down to two down to your checkdown.”
Cousins would go on to explain that pre-snap (single high or split safety) would dictate whether he would split the field or work the other sides of the field. As defenses disguised their looks, things changed quickly, and Cousins would describe how difficult things would get.
“What happened was defenses got so good at disguising it that I would be so stressed going into games,” Cousins explained. “The whole game plan’s built on is it single high or split safety and I can’t see if it’s single high or split safety... So then it started to become let’s just give you pure progressions and let’s just go 1 2 3 4 5.”
“But there’s no doubt with the way the pass rush is, if you truly try to go one, two, three, four, five, you’re going to get sack fumbled a lot,” Cousins explained.
Cousins would go on to say continuity is important to taking control of the offense.
“That’s how you play fast,” Cousins admitted. “That’s how you develop ownership in a scheme... And that’s where continuity really helps you do that because if you start over with a new system and start over with new teammates, you’re kind of back to all right, let me learn this from the ground up before I can start taking the shortcuts.”
During his passionate explanation, Cousins went back to his time with Kevin O'Connell and the concepts and progressions he brought over from being a Rams assistant, and how it differed from what he was used to.
So, what does this have to do with J.J. McCarthy? There has been much discussion about stripping the offense down, and the OC Wes Phillips explained progressions in his own way, but the real point is in the little experience McCarthy has in the NFL and the jump from what he was asked to do at Michigan.
Patience is needed, and a standing ovation to Cousins for getting into the finer points and making it easy for people to understand the complexities of playing quarterback in the NFL. For the full video, click the link below: