The Atlanta Falcons fell to 6-6 on the season by way of a 17-13 house loss to the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday afternoon that featured Atlanta quarterback Kirk Cousins throwing 4 interceptions and nil landing passes.
Falcons head coach Raheem Morris insisted after that defeat he will not exchange Cousins within the lineup with rookie Michael Penix Jr. anytime quickly, and a number of teammates got here to Cousins’ protection regardless of his current struggles.
“I love Kirk,” huge receiver Drake London stated, as shared by the D. Orlando Ledbetter of The Atlanta Journal-Structure. “He’s the last word chief. He’s the last word quarterback. The most effective quarterback that I’ve performed with. So, I’m going to preserve my religion in him 110 p.c each week, week-in, week-out that he’s taking part in. I’m simply going to belief him. That’s what all of us do. That’s what we’ll proceed to do. As a result of for those who take these 4 (interceptions) away, he actually was having a lights-out sport.”
The Falcons signed Cousins to a four-year, $180M contract that included $100M assured this previous offseason, and he guided the membership to a 6-3 report earlier than it suffered three consecutive defeats. Cousins tossed six interceptions with no touchdowns over these losses, and it was instructed earlier than the Los Angeles sport that Atlanta might transfer on from the 36-year-old this coming offseason if he fails to steer the workforce to a playoff berth.
“Everybody who’s performed soccer and particularly at this degree has had video games like that,” London added, per Marc Raimondi of ESPN. “…So, it is not all on Kirk. It may by no means be all on Kirk. We have now to run the suitable routes. We have now to be detailed, and now we have to execute our performs.”
Based on ESPN stats, Cousins started Monday ranked twentieth within the NFL with a 54.7 adjusted QBR for the marketing campaign. No participant has thrown extra interceptions than Cousins (13) this season.
Whereas it is hardly a stretch to say these working the Falcons in all probability anticipated higher play from Cousins throughout the second half of his first season with the group, guard Chris Lindstrom made it identified that he nonetheless believes within the veteran signal-caller.
“Okirk is implausible,” Lindstrom stated. “We love him and he’s the chief of this workforce. He drives us each single day. He’s the man who brings power each single day. He’s there for us. He’s an enormous cause why we’re right here on this spot, first within the division. We hit a bump in a street, however it’s not going to cease us from going ahead.”
First-place Atlanta subsequent performs on the 10-2 Minnesota Vikings, Cousins’ former workforce, on Sunday. As of Monday morning, DraftKings Sportsbook listed the Falcons as five-point underdogs for that matchup.
